much resembles a haycock, with a pole driven through it; and may contain
a family of six or eight people. The covering is of long grass, and cocoa
leaves. The entrance is small; and so low, that the inhabitants must
creep in and out; but the inside was was clean and neat; and the pole
that supports the roof, was painted red, apparently with ochre.

In each of the huts, and usually on the right hand side going in, were
suspended two or three human skulls; and several strings of hands, five
or six on a string. These were hung round a wooden image, rudely carved
into the representation of a man, or of some bird; and painted and
decorated in a curious manner: the feathers of the Emu or Cassuary
generally formed one of the ornaments. In one hut, containing much the
greater number of skulls, a kind of gum was found burning before one of
these images. This hut was adjoining to another, of a different form, and
much more capacious than any of the others. The length was thirty feet,
by fifteen in breadth; and the floor was raised six feet from the ground.
The hut was very neatly built of bamboo, supported by long stakes, and
thatched with cocoa leaves and dried grass. It was judged to be the
residence of the chief of the island; and was the sole hut in which there
were no skulls or hands; but the adjoining one had more than a double
proportion.

The corpse of a man, who had been shot, was found disposed of in the
following manner. Six stakes were driven into the ground; about three
feet from each other, and six feet high. A platform of twigs was worked
upon them, at the height of five feet; and upon this, the body was laid,
without covering; but the putrid state of the corpse, did not allow of a
close inspection.

Upon the reefs which surround the island, square places, of about fifty