Fishing is but little attended to here, fowls and goats, which here abound, being preferred as food. The Papuan slaves fish with lines, but _seroos_, or stake-traps, with which fish are caught on the banks, are here rarely used. The women often employ themselves in catching crabs in the shallow water, adopting rather a singular mode. They place baskets over each foot, and walking over the mud-banks they are enabled to feel the crabs when they tread upon them, which they secure by thrusting a sharp-pointed stick into them through the basket. The mode of line-fishing adopted in the Archipelago is very simple. The lines are from sixty to one hundred fathoms long, having at the end a piece of copper wire, four or five fathoms in length, to which the hook is fastened. The bait consists of hen's feathers, which are tied fast to the hook, and when in the water have the appearance of small fish. There are several other modes adopted, which it will be unnecessary to explain at length. We saw no land until the 16th, when we made the Arru Islands, and sailing close along the west coast of Wassia, hauled in, and came to an anchor in the strait between that island and Wadia. The Orang Kaya of Wadia immediately came on board, and in the afternoon I went on shore to return his visit. Hoping to gain some information at Dobbo about the coast of New Guinea, and wishing also to know how they got on there, I proceeded there the same night with the armed boats. I there met with the Orang Kaya of Wama, who informed me of the death of the head chief of Wokan, which took place about a month previous, and of his office being filled by his brother, who arrived among us during the same day. A brig from Sourabaya, and several other vessels, lay at anchor off the town, while thirteen paduakans from Macassar and Boni were hauled up on the beach, the commanders of which had gone to some of the more distant islands of the group, especially Vorkay, to purchase trepang, mother-o'pearl-shell and tortoise-shell. Two other large paduakans lay at anchor behind Maykor, the trade being conducted in a very regular manner. Several differences had, however, occurred, the most important of which were the following.