Portuguese Government, 205 



their independence in a great measure, and both dislike and 

 despise their would-be rulers, whether Portuguese or Dutch. 



The Portuguese government in Timor is a most miserable 

 one. Nobody seems to care the least about the improvement 

 of the country, and at this time, after three hundred years of 

 occupation, there has not been a mile of road made beyond 

 the town, and there is not a solitary European resident any- 

 where in the interior. All the government officials oj)press 

 and rob the natives as much as they can, and yet there is no 

 care taken to render the town defensible should the Timorese 

 attempt to attack it. So ignorant are the military officers, 

 that having received a small mortar and some shells, no one 

 could be found who knew how to use them ; and during an 

 insurrection of the natives (while I was at Delli) the officer 

 who expected to be sent against the insurgents was instantly 

 taken ill ! and they were allowed to get possession of an im- 

 portant pass within three miles of the town, where they could 

 defend themselves against ten times the force. The result was 

 that no provisions were brought down from the hills ; a famine 

 was imminent, and the governor had to send off to beg for 

 supplies from the Dutch Governor of Amboyna. 



In its i^resent state Timor is more trouble than profit to its 

 Dutch and Portuguese rulers, and it will continue to be so un- 

 less a different system is pursued. A few good roads into the 

 elevated districts of the interior, a conciliatory policy and strict 

 justice toward the natives, and the introduction of a good sys- 

 tem of cultivation as in Java and Northern Celebes, might yet 

 make Timor a -productive and valuable island. Rice grows 

 well on the marshy flats which often fringe the coast, and 

 maize thrives in all the lowlands, and is the common food of 

 the natives as it was when Dampier visited the island in 1699. 

 The small quantity of coffee now grown is of very superior 

 quality, and it might be increased to any extent. Sheep thrive, 

 and would always be valuable as fresh food for whalers and to 

 supply the adjacent islands with mutton, if not for their wool ; 

 although it is jirobable that on the mountains this product 

 might soon be obtained by judicious breeding. Horses thrive 

 amazingly ; and enough wheat might be gi'own to supply the 

 whole Archipelago if there were sufficient inducements to the 

 natives to extend its cultivation, and good roads by which it 



