Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/279

] shore, and soon entered an extensive wood, when, amongst other birds which we killed, there was a species of pie, which I named the pie of New Caledonia. It is entirely black except the breast, shoulders and neck, which are white. The bill is rather jagged at the extremity of each mandible, and is of a light black from the root to within one-third of the point, the remainder is yellowish. The feathers of the tail are arranged in rows two by two, the upper ones being much longer than the others (See Plate XXXIX, in which the bird is represented.)

We had already proceeded above a mile, when we arrived at a villege composed of a small number of huts, sufficiently distant from each other to prevent the flames from communicating in case of any unfortunate conflagration. Two of them had been recently consumed. We there saw women cooking victuals, composed of the bark of trees and a variety of roots, amongst which I discerned those of the hypoxis, of which I have already made mention. These different articles were put dry into a large earthen pot, supported over a fire by three large stones, which supplied the place of a trevet. We observed near the entrance to one of those huts a large heap of human bones, on which the recent effects of fire were very evident.