On returning on board, Mr. Hill, who had been away sounding, reported a clear channel to the westward.  In the evening we again landed at a small village near the ship, beautifully situated in a most luxuriant grove of coconut trees, and surrounded by a jungle, too dense to penetrate, except where a path had been cleared.  Many of the trees were very fine.

AGILITY OF JACK WHITE.

We were all much amused and surprised at the extraordinary activity our Australian native, Jack White, displayed in ascending the coconut trees, which he did with as much ease as any of us could have mounted a ladder, and when near the top of one of the highest, finding the sleeves of his frock and the legs of his trousers in the way, he held on with one arm and leg, while he rolled his trousers up above the knee, and then with both legs, while he rolled his sleeves above his elbows.  His delight at the coconuts, which were quite new to him, was very great.

Although we were not very successful in obtaining supplies on this occasion, we found on a subsequent visit, when our stay was longer, that they could be obtained at a very moderate price; firewood and water may also be obtained without difficulty.

Off the town of Ki Doulan the water is too deep for a ship to anchor, but the shoal which projects from the point of the island three miles north of the town affords good anchorage in both monsoons.

There seem to be clear passages between all the islands in this group, though contracted in places by reefs, which, from the clearness of the water, can be distinctly seen from the masthead.

ISLAND OF VORDATE.

On the morning of the 6th we got underweigh, and passing to the westward of the Ki group, saw the Nusa Tello Islands indistinctly through the haze to the westward of us.  At dawn on the 7th we made the high land of Vordate, but light winds prevented our making much progress till the evening, when a light air carried us along the land, and soon after sunset we anchored in twenty fathoms off a small village.  Daylight on the 8th did not impress us with a favourable idea of our anchorage, for it appeared we had entered by a narrow and deep channel between two reefs upon which there was not more than 4 1/2 fathoms.

At 8 a chief came off from the village in a large canoe pulled by about a dozen men, with a tom-tom beating in the bow.  He was very anxious to get some arrack, and promised plenty of supplies.

After breakfast we landed, and were saluted by one gun from a proa hauled up on the beach.  Our arrival had evidently caused much excitement among the natives, who came down in great numbers, and formed a semicircle round the boat.  They were nearly all armed with cresses and steel-headed spears.  Several of them wore a sort of breastplate made of hide, and their heads were ornamented with a profusion of richly coloured feathers and long horn-like projections formed of white calico; long necklaces of shells hung down to their waists, and all had their hair dyed in the same way as at Oliliet.  Here we again noticed the carved horns surmounting the gables of the houses.