At 4, A.M., on the 9th of December, we took our departure from the Mulgrave Islands, and stood to the westward. At daylight, we had lost sight of the group, and at 10, A.M., made South Pedder's Island. Having stood a little too far to the southward, we were all day beating up to weather the N.E. point, where, at sun-down, we hove to in the hope that on the following morning we should be able to effect a landing, and get a sight of the great chief, so celebrated amongst the people we had just left. On the 11th of December, having passed all the early part of the day searching in vain for anchorage, we hove to, a little after meridian, opposite to a considerable bay, upon the shore of which was a native village, and large forests of cocoa-nut trees. The captain took Huzzy in the gig, and, followed by another boat, pulled in over a wide coral bank to the village. A few people were attracted to the shore by the appearance of our boats. They immediately conducted the captain to the chief, who was seated on a mat in the open air, in front of his hut. He seemed but little moved at the unexpected appearance of his visitors. He was a very old man, and had a long white beard that came down upon his breast. The natives stood round in respectful silence, as the old chief addressed the captain, whom he soon distinguished as the person of highest rank amongst the strangers. He spoke the same language as the inhabitants of the Mulgraves, and Huzzy was forbidden to let him know that he was understood, but to listen attentively to what he was saying to those around him. For a time his intercourse with the captain was carried on by signs, and Huzzy overheard him say to the natives, standing by, "Don't disturb them yet. Wait until to-morrow, and see what they are going to do. They will look round here to see what they can find, trade a little, and go on board of their vessel, to sleep, and to-morrow they will come again." When the captain told Huzzy to address some questions to the chief in his own language, it seemed to operate as quickly as an electric shock upon the natives, who stared wildly around at him, and at each other, with looks of the utmost astonishment. The chief partially lost his gravity in the sensation it produced, being not less surprised than his subjects. He asked Huzzy, before answering the question put to him, where he had learned to speak the language of Pedder's Island. Huzzy replied, that he had learned it at the Mulgrave Islands, where he had been for two years. The old chief said, that he had been informed of two white men being there, and was then fitting out a fleet of canoes to send after them. He expressed a great deal of disappointment, that we had taken them away, saying, he would have had them brought to his own island, and treated them well. He asked, if Lay was also on board of the vessel. The captain had taken on shore a present for the chief, and a number of trifles, that he thought might be