Such is the succinct narrative, of which old Lomba offered me the first rude materials.

THE CHIEF LOMBA.

As soon as I had read the papers contained in the basket, I endeavoured, by the help of the Malay dictionary, to gain some more information from the old man, and after some time succeeded in making out that he was the chief Lomba, mentioned by the seamen in their narrative; which was confirmed by finding that the shirt he wore was marked with the name of the unfortunate midshipman, J.P.  Ching, who so early fell a victim to the murderous savages on the reef.  From our ignorance of the language I was unable to gain any information of the European boy, said to be still on the island.  Lomba pointed out the village he came from, prettily situated on the crest of a well-wooded hill, and gave me to understand that I should there find the other chief, Pabok, who was too old and infirm to come down.  Upon which I determined to remain for the night, in order to visit the village, in hopes of getting some more information, and also to make Pabok a present, which he well deserved for his good services.

The gig was accordingly sent inshore to sound, and soon made the signal of having found an anchorage, upon which we stood in, greatly to the delight of the natives, who, as they were not armed, were allowed to come on board, where they behaved very well.  Some went aloft with great activity to assist in furling sails, and two came aft to the wheel, the use of which they seemed to understand perfectly.

At one o’clock we anchored in 11 fathoms sand and coral, three quarters of a mile from the shore; and as soon as the ship was secured, a party of us landed, accompanied by the old chief, and followed by most of the natives in their canoes.

APPEARANCE OF THE SHORES.

On landing, the contrast to the Australian shores we had so recently sailed from, was very striking.  We left a land covered with the monotonous interminable forest of the eucalyptus or gumtree, which, from the peculiar structure of its leaf, affords but little shelter from the tropical sun.  Shores fringed with impenetrable mangroves; a soil producing scarcely any indigenous vegetable, either in the shape of root or fruit fit for food.  The natives black, naked, lowest in the scale of civilized life; their dwellings, if such they can be called, formed by spreading the bark rudely torn from the tree, over a few twigs placed in the ground, under which they creep for shelter; dependent almost entirely on the success of the chase for their daily food, not having arrived at the first and simplest form of cultivation, and in like manner destitute of all trace of religion, except the faint symptom of belief in an evil spirit.

We landed on a beach, along which a luxuriant grove of coconut trees extended for more than a mile, under the shade of which were sheds neatly constructed of bamboo and thatched with palm leaves, for the reception of their canoes.  To our right a hill rose to a height of about 400 feet, covered with brilliant and varied vegetation so luxuriant as entirely to conceal the village built on its summit.  The natives who thronged the beach were of a light tawny colour, mostly fine, athletic men, with an intelligent expression of countenance.