ihip was furrounded with prows filled with men, who a {faulted
him with ftones flung out of engines; and the ihores were
lined with the natives from end to end. All the inhabitants o f
this, and the adjacent ifles, were a warlike race, hoftile to
ftrangers, and very fuipicious. They were tall, even above the
fize o f the common race o f men, ftrong, and well made, had
curled Ihort hair, often ihaved iu different forms, and ftained
with white, red, and yellow; their heads were round, faces broad;
they had great bottle nofes, and fubitances ftuck through the
griftle, palling from cheek to cheek. Their weapons were lances,
fwords, flings, and bows and arrows; their fpeech clear and dif-
tinit. All thefe are the fame kind o f people, from the remoteft
o f the Papuan ifles to this ifland; varying a little in the drefilng
o f their hair, and other trifling matters.
T h e i r p r o w s w e r e v e r y n e a t ly b u i l t , w i t h o u t - r i g g e r s o n
o n e f i d e ; t h e h e a d a n d f t e r n e le v a t e d , a n d m o f t in g e n io u f l y
c a r v e d w i t h f i g u r e s o f f i i h , f o w l , a n d o n o n e w a s a m a n ’s
h e a d , d o n e m o il: f u r p r i f in g l y w e l l , c o n f id e r in g t h e r u d e in -
f t r u m e n t s o f f to n e t h e y h a d to w o r k w i t h ; f o r t h e y f e em e d
ig n o r a n t o f t h e u f e s o f i r o n ; t h e i r p a d d le s w e r e v e r y n e a t ;
a n d t h e y m a d e t h e i r w a y w i t h a m a z in g fw i f t n e f s t h r o u g h t h e
w a t e r .
A v e r y legendary tale is told, in L'Hifloire de Navigations aux
l ’erres Aujlrales*, refpedting the origin o f the Negro race in
thefe Afatic ifles, which is firft met with in fome of the Manillas,
continued through the Papuan ifles and New Guinea, and even
through New Holland. I have mentioned them before in my
* 434;
account
account o f the Manillas, and if I recolledt right, one o f thefe
iflands is called the ifle o f Negroes, from its being inhabited by
a curled headed people.
I n o w return from cape Biron, or Soloma/war, taking a
courfe due fouth, along the wefterh coafts o f the ifles o f New
Britain. Near the extreme weftern part o f the fartheft is an
headland, called by Dampier, Cape Gloucejier. At a fmall diftance
to the weft is a little ifland, which at the time our navigator
paffed it, was a raging volcano. It flung up columns of flame
twenty or thirty yards high, attended with a noife like thunder,
followed by an overflowing of red-hot lava, which ran down the
fides of the mountain till it reached the fea. This continued
two days and nights, or as long as this tremendous phteno-
menon continued in fight.
I n o w repafs Dampier’s ftreights eaftward, and turn to the
fouth. In Mr. Arrowfmith\ excellent map o f the world, New
Guinea is continued by dotted lilies, farther to the eaft ; and on
the fouth fide, near the extremity o f that line, the uncertainty
is taken away by a trait o f land difcovered by M. de Bougainville
in 1768, which he named La Louifiade, and the extreme eaftern
point Le Cap de la Deliverance, in memory o f his narrow efcape
from a violent tempeft. The great bay which he calls Le
Golfe de la LouiJiade is juft to the fouth of the cape. Such a
confufion, occafioned by the fears and diftreffes o f the great
French navigator, is fo apparent in this part of his voyage, that
nothing more can be collected refpeiting this portion o f New
Guinea.
W e