None had the artificial prominent scars on the body peculiar to the Australians, or wanted any of the front teeth, but the septum of the nose was perforated to admit an ornament of polished shell, pointed and slightly turned up at each end.  The lobe of the ear was slit, the hole being either kept distended by a large plug of rolled-up leaf, apparently of the banana, or hung with thin circular earrings made of the ground down end of a cone-shell (Conus millepunctatus) one and a half inches in diameter, with a central hole and a slit leading to the edge.  A piece of cloth-like substance, the dried leaf of the Pandanus or some palm was used by all as a breech cloth—­it passes between the legs and is secured in front and behind to a narrow waist-band.

FIND NATIVES APPARENTLY FRIENDLY.

June 17th.

I formed one of the party in the second cutter, sent in command of Lieutenant Simpson, on a similar mission to that of yesterday.  As we passed along the north side of Pig Island we saw small groups of natives upon the grassy ridges watching the boat, and, upon our closely approaching the north-west point of the island, one of them, whom we recognised as our light-coloured acquaintance of yesterday, came running down to the top of a bank inviting us by gestures to land.

Four of our party got on shore with difficulty after a long wade upon the reef, up to the waist in water, but, on ascending the bank, the red man, as we provisionally named him, retired to a small group of natives who were coming up.  Following them as they gradually fell back in the direction of the village, in a short time the two foremost, Messrs. Huxley and Brierly,* the latter having laid down his rifle, were allowed to approach and parley.  Meanwhile, Lieutenant Simpson and I remained behind watching the natives who quickly surrounded the two others, offering tortoise-shell, green plantains, and other things for barter, and hustling them in no very ceremonious way while intent upon sketching, and having to keep their subjects in good humour by treating them to sundry scraps of extempore melodramatic performance.  Newcomers were continually making their appearance, and all the party were now suddenly observed to have furnished themselves with spears, none of which had been seen at first, and which had probably been concealed among the long grass at the spot to which they had led us.  These weapons are made of polished coconut-wood, eight to ten feet long, sharp at each end, and beautifully balanced, the thickest part being two-fifths of the distance from the point; one end was usually ornamented with a narrow strip of palm leaf, fluttering in the breeze like a pennon as usually carried.  One man was furnished with a two-edged carved and painted instrument like a sword.  Most of these people had their face daubed over with broad streaks of charcoal down the centre and round the eyes.  Occasionally variegated with white, giving them a most forbidding aspect.  At length a live pig was brought down from the village, slung on a pole, and was purchased for a knife and a handkerchief.  This was a masterstroke of policy, as the natives well knew that it would take two of us to bear off our prize to the boat, thus rendering our little party less formidable.