200 Timor. 



tinually ill from fever, and the Portuguese have occupied the 

 place for three centm-ies, no one has yet built a house on these 

 fine hills, which, if a tolerable road were made, would be only 

 an hour's ride from the town ; and almost equally good situa- 

 tions might be found on a lower level at half an hour's dis- 

 tance. The fact that potatoes and wheat of excellent quality 

 are grown in abundance at from 3000 to 3500 feet elevation, 

 shows what the climate and soil are capable of if jiroperly 

 cultivated. From one to two thousand feet high coffee would 

 thrive ; and there are hundreds of square miles of country, over 

 which aU the varied products which require climates between 

 those of coffee and wheat would flourish ; but no attempt has 

 yet been made to form a single mUe of road or a single acre 

 of plantation ! 



There must be something very unusual in the climate of 

 Timor to permit of wheat being grown at so moderate an 

 elevation. The grain is of excellent quality, the bread made 

 from it being equal to any I have ever tasted ; and it is uni- 

 versally acknowledged to be unsui-passed by any made from 

 imported European or American flour. The fact that the na- 

 tives have (quite of their own accord) taken to cultivating such 

 foreign articles as wheat and potatoes, which they bring in 

 small quantities on the backs of ponies by the most horrible 

 mountain tracks, and sell very cheaply at the sea-side, sufii- 

 ciently indicates what might be done if good roads were made, 

 and if the people were taught, encouraged, and protected. 

 Sheep also do well on the mountains, and a breed of hardy 

 ponies in much repute aU over the Archipelago, runs half 

 wild ; so that it appears as if this island, so barren-looking and 

 devoid of the usual featxires of tro^^ical vegetation, were yet 

 especially adapted to supply a variety of products essential to 

 Europeans, which the other islands Avill not produce, and which 

 they accordingly import from the other side of the globe. 



On the 24th of February my friend Mr. Geach left Timor, 

 having finally reported that no minerals worth working were 

 to be found. The Portuguese were very much annoyed, hav- 

 ing made up their minds that copper is abundant, and still 

 believing it to be so. It appears that from time immemorial 

 pure native copper has been found at a place on the coast 

 about thirty miles east of Delli. The natives say they find it 



