296 
SOUTH SEA 
from the woods in several places, so that we supposed 
that they either did not see us or that they were not 
willing to shew themselves. 
On the fifth morning after we had first entered the 
channel the third mate informed the captain, that he had 
on a former voyage traded with some natives at a place 
much higher up the channel than w’e then were, and had 
procured from them some pigs, fowls, and a kind of 
potato, so that the captain was induced to send off two 
boats in search of them, it not being likely we could 
reach the place of their residence with the ship, on 
account of the lightness of the wind. The captain at 
starting gave us strong injunctions that, in case we 
found the natives, not to engage in barter with them 
if we found them in the slightest degree troublesome or 
quarrelsome. We started at about eight a.m., rowing 
along the shore of New Ireland, leaving the ship very 
nearly becalmed. As we passed along the coast in our 
boats we had an excellent opportunity of witnessing the 
beauties of this distant region, which I would fain 
attempt to describe, but for brevity’s sake must refrain. 
We saw numbers of curious fish lying on the surface of 
the water, the most common of which was a small kind 
of saw-fish, which rested near the surface, with the saw 
or horny instrument at the end of the nose projecting ou^ 
of the water ; we saw great numbers of these, apparently 
basking in the sun, but the moment the noise of the 
boat was discovered, they darted away with extreme 
velocity. We also saw a number of beautiful birds, 
flying to and fro among the large trees which ‘grew 
