On the 18th August, a party landed on the coast of New Guinea, and
paid a friendly visit to some of the Papuans who had been off to the
ship, and found them less fierce and distrustful than those of the
islands. Some of them thought the muskets were water-vessels, and
others were afraid of a knife: it was too sharp. They are excellent
mimics; and one of them imitated the English drummer so cleverly on an
old tin-can, as to excite roars of laughter among all who witnessed
the performance. Some of their dances are extraordinary, more
resembling a fencing-match than movements of the light fantastic toe;
and the following description of a dance after nightfall is
curious:--'On seeing a number of lights along the beach, we at first
thought they proceeded from a fishing-party, but on looking through a
night-glass, the group was seen to consist of above a dozen people,
each carrying a blazing torch, and going through the movements of a
dance. At one time, they extended rapidly into line; at another,
closed, dividing into two parties, advancing and retreating, crossing
and recrossing, and mixing up with each other. This continued for half
an hour; and having apparently been got up for our amusement, a rocket
was sent up for theirs, and a blue-light burned; but the dancing had
ceased, and the lights disappeared.'

On the 1st October, the _Rattlesnake_ was again at Cape York. About
the middle of the month, an incident occurred which relieved the
dulness of a period of inactivity--the discovery and rescue of a white
woman, who had been for some time a prisoner among the natives. We
shall abridge Mr Macgillivray's narrative of her story. Her name is
Barbara Thomson; she was born at Aberdeen, and emigrated to New South
Wales with her parents. About four and a half years prior to the
event, she had accompanied her husband in a small cutter, to try to