Note 47 — Chapter XIX

Captain Cook, during his first voyage, touched at a village on the south-west coast of New Guinea, whose position agrees with this, and had an encounter with the natives, in which lives were lost on the part of the latter. The people of the Endeavour observed, also, the singular proceeding above alluded to, and at first supposed that the natives had fire-arms. From the remarks of M. Modera, of the Dutch corvette Triton, it appears that the composition thrown out of the bamboos consists of lime, ashes and sand, which were ejected for the purpose of making signals to friends at a distance.—Translator.