Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

April, 1836, ebbing wells. 545 From the many nests and smell of the atmosphere, this might be called a sea-rookery. The gannets, sitting on their rude nests, Ibok at an intruder with a stupid, yet angry air. The noddies, as their name expresses, are silly little crea- tures. But there is one charming bird ; it is a small and snow-white tern, which smoothly hovers at the distance of an arm's length from your head ; its large black eye scanning with quiet curiosity your expression. Little imagination is required to fancy, that so light and dehcate a body must be tenanted by some wandering fairy spirit. Sunday, April 3d. — After service I accompanied Captain FitzRoy to the settlement, situated at the distance of some miles, on a point thickly scattered over with tall cocoa-nut trees. Captain Ross and Mr. Liesk live in a large barn- like house open at both ends, and Hned with mats made of woven bark. The houses of the Malays are arranged along the shore of the lagoon. The whole place had rather a desolate aspect, because there were no gardens to show the signs of care and cultivation. The natives belong to dif- ferent islands in the East Indian Archipelago, but all speak the same language : we saw inhabitants of Borneo, Celebes, Java, and Sumatra. In the colour of their sldn they re- semble the Tahitians, nor do they widely differ from them in form of features. Some of the women, however, showed a good deal of the Chinese character. I liked both their general expression and the sound of their voices. They appeared poor, and their houses were destitute of furniture but it was evident, from the plumpness of the little children, that cocoa-nuts and turtle afford no bad sustenance. On this island the wells are situated from which ships obtain water. At first sight it appears not a Httle remark- able that the fresh water should regularly ebli and flow with the usual tide.* We must believe that the compressed sand * These ebbing and flowing wells are common in parts of the West Indies. The simple fact, that in low islands of small extent, and com- posed of porous materials, the rain-water can have no tendency to sink lower than the level of the surrounding sea, and must therefore accumulate VOL. III. 2 N