The dialect of these people differed from any I had ever visited, but their manners and customs were the same. Cantab is a small but high island, about ten miles long by four wide. On the western end there is a mountain shaped like a sugar loaf, at the foot of which there are two springs, one hot or very warm, and the other nearly as cold as ice. I bathed in the warm one, and could but just endure the heat. Many of the natives had never beheld a white man before and eyed me with great curiosity, but I was not much troubled with the children, as they were very much afraid of me and if I looked toward them they would scamper off like sheep. When at Raver, I used to employ myself fishing, shooting and doing little mechanical jobs for the chief. I used to have very fine shooting, there being vast numbers of ducks round the river. The natives were very expert at shooting them with arrows. One day I was in the house casting a lead pipe for the chief, when suddenly he called out "awanker parpalong sarla comy"! (The white man's vessel has come!) I inquired where and how he knew. I learned that a canoe was off near her and started to go on board, but seeing a smoke they were afraid she was going to fire guns, and dared not go, but immediately came ashore and reported. The chief ordered his canoe and we started down the river. When we got to the mouth of the river we found the ship lay about three miles from the reef, with the maintopsail aback, but the water was so shoal that we grounded on the reef, and before we could get over she braced full and stood off. My heart ached to see her go. This was the first ship I had seen for over two years. We returned to the shore and built large fires in hopes she would continue round the island till morning, but when day broke we could see nothing of her. The chief thought she had gone to the island of Cantab and some of our party proposed going there if I would accompany them, which I readily consented to do. We accordingly started in a small canoe, but when we got to the passage through the reef, we found the sea too rough to venture out, so we ran down inside the reef four or five miles to a small village where we procured a large canoe and crossed over to the island of Banger, about five miles distant. By this time it was near night with a strong wind and rough sea, so we concluded to stop there for the night. We secured our canoe and started for the village, which was at the summit of the highest mountain and about three miles from the shore. After a tedious walk over rocky hills and through thickly-wooded valleys we arrived at the village, reported to the chief and were assigned a house calculated for the accommodation of visitors, with which every village is provided.