The strongest wind blows from the westward and is known to the natives as an "Arras." It occurs in the months of February and March, and as a rule lasts for a couple of days, when there is a lull. It blows with great force, causing a nasty sea, so when anchored it is wise to "pay out" plenty of chain, or you may find your vessel has dragged and is being drifted away by the tide at the rate of six or seven knots an hour. The tide runs parallel with the coast. This is comforting, as, should you drift away in the night unawares, you run no risk of being stranded on a coral shore. Some friends of mine were fast asleep on board their craft and awoke to find they had drifted ten miles from home and it took them the whole of the next day to beat back again to their anchorage. The native population is estimated at 300,000. This is, however, a very rough estimate, as no census has ever been taken; also the interior is a _terra incognita_. The population of the coast can be fairly gauged, but who can tell what number of inhabitants the interior contains? There is every reason for believing that parts of the interior carry a dense population. Great valleys have been seen in the distance; immense tracts of grass land have been cleared, evidently for the purposes of cultivation. There are, I am aware, certain districts along the coast where the population is sparse. This can always be accounted for by the poverty of the soil. Likewise parts of the interior may be unfit for cultivation, and therefore would be thinly inhabited. Nevertheless, treating the interior as an unknown quantity, I consider the estimate given, viz., 300,000, to be well under the mark. Regarding the vitality of the race, there are no signs of decay. Generally speaking, the natives are a healthy and vigorous people, and are more likely to increase in numbers than die out. They are well-housed and well-fed, very different from the nomadic tribes of Australia. The mountain tribes of New Guinea live principally by the chase, but have also plantations on which they cultivate large quantities of vegetables. The natives of the coast live on the products of their gardens and by fishing. They have no knowledge of any intoxicating drinks, not even of "Kava," the Fijian beverage, which is made from a palm. Therefore if they do not imbibe the vicious tastes of civilization there is no reason why they should not perpetuate their race for many centuries to come. The chief products of the country are mother-of-pearl shell, Beche-de-mer (or trepang), copra, and tortoise-shell.