94 departure of the natives. 
discovered the use to which the conical substance that had 
been deposited with such unusual care in one of the huts, 
was applied. There were few of the natives present who 
were not more or less marked with it, and it was no doubt, 
indicative of mourning. 
Some of the men, however, were painted with red and 
yellow ochre, with which it was evident to me they had be- 
smeared themselves since our appearance, most likely in 
preparing for the combat in which they fancied they would 
be eno’ao’ed. We distributed such presents as we had to 
those around us, and when we pursued our journey, the 
majority accompanied us, nor did they wholly leave us un- 
til we had passed the place to which their women had re- 
tired. They might have left us when they pleased, for we 
intended them no harm ; as it was, however, they struck 
into the brushes to join their families, and we pushed on to 
make up for lost time. 
The travelling near the river had been so bad, not only in 
consequence of the nature of the soil and brush, but from 
the numerous gullies that had been formed by torrents, as 
they poured into its channel after heavy rains and floods, 
that it was thought advisable to keep at a greater distance 
from it. We turned away, therefore, to the plains, and 
found them of much firmer surface. They partook, how- 
ever, of the same general character as the plains we had 
traversed more to the eastward. Their soil was a light 
sandy loam, and the same succulent plants still continued 
to prevail upon them, which we have already noticed as 
