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Nevertheless, the Papuan natives of the littoral are not wanting in industry and ingenuity. The Motu tribe is celebrated all along the coast for skill in the manufacture of pottery, and they carry on a large trade in cooking utensils and water jugs with the tribes living farther to the west. We saw them fitting up their large trading canoes, or Lakatois, as they call them, which are, in fact, a species of raft formed of five or more large trunks of the buoyant pencil-cedar tree, hollowed out and lashed skilfully together. These huge rafts were in various stages of completion; from twenty to forty busy workmen were in each, fixing the lashings, and making splash-boards of lengths of thatch composed of pandanus leaves. These leaves are gathered at certain periods when they have attained their full growth, and are strung together in lengths varying from 9 to 12 feet. A framework of strong saplings is first lashed right across the huge trading vessel, projecting fore and aft about 8 feet, and 3 feet over the sides, forming, when covered with the leaves, a gangway all round. Huts of the same tough material are erected on this base, and last of all the mast is shipped, carrying a neat sail of a peculiar shape, like the claw of a crab. Of course, naval structures of this kind are not well calculated for sailing close to the wind; but the astute natives get the better of Neptune and his laws, by taking advantage of the prevailing winds to make their voyages annually. With the last of the south-east trades they sail westward to the villages on the coast, and to the rivers of the Papuan Gulf, exchanging their pottery for the rabia (sago) and other products of the region; and after several weeks of feasting, they catch the north-west monsoons to return homewards with their deeply laden vessels. Sometimes, on the return voyage, half a dozen or more of the family trading canoes are lashed together, thus forming quite a floating village, swarming with a joyous population. M. D'Albertis mentions in his book the astonishment which these strange flotillas caused in him. In anticipation of witnessing the starting of the Port Moresby Armada in a few days, I made my arrangements for taking instantaneous photographs of the Lakatois, and also of the singular mystic ceremonies which precede the event. Meantime I was occupied with preparations for the inland excursion. The