[189] Typhoon, or Teí-fun, a strong wind. While some authors derive this word from the Arabic Tufan, a violent wind, others see in it the giant Typhos of Greek mythology, who was begotten by Tartarus of Earth, and from whom proceeded all that was disastrous and destructive. Whoever has experienced a typhoon will most readily acquiesce in the latter derivation.
[190] During this storm, we made the not uninteresting observation in a physiological point of view, that when the gale was at its worst, even the least hard-a-weather of us seemed quite free from sea-sickness, apparently the result of extreme excitement. For similar reasons, men who have been bitten by a snake, and who have had raw spirits administered as an antidote, seem able to take four or five times the quantity which they can on ordinary occasions.
Distant View of the Island of Puynipet.
XVI.
The Island of Puynipet.
18th September, 1858.
Native boats in sight.—A pilot comes on board.—Communications of a white settler.—Another pilot.—Fruitless attempts to tack for the island.—Roankiddi Harbour.—Extreme difficulty in effecting a landing with the boats.—Settlement of Réi.—Dr. Cook.—Stroll through the forest.—Excursions up the Roankiddi River.—American missionaries.—Visit from the king of the Roankiddi tribe.—Kawa as a beverage.—Interior of the royal abode.—The Queen.—Mode of living, habits and customs of the natives.—Their religion and mode of worship.—Their festivals and dances.—Ancient monumental records and their probable origin.—Importance of these in both a historical and geological point of view.—Return on board.—Suspicious conduct of the white settler.—An asylum for contented delinquents.—Under weigh for Australia.—Belt of calms.—Simpson Island.—"It must be a ghost!"—Bradley Reef.—A Comet.—The Salmon Islands.—Rencontre with the natives of Malaýta.—In sight of Sikayana.
While yet, on 16th September, 1858, five or six knots distant from the island of Puynipet,[191] first discovered in