Oeassa. 195 



well "wooded, but covered with shrubs and thorny bushes rath- 

 er than forest-trees, and everywhere excessively parched and 

 dried up by the long-continued dry season. I staid at the vil- 

 lage of Oeassa, remarkable for its soap springs. One of these 

 is in the middle of the village, bubbling out from a little cone 

 of mud to which the ground rises all round like a volcano in 

 miniature. The water has a soapy feel, and produces a strong 

 lather when any greasy substance is washed in it. It contains 

 alkali and iodine in such quantities as to destroy all vegeta- 

 tion for some distance round. Close by the village is one of 

 the finest springs I have ever seen, contained in several rocky 

 basins communicating by narrow channels. These have been 

 neatly walled where required and partly levelled, and form 

 fine natural baths. The water is well-tasted, and clear as crys- 

 tal, and the basins are surrounded by a grove of lofty many- 

 stemmed banyan- trees, which keep them always cool and 

 shady, and add greatly to the picturesque beauty of the scene. 



The village consists of curious little houses very different 

 from any I have seen elsewhere. They are of an oval figure, 

 and the walls are made of sticks about four feet hi_gh, placed 

 close together. From this rises a high conical roof thatched 

 with grass. The only opening is a door about three feet high. 

 The people are like the Timorese, with frizzly or wavy haii-, and 

 of a coppery-brown color. The better class appear to have 

 a mixture of some superior race, which has much improved 

 their features. I saw in Coupang some chiefs from the isl- 

 and of Savu, further west, who presented characters very dis- 

 tinct from either the Malay or Papuan races. They most re- 

 sembled Hindoos, having fine well-formed features and straight 

 thin noses, with clear brown complexions. As the Brahmini- 

 cal religion once spread over all Java, and even now exists in 

 Bali and Lombock, it is not at all improbable that some na- 

 tives of India should have reached this island, either by acci- 

 dent or to escape persecution, and formed a permanent settle- 

 ment there. 



I staid at Oeassa four days, when, not finding any insects 

 and very few new birds, I returned to Coupang to await the 

 next mail-steamer. On the Avay I had a narrow escape of being 

 swamped. The deep cofiin-like boat was filled up with my 

 baggage, and with vegetables, cocoa-nuts, and other fruit for 



