olely for the purpose of
stretching our aching limbs. This little island was uninhabited, and
covered to the very water's edge with dense tropical vegetation. It was
a perfectly exhilarating experience to walk about on real earth once
more. We cooked some turtle meat and stayed a few hours on the island,
after which we entered the boat and put off on our journey again. Just
before leaving I stored a quantity of corn, cobs, seeds, &c., in a little
cairn in case we might be compelled to return. I always steered, keeping
east by north, but Yamba relieved me for a few hours each
evening--generally between six and nine o'clock, when I enjoyed a brief
but sound sleep. Gunda never offered to take a spell, and I did not
think it worth while to trouble him.

Thus night and day we sailed steadily on, occasionally sighting sharks
and even whales. We passed a great number of islands, some of them
wooded and covered with beautiful jungle growths, whilst others were
nothing but rock and sand. None of them seemed to be inhabited. The sea
was smooth all the time, but occasionally the currents carried us out of
our course among the islands, and then we had to land and wait till the
tide turned. No matter how the wind was, if the tide was not also in our
favour we had to land. We cruised in and out among the islands for ten
days or more, when we rounded Cape Londonderry and then steered S. by E.
The current, however, carried us straight for Cambridge Gulf. One little
island I sighted between Cambridge Gulf and Queen's Channel had a curious
house-like structure built in one of the trees on the coast. The trunk
of this tree was very large and tapering, and the platform arrangement
was built amongst the branches at the top, after the manner adopted by
the natives of New Guinea.

You may imagine my feelings when, early one morning, Yamba suddenly
gripped my arm and murmured, "We are nearing my home at last." I leaped
to my feet, and a few minutes afterwards the mainland came hazily into
view. Instead of heading straight for it, however, we made for a
beautiful island that stood in the mouth of a large bay, and here we
landed to recuperate for a day or so. Immediately on our arrival, Yamba
and her husband lit some fires, and made what were apparently
smoke-signals to their friends on the main. They first cut down a
quantity of green wood with my tomahawk and arranged it in the form of a
pyramid. Next they obtained fire by r