BRAMBLE FIRES ON THE NATIVES.

When Lieutenant Yule came on board we heard that since we left the Bramble near Dufaure Island to do the inshore work, he had on one occasion an affray with the natives in the neighbourhood of the Toulon Islands.  When the Bramble was nearly becalmed close inshore, several canoes with about thirty people, including several women and children, came off to barter.  A small pig* was handed into the chains, but, owing to an unavoidable occurrence, no return was made for it, upon which the owner snatched the cap from off the head of a marine attending at the gangway.  The canoe which had brought the pig then shoved off, and, on being directed by gestures to return the cap, one man stood up and poised his spear, and the others got their arms ready.  Several musket shots were fired into the canoe from a distance of six or seven yards, but, regarding the effect, conflicting statements have been made.  No resistance was attempted, as, after the first shot, some of the natives jumped into the water and all made off in confusion, which was further increased when a round shot was fired in the direction of a distant canoe coming out from the shore.

(Footnote.  As has often happened the bone of contention did not rest with the belligerents, for the pig was eventually handed over to me and prepared as a specimen, now in the British Museum, the only Sus papuensis in England at the present time.)

PARIWARA ISLANDS.

September 21st.

Took a passage in a boat sent with Lieutenant Simpson to get a round of angles on one of three neighbouring islands (afterwards called Pariwara, the native name) situated two miles and a half North-West from Redscar Point, with which they appear formerly to have been continuous, and, like it, are remarkable for their red and white cliffs.  The largest, that on which we landed, is only three-fourths of a mile in length.  In shape it is somewhat triangular:  one side is formed by a rounded ridge, the highest point of which is 234 feet in height, with irregular cliffs along the sea margin; the opposite angle is occupied by a rounded hill projecting as a headland with rocky cliffs; and these two opposite portions are connected by low land forming a sandy beach on two of the sides.  The island is covered with long coarse grass growing in tufts; there are also some pandanus trees of two kinds (P. spiralis and P. pedunculata) and some low brush of stunted bushy trees, their tops matted together, and indicating by the direction in which their branches are bent that the prevailing wind is from the south-east.