IN THE MOLUCCAS. 



287 



under a deliglitfully shaJy canopy of tall Kanary iroos, 

 and among the groves of Nutmeg of which Banda is tho 



fnmous garden. 



Quite a picturesque object in the wood 



a boy busy 



gathering 



the fruit into a neat creel, witli a 



jointed pole like a fishing-rod, nipping off the stalk of tho 

 ripe nuts by two claw-like prongs with wliich the tip of his 

 rod was armed, when they dropped into a little basket-like 



cage w^orked to the 



stem a few inches below, 

 and showed us his basketful of beautiful fruit 

 in its pale yellow shell, half of which h loii 



dark brown nut 



He 



came 



on, m 



which was nestling the 



embroidered with its deep lake mace. This fruit 

 is the favourite food of the large pigeons (Garpo- 

 flMga coiicinna) whose low booming note was one 

 of the few bird sounds that broke the' stillness of 

 the w^oods. I shot, however, a lovely green dove 

 {Piilopus diadematus) and a little V/hitc-cye {Zos- 

 terops chloris)^ and noticed traces of the Cassowaries 

 that have been introduced from Xew Guinea, which 

 are said to be now breediniz there. 



Farther on we came on one of the plantation- 

 houses, where a large number of men and women 

 were peeling the mace, drying it in the sun, and 

 packing both in boxes. These cases are all made 

 of one size, carefully finished and caulked, and 

 form as deliijhtful an article 



:a 



w^ 



»^ 



of cargo 



as 



lAil^nS COL" 



L E C T I X U 



KOD. 



long 



about 



could 

 be wished, None but a trade de luxe would befit 

 an island so ornate and so wonderfully situated as 

 Banda. Its produce,'grown in beautiful bowers, is 

 gathered up round its umbrageous bayleted shores in 

 gaudily-painted prans, which are constantly darting 

 propelled by lithe rowers, who, as is their custom, synchrony 

 ously plunge and flash out their paddles in the sun to a 

 buoyant merry tune, and in whose preparation or shipment 

 not one hand-soiling operation is required ; its atmosphere is 

 charged with aromatic exhalations ; its wharfs and streets are 

 the picture of tidiness, and the very water that laps its coral 

 shores is brighter and purer than almost anywhere else in the 



world. 



i niirht's slow stcaminp: brouerht us to Amboina. 



