among islands and reefs, and guided only by a small map,
which was very incorrect and quite useless, and by a
general notion of the direction we ought to take. In the
afternoon we found a tolerable anchorage under a small
island and stayed for the night, and I shot a large fruit-
pigeon new to me, which I have since named Carpophaga
tumida. I also saw and shot at the rare white-headed
kingfisher (Halcyon saurophaga), but did not kill it.
The next morning we sailed on, and having a fair wind
reached the shores of the large island of Waigiou. On
rounding a point we again ran full on to a coral reef
with our mainsail up, but luckily the wind had almost
died away, and with a good deal of exertion we managed
to get safely off.
We now had to search for the narrow channel among
the islands, which we knew was somewhere hereabouts,
and which leads to the villages on the south side of
Waigiou. Entering a deep bay which looked promising,
we got to the end of it, but it was then dusk, so we
anchored for the night, and having just finished all our
water could cook no rice for supper. Next morning early
(29th) we went on shore among the mangroves, and a
little way inland found some water, which relieved our
anxiety considerably, and left us free to go along the coast
in search of the opening, or of some one who could direct
us to it. During the three days we had now been among
the reefs and islands, we had only seen a single small canoe,
which had approached pretty near to us, and then, notwithstanding
our signals, went off in another direction. The
shores seemed all desert; not a house, or boat, or human
being, or a puff of smoke was to be seen ; and as we could
only go on the course that the ever-changing wind would
allow us (our hands being too few to row any distance),
our prospects of getting to our destination seemed rather
remote and precarious. Having gone to the eastward extremity
of the deep bay we had entered, without finding
any sign of an opening, we turned westward ; and towards
evening were so fortunate as to find a small village ot
seven miserable houses built on piles in the water.
Luckily the Orang-kaya, or head man, could speak a little
Malay, and informed us that the entrance to the strait was
really in the bay we had examined, but that it was not to
be seen except when close in-shore. He said the strait
was often Very narrow, and wound among lakes and rocks
and islands, and that it would take two days to reach the
large village of Muka, and three more to get to Waigiou.
I succeeded in hiring two men to go with us to Muka,
bringing a small boat in which to return; but we had to
wait a day for our guides, so I took my gun and made a
little excursion into the forest. The day was wet and
drizzly, and I only succeeded in shooting two small birds,
but I saw the great black cockatoo, and had a glimpse of