IN TIMOB-LAUT. 200 



I was delighted to be hailed by Dr. Julius. Macliik, an old 

 friend of mine in the Lampongs of Sumatra, who posted to the 

 charge of the Military Hospital, had come witli his family to 

 reside here. His house was forthwith our constant rendezvous, 

 and as he was a keen entomologist and ichthyologist, the rest 

 of the time till our departure passed most pleasantly. 



Julij 5tJi and 6th were spent in touching at Saparua, one of 

 the Ceram group, and in lying for a day in our favourite port 

 of Banda. .Having steamed slowly during the next night 

 we anchored in the morning of the 7th at Gessir, a mere 

 horseshoe-shaped, cocoanut-fringed coral atoll, picturesquely 

 showing its surface above the sea at the cast end of Ceram. 

 Once one of the most dreaded nests, and the secure hiding- 

 place of pirates in these seas, it is now one of the busiest and 

 most curious marts in the extreme East — a rich ethnological 



gallery, crowded with representatives and the handiwork of 

 every race in the Archipelago, and dotted with Malay, Chinese 

 and Buginese dwellings, each built after its own fashion. The 

 houses are arranged in quadrangular blocks, each within a 

 high fence, opening on to clean, carefully kept streets lighted 

 by oil lamps on painted lamp-posts — all fresh as a new 

 button, 



. It is the rendezvous of the Paradise- and other bird-skin 

 collectors from the mainland of New Guinea, from Salwatty, 

 Mysore, and Halmaheira, and of the pearl-divers of Aru ; 

 hither the tripang, tortoise-shell, beeswax, nutmegs, dammar, 

 and other rich produce from a multitude of islands is brought 

 to be exchanged with the Malay and Chinese traders, of Macas- 

 sar, Singapore and Ternate, for the scarlet, blue, and white 

 cottons and calicos of the Dutch and English looms, for the 

 yellow-handled hoop-iron knives, Avhich form the universal 

 small change of these regions, and for beads, glass-balls, 

 knobs of amber, old keys, scraps of iron, and worthless but 

 gaudy Brummagem. At certain seasons it is quite a rich 

 zoological garden. Here may often be seen in captivity Birds 



of Paradise of species never yet seen alive anywhere else out 

 of their own lands, parrots, lories, cockatoos, crowned pigeons, 

 cassowaries, tree kangaroos, and other animals which have 

 managed to survive a journey thus far, but rarely farther west. 

 Juh/ Sth. New Guinea! This morning we find ourselves 



