e cotton
trousers, of the fashion called moormans. A wooden anchor of one fluke,
and three boats rudders of violet wood were also found; but what puzzled
me most was a collection of stones piled together in a line, resembling a
low wall, with short lines running perpendicularly at the back, dividing
the space behind into compartments. In each of these were the remains of
a charcoal fire, and all the wood near at hand, had been cut down. Mr.
Brown saw on another island a similar construction, with not less than
thirty-six partitions, over which was laid a rude piece of frame work;
and the neighbouring mangroves, to the extent of an acre and a half, had
been cut down. It was evident that these people were Asiatics, but of
what particular nation, or what their business here, could not be
ascertained; I suspected them, however, to be Chinese, and that the
nutmegs might possibly be their object. From the traces amongst
Wellesley's Islands, they had been conjectured to be shipwrecked people;
but that opinion did not now appear to be correct.

The barometer stood here from 29.96 to 29.62 inches, being highest with
the winds at north-east, and lowest with those from the southward; in the
heavy squalls of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning from the north-west,
the mercury stood at a medium elevation. On board the ship, the average
standard of the thermometer was nearly 85 deg.. On shore it was hotter, yet
the musketoes were not very troublesome; but the common black flies, from
their extraordinary numbers and their impudence, were scarcely less
annoying than musketoes; they get into the mouth and nose, and settle
upon the face or any other part of the body, with as much unconcern as
they would alight on a gum tree; nor are they driven away easily. This
was the case on shore, and on board the ship whilst lying at anchor, and
for a day or two afterwards; but the society of man wrought a change in
the manners even of these little animals. They soon became more cautious,
went off when a hand was lifted up, and in three or four days after
quitting the land, behaved themselves orderly, like other flies; and
though still numerous on board, they gave little molestation. Dampier
found these insects equally troublesome on the North-west Coast; for he
says (Vol. I. p. 464), speaking of the natives, "Their eye-lids are
always half closed, to keep the flies out of their eyes; they being so
troublesome here, that no fanning will keep them from