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The fauna, however, has not attained to the same exceptionally fine development as the flora. At Rawak the phalanger and the sheepdog in a wild state were the only quadrupeds met with. In Waigiou, the boar called barberossa, and a diminutive of the same race were found.
There was much to be done in the way of accurate survey, but unfortunately the hydrographers were sorely hindered in their work by the fever which they and some forty of the crew had contracted at Rawak. Sailing on, the Anchoret Islands came in sight on the 12th of February, and on the day following the Amirantes, but the Uranie did not attempt to make for the land.
On the 6th of January, 1819, having taken in supplies at Rawak, the Uranie proceeded on her voyage, and soon came in sight of the Ayou islands, mere sand-banks surrounded by breakers, of which few geographical details had been known up to that time.
As soon as a suitable position was found, the instruments were set up, and the usual physical and astronomical observations were made in conjunction with geographical researches. The islands which Freycinet calls the islands of the Papuans are Rawak, Boni, Waigiou, and Manouran, which are situated almost immediately below the equator.
It was found to be of volcanic origin, and the soil, formed from the decomposition of trachytic lava, was evidently very fertile. From Pisang the corvette made her way among islands, till then scarcely known, to Rawak, where she cast anchor at noon on the 16th of December.