LITTLE KE ISLAND. 
127 
set off, ancl the turning of the screw added foam 
and spray to the already tempestuous sea. 
We were glad when, on the morning of the 
10th, we lay close into Little Kd Island — for we 
had both been quite sick and miserable in the 
rough weather. As usual, we were immediately 
boarded by the natives, and a repetition of the 
scene depicted by Mr Wallace with such abso- 
lute fidelity was enacted. I use his words, for 
I could not tell it better : “ Had I been blind, I 
could have been certain that these islanders were 
not Malays. . . . These Ive men came up sing- 
ing and shouting, dipping their paddles deep in 
the water and throwing up clouds of spray ; as 
they approached nearer, they stood up in their 
canoes and increased their noise and gesticula- 
tions, and on coming alongside, without asking 
leave and without a moments hesitation, the 
greater part of them scrambled up on our deck, 
just as if they were come to take possession of a 
captured vessel. Then commenced a scene of in- 
describable confusion. These forty black, naked, 
mop-headed savages seemed intoxicated with joy 
and excitement. Not one of them could remain 
still for a moment. Every individual of our 
crew was in turn surrounded and examined, 
asked for tobacco or arrack, grinned at ancl de- 
