one frequently meets with it piled up between the roots in conſequence of natural cauſes. At any rate, the natives of this country, as we ſhall ſee hereafter, do not make their fires upon hearths, but kindle them on the bare ground, and prepare their victuals over the coals.
Some of the largeſt trees were hollowed by the fire throughout the whole length of their trunks, ſo as to form a ſort of chimnies: nevertheleſs they continued to vegetate.
Many of the large trunks that we felled during our ſtay at this place, were found, notwithſtanding their apparent ſoundneſs externally, to be rotten at the heart.
After having followed the ſhore that extends with numerous windings, towards the ſouth-eaſt, we attempted to make our way acroſs ſome marſhes, in order to get into grounds that had acquired a more ſolid conſiſtence from the roots of the plants; but a ſpecies of the ſclerya, which grows to the height of ſix or eight feet, cut our hands and faces, with its leaves, in ſuch a manner that we were obliged to deſiſt from our attempt.
During this excurſion I killed ſeveral birds of the genus motacilla, and ſome parrots, amongſt which was the parrot of New Caledonia, deſcribed by Latham.
We now directed our route towards the en-
entrance
