and rifle, and saw several wallabies, but
could not get a shot at them on account of the tall grass.

In the evening the chiefs of the large Notu village who had in our
absence killed and eaten the two runaway carriers, visited us in
fear and trembling. Monckton told them they must give up to us the
actual murderers and send them up to the residency at Cape Nelson
(or Tufi) within the next three weeks. He did not ask for those
that ate them. Possibly one hundred or more partook of the feast,
and for this they could hardly be blamed, as, being cannibals, it
is quite natural that they should eat fresh meat when they got the
chance. Indeed, our own carriers could not understand why we would
not allow them to eat the bodies of those we had slain.

The next morning we five white men parted company, Walsh and Clark,
with the Mambare and their own police, returning to the north,
while Monckton, Acland and I went southward again to continue our
explorations in another direction.

PART V

Our Discovery of Flat-Footed Lake Dwellers.

CHAPTER XI

Our Discovery of Flat-Footed Lake Dwellers.

Rumours at Cape Nelson of a "Duckfooted" People in the
Interior--Conflicting Opinions--Views of a Confirmed Sceptic--Start
of the Expedition--Magnificence of the Vegetation--Friendliness
of the Barugas--The "Orakaibas" (Criers of "Peace")--Tree-huts
eighty feet from the ground-Loveliness of this part of the
Jungle--Description of its Plants--A Dry Season--First Glimpse
of Agai Ambu Huts--Remarkable Scene on the Lake--Flight of the
Agai Ambu in Canoes--Success at Last--A Voluntary Surrender--The
Agai Ambu Flat-footed, not Web-footed--Sir Francis Winter's
subsequent Visit and fuller Description of these People--Their
Physical Appearance, Houses, Canoes, Food, Speech and Customs--My
Account Resumed--Making Friends with the Agai Ambu--A Country
of Swamps--Second Agai Ambu Village--Extraordinary Abundance
and Variety of Water-fowl--Strange Behaviour of an Agai Ambu
Women--Disposal of the Dead in Mid-lake Food of the Agai
Ambu--Their Method of Catching Ducks by Diving for them--An
Odd Experience--Mosquitos and Fever--Last View of Agai Ambu--An
Amusing _Finale._

Many were the wild and fantastic rumours we had heard at the Residency
at Cape Nelson, on the north-east coast of British New Guinea,
concerning a curious tribe of natives whose feet were report