Cannibalism is still rampant in some districts, but in others has died out. A man who has died a natural death is never eaten. Human flesh is deemed far superior to pig, of which animal they have plenty, and, strange to say, cannibalism is just as rife in districts where other food is abundant as in those where it is scarce. The natives have no European prejudices regarding the human body, and eat it with as good a conscience and as much gusto as we do butcher's meat. To a civilized person, this is of course repugnant, but we must remember "different countries have different customs." The _Hygeia_ party spent three days on Rossel, but did not succeed in finding paying gold, only bare "colours" of the precious metal. What else could they expect for a three days' prospect? They then went to Messima (St. Aignan), a large island 40 miles to the north, spent a couple of days on shore finding nothing but "colours," never attempting to follow them up. They afterwards visited Normanby, Ferguson, and Goodenough, all large islands lying to the north of East Cape, and on to China Straits, where they disembarked, having failed in their search. A few weeks later, a number of "diggers" left Sud-Est on their own behalf, journeying to St. Aignan. They spent several weeks in prospecting, at the end of which they had the satisfaction of discovering two large gullies bearing paying gold. The news of the "find" soon reached Sud-Est, and in a short time 100 men found their way to the new "rush." The country of St. Aignan is much more broken than Sud-Est, and, owing to the denseness of the scrub, is more difficult to travel in. In spite of these disadvantages, a large quantity of gold was obtained, and had it not been for the great amount of sickness amongst the diggers, this quantity would have been considerably increased. Three friends of mine left St. Aignan and went in a small cutter to Normanby Island. They stayed there for four weeks, and not meeting with success proceeded to the adjoining island, viz., Fergusson. The latter is larger than Sud-Est, is only 15 miles from the mainland, and is thickly populated. In a few days they discovered good traces of gold. Unfortunately they were unable to continue the search, as their "tucker" had run short, and also their number (three) was too small to cope with the savages. They liked the look of the country and were strongly of the opinion that it contained paying gold, and much regretted their inability to remain. There are numerous boiling springs on this island, which is evidently of volcanic origin.