ir," Dr Coulter writes, "blemished his character." Cargoes of
ebony, neither more nor less; slaves bought in Australasia, and sold to
the Dutch and Chinese. Human flesh, quick or dead, was a favourite article
of commerce with this respectable Highlandman. In those remote regions,
however, men cannot always pick their society, and Coulter and Trainer
were glad enough to meet this dealer in dead and live stock, who was an
old acquaintance of both of them. They went on board his vessel and dined
with him, and it was agreed that the brigand schooner should keep together
as long as circumstances permitted. After several days' profitable
trading, chiefly in ambergris, tortoiseshell, pearls, and birds of
Paradise, and which ended, wonderful to say, without a skirmish with the
natives, they coasted along the north shore of the island, and came to an
anchor in Gilvink's Bay, at its westernmost extremity, alongside the
"Eternal Safety," a Chinese trading junk. According to the custom of his
countrymen in those seas, the Chinese skipper had told the Papuans all
manner of lies about the Europeans, and had warned them against trading
with them. Stewart discovered this by means of an old acquaintance, a
Sandwich islander and expert cook, who gladly left the junk, where he
received a larger allowance of rattan than he liked, to officiate in the
caboose of the American brig. Once safe upon the Yankee's deck, Mr Sing
vented his indignation against his late master in a volley of abuse,
interspersed with comical and contemptuous gestures. The Chinaman actually
danced with rage, and at last levelled a matchlock at the object of his
fury; but on Stewart's opening a port, and disclosing the grim muzzle of a
carronade, he suspended, his warlike demonstrations. A supply of articles
for barter with the natives was obtained from his junk, and the same
afternoon a fresh breeze swept the European ships out of the bay.

The last place to which we shall accompany Dr Coulter is a district on the
south coast of New Guinea, inhabited by the warlike and ferocious tribe of
the Horraforas, who, at the period of his visit, lived happily under the
paternal rule of King Connel the First. Terence Connel was a County Kerry
boy, who had gone through many strange adventures in his own country and
elsewhere. A deserter from a regiment of the line, he had served for some
time under Captain Starlight's banner, and had distinguished himself by
his intrepidity and zeal