A few yards broad of sand, and then impenetrable jungle, among which we could see, below, the curved yellow stems of the coconuts; and higher up the straight gray stems and broad fan-leaves of Carat palms; which I regret to say we did not reach.

With these, in open baskets, lay bright scarlet capsicums, green coconuts tinged with orange, great roots of yam {26b} and cush-cush, {26c} with strange pulse of various kinds and hues.

] At times somebody may be seen floating down the stream asleep on a heap of coconuts.

When this had been done the natives produced a good supply of trade in the shape of vegetables and fruit; amongst the last Banks enumerates bread-fruit, bananas, coconuts, and apples (a species of hog plum).

On this ceremonial Cook says: "It further appear'd that the things which Tupia gave away, was for the God of this people, as they gave us a hog and some coconuts for our God, and thus they have certainly drawn us in to commit sacrilege, for the Hog hath already received sentence of Death and is to be dissected tomorrow.

It is the rich sap which should have gone to the forming of coconuts, which is intercepted by cutting off the point of the fruit stalk and tying on an earthen pot.

When a new house is building you will see a high pole over the doorway, bearing coconuts at the top, with an umbrella spread over them.

Their provisions chiefly consist of rice and coconuts; and their water, which during the westerly monsoon is easily replenished on all parts of the coast, is carried in joints of bamboo.

A piece of teak-wood, one side of which bore the marks of green paint, was found washed up on the beach; it had probably dropped or been thrown overboard from some ship passing by; several coconuts which had been evidently washed on shore were also lying above the tides' mark.

Aer (water) was among the foremost of our inquiries, to which we added the terms for pigs, sheep, fowls, and coconuts, (vavee, doomba, mannu, and nieu).

The refreshments consisted of sheep, coconuts, limes, bananas, mangoes, and the Jaca fruit.

Near the cask were lying several coconuts, one of which was quite sound and perfect.

The natives could not be induced to venture on board, and for a long time hesitated to receive some presents conveyed to them on a plank, in return for coconuts, a stone axe, and some shells.

The people parted very readily with their weapons and ornaments, also coconuts in abundance, and a few yams and bananas, for strips of calico and pieces of iron hoop.

They usually made their appearance in the morning and remained for an hour or so, bartering coconuts, yams, ornaments and weapons for iron hoop, knives, and axes.

A few coconuts were given us for a knife or two, and we saw their mode of climbing for them, which one man did with the agility of a monkey, ascending first by a few notches, made years ago, afterwards by clasping the trunk with his arms, arching his body with the feet against the tree, and then walking up precisely in the mode of the Torres Strait Islanders.

The poor man looked quite bewildered at his unexpected good fortune, and for a little while was quite speechlessnot understanding the nature of a gift, or being taken with a sudden fit of generosity, he afterwards waded out to the boat with some coconuts to give me in return.

As they might erroneously have supposed that we had been making free with their coconuts and yams, some grass which had been cut for the sheep on board was taken out of the bag and shown them as being intended for our bobo (pigs)which they appeared to understand.

They brought with them coconuts, yams, and various other articles to barter with; among these were some productions of the country which I had not previously seenIndian corn, ginger, and sugarcane.

They were perfectly unarmed and came boldly alongside with a quantity of yams and coconuts for barter; when their stock was exhausted, they returned for more, and, accompanied by others, repeated the visit several times during the day.

We had seen neither stream nor well upon the island, and besides, it is probable that the great abundance of coconuts enables them to subsist with very little water.

In the evening when the natives were leaving for the shore, one of them volunteered to remain on board on the understanding that some of us should accompany him to Tassai, where, he explained, there would be plenty of dancing and eating, enumerating pigs, dogs, yams, and coconuts, as the component parts of the feast.

From our anchorage we next morning saw on Dufaure Island, from which we were distant about three miles, a village in a grove of coconut trees behind a sandy beach, and the natives came off in considerable numbers bringing large quantities of coconuts and breadfruit;* they did not appear however to have any yams.

We fed them at first on ripe coconuts, of which they were very fond; but latterly they became accustomed to pea-soup.

With the exception of two or three coconuts nothing was brought to barter with, but they readily parted with bows and arrows, of which they had a very large supply.