THE KE ISLANDS. 379 



that a deer abounds in the northernmost of the Am Islands • no 

 doubt it is of the same species as the deer of Amboina (fiusa 

 moluccensis) : I was shown the horns. It must have been intro- 

 duced either by the Malays or Dutch. 



The Chinese dealers in Manchester and Birmingham goods 

 and arrack at Dobbo, used cajuput oil as a preservative for their 

 Birds of Paradise skins, to keep off ants and other insects. 



Books referring to the Am Islands. " Discoveries in Australia," also "Ad 

 Account of Capt. Owen Stanley's Visit to the Islands of the Araf ura Sea," by 

 J. Lort. Stokes, Commander, R.N., Vol. II., p. 333. London, Boone, 1846. 



" Voyage of the Dutch Brig ' Dourga.' " Trans, by W. Earle. Madden 

 & Co., London, 1840. 



A. R. Wallace, F.R.S., &c, " The Malay Archipelago." 



The Ke Islands, September 24tli and 25th, 1874. We Crossed 



over from the Am Islands to the Ke Islands, taking a day on 

 the passage and dredging and sounding between the two groups, 

 finding a depth of 300 fathoms. Whilst we were off the coast 

 of Great Ke Island several boats full of natives put ' off to the 

 ship. The boats were described by Wallace. They are shaped 

 like whale boats and are fastened together with rattans. 



The crews used paddles with long blades pointed at the 

 ends and cross handles. They paddled in time with a chanted 

 cadence identical with one used by the Fijians in their dances, 

 "e ai o turn turn." At intervals the sound rose loud from the 

 approaching boats as it was taken up in chorus. 



The chant was accompanied by a drum with a tense mem- 

 brane, on which two sounds were made by striking it slightly 

 with the tips of the fingers or more violently with the palm of 

 the hand, the sound reminding one that one was getting, in one's 

 travels, nearer towards India. 



The men, a boat-load of whom came on board, were like the 

 Am Islanders, but mostly, I thought, stronger built. They wore 

 their hair long and loose, and had no ornaments. Most of them 

 wore only an apron of cloth. All of them were in the most 

 horrible state of skin disease, their skins being in a rough scurfy 

 condition in many cases all over the body. I have not seen 

 elsewhere such bad cases of vegetable itch. The disease is due 

 to a parasitic fungus and closely allied to or identical with 



