We only obtained one megapode on Trinkat, and it was found in a trap. They are probably numerous, for we saw several, and heard frequent calls. The undergrowth is very thick, and the ground covered with tall grass, and although to move about is easy, it is not easy to see these birds until one is almost upon them, when they disappear before one can get a shot. A few rats (_Mus burrus_, sp. nov.) were caught in the traps, and we shot a few additional specimens, and this is the only island we visited in the Nicobars where they seemed other than extremely scarce.
[Illustration: "Scare-devil," or device for exorcising evil spirits.]
The Harbour Shores--A Village--_Kanaia_--Canoe--Feeding the Animals--Collecting-ground--Mangrove Creeks--Preparations for a Festival--Burial Customs--Malacca Village--Houses--Visit Tanamara--Furniture--Talismans and "Scare-devils"--Beliefs-- Festivities--A Dance--An Educated Native--Tanamara and his Relations--Cigarettes--Refreshments--The Collections--Geology-- Flora--Population--Piracy.
On the morning of the 5th we weighed anchor, and proceeded to Nankauri harbour. The entrance is about a quarter of a mile wide, and its northern coast, once the site of the Government settlement, is the only open grassy portion of the harbour shores. Just within the point stands the flag-staff, and above it, on the crest of a low hill, a little graveyard lies within the shade of casuarinas. A long jetty of coral blocks runs out from the shore, and near by is the house of the agent. Opposite, on either side of Mayo Point, are the villages of Malacca and Inúanga, and behind them the forest-clad slopes stretch to grassy uplands.
We sailed into Spiteful Bay, which lies just behind the southern point of the harbour entrance, and anchored in 12 fathoms, mud and sand, close to a little village of a dozen houses standing above the beach.[38] In front of these and planted in shallow water, rose a number of tall poles, each made of several spars bound end to end with rattan, and ornamented at intervals with bunches of palm leaves. These the natives call _kanaia_: they have, we were told repeatedly, no superstitious significance; one is put up for each inhabited house in the village, and renewed periodically.[39]