During a journey which I made inland, accompanied by my huntsman and my interpreter, to endeavour to find some game, and to view the condition of the interior, my attention was excited by a great number of caves, containing live pigs, which on this island arrive at a tolerably large size. We encountered also large flocks of sheep, which form a most important branch of the wealth of the people. They also possess buffaloes, but these are chiefly herded on the southern parts of the island. Throughout the journey I found the ground to consist of hard coral rocks overgrown with short plants, among which small plantations of yam and Indian corn were occasionally met with, while the beach was planted with cocoa-nut trees. No wells are to be found on the island: the natives, therefore, collect the water, which falls during the rains, in large pits, where it seems to keep very well for a long time. While on the excursion mentioned above, a troop of people, about two hundred and fifty in number, belonging to the villages on the south coast of the island, passed by us, every man being armed, as they were then at war with the people of the northern parts of the island. On approaching the village they ranged themselves two and two, carrying themselves with an air of haughtiness, while a man walked at their head waving an old Dutch flag fastened to the end of a bamboo. Behind him was borne a chair, on which was placed a baton of the former East India Company, and an old felt hat, and in the middle of the procession a child of three years old was carried by a female. I followed them at a little distance without being observed. On arriving in the village the chair was placed before the idol, the people squatting round it, without laying aside their weapons. When I approached them some time afterwards, I found them in the same position. The chair, with its contents, had formerly been the property of the late Orang Kaya of the south coast. The child we had seen was his son, who was proposed to me as his successor. Until he could fulfil the office, the Government was entrusted to his uncle. As usual, the differences among the islanders were soon settled by me, and the event of this general reconciliation was celebrated by a great feast, at which they pledged themselves to continued friendship. The reconciliation between these people was conducted in a similar manner to that between children who have quarrelled. Having first asked permission to speak, they commenced blaming and accusing each other, after which they held out their right hands, and requested me to join them. This being performed they took a little _siri_ from each other's boxes, when the ceremony of reconciliation was completed. The elders of the parties commenced, and they were followed by their juniors, but the women had nothing to do with the matter, being totally disregarded.