thers, who waited at a distance, all returned together from
whence they came. As soon as the canoe was deserted, we got out our boat
and brought it on board: It was full fifty feet long, though one of the
smallest that came against us; it was very rudely made out of one tree,
but had an out-rigger. We found in it six fine fish, and a turtle, some
yams, one cocoa-nut, and a bag full of a small kind of apple or plum, of
a sweetish taste and farinaceous substance; it had a flatfish kernel,
and was wholly different from every thing we have seen either before or
since; it was eatable raw, but much better boiled, or roasted in the
embers: We found also two large earthen pots, shaped somewhat like a
jug, with a wide mouth, but without handles, and a considerable quantity
of matting, which these people use both for sails and awning, spreading
it over bent sticks, much in the same manner as the tilts of the London
wherries. From the contents of this vessel we judged that it had been
fishing, and we observed that the people had a fire on board, with one
of their pots on it, in which they were boiling their provision. When we
had satisfied our curiosity by examining it, we cut it up for fire-wood.

These Indians were the same kind of people that we had seen before on
the coast of New Ireland, and at Egmont Island: They were of a very dark
copper colour, nearly black, with woolly heads. They chew beetle-nut,
and go quite naked, except the rude ornaments of shells strung together,
which they wear round their legs and arms: They were also powdered like
our last visitors, and had, besides, their faces painted with white
streaks: But I did not observe that they had any beards. Their lances
were pointed with a kind of bluish flint.

Having disengaged ourselves from this fierce and unfriendly people, we
pursued our course along the other islands, which are between twenty and
thirty in number, and of considerable extent; one in particular would
alone make a large kingdom. I called them the _Admiralty Islands_, and
should have been glad to have examined them, if my ship had been in a
better condition, and I had been provided with such articles as are
proper for an Indian trade, especially as their appearance is very
inviting: They are clothed with the most beautiful verdure; the woods
are lofty and luxuriant, interspersed with spots that have been cleared
for plantations, groves of cocoa-nut trees, and houses of the natives,
who seem to be