ill and not expected to live, they returned. As they
now knew the island, I was determined they should make
another trial, and (by a liberal payment of knives, handkerchiefs,
and tobacco, with plenty of provisions) persuaded
them to start hack immediately, and make another attempt.
They did not return again till the 29th of July, having
stayed a few days at their own village of Bessir on the
way; hut this time they had succeeded and brought with
them my two lost men, in tolerable health, though thin
and weak. They had lived exactly a month on the island;
had found water, and had subsisted on the roots and
tender flower-stalks of a species of Bromelia, on shell-fish,
and on a few turtles’ eggs. Having swum to the island,
they had only a pair of trousers and a shirt between them,
but had made a hut of palm-leaves, and had altogether got
on very well. They saw that I waited for them three days
at the opposite island, but had been afraid to cross, lest the
current should have carried them out to sea, when they
would have been inevitably lost. They had felt sure I
would send for them on the first opportunity, and appeared
more grateful than natives usually are for my having done
so; while I felt much relieved that my voyage, though
sufficiently unfortunate, had not involved loss of life.
CHAP TEE XXXYI.
WAIGIOTJ.
(JULY TO SEPTEMBER 1860.)
HE village of Muka, on the south coast of Waigiou,
consists of a number of poor huts, partly in the water
and partly on shore, and scattered irregularly over a space
of about half a mile in a shallow bay. Around it are a
few cultivated patches, and a good deal of second-growth
woody vegetation; while behind, at the distance of about
half a mile, rises the virgin forest, through which are a
few paths to some houses and plantations a mile or two
inland. The country round is rather flat, and in places
swampy1; and there are one or two small streams which
run behind the village into the sea below it. Finding that
no house could be had suitable to my purpose, and having
so often experienced the advantages of living close to or
just within the forest, I obtained the assistance of half-a-
dozen men; and having selected a spot near the path and
the stream, and close to a fine fig-tree, which stood just
within the forest, we cleared the ground and set to build