Arrival at Macassar. 219 



CHAPTER XV. 



CELEBES. 

 MACASSAR. SEPTE3IBER TO NOVEMBER, 1856. 



I LEFT Lombock on the 30tli of August, and reached Ma- 

 cassar in three days. It was with great satisfaction that I 

 stepped on a shore which I had been vainly trying to reach 

 since February, and where I expected to meet with so much 

 that was new and intei-esting. 



The coast of this part of Celebes is low and flat, lined 

 with trees and villages so as to conceal the interior, except 

 at occasional openings, which show a wide extent of bare 

 and marshy rice-fields. A few hills of no great heiglit were 

 visible in the background ; but owing to the perpetual haze 

 over the land at this time of the year, I could nowhere dis- 

 cern the high central range of the peninsula, or the cele- 

 brated peak of Bontyue, at its southern extremity. In the 

 roadstead of Macassar there was a fine 42-gun frigate, the 

 guardship of the place, as well as a small war-steamer and 

 three or four little cutters, used for cruising after the pirates 

 which infest these seas. There were also a few square-rigged 

 trading-vessels, and twenty or thirty native praus of various 

 sizes. I brought letters of introduction to a Dutch gentle- 

 man, Mr. Mesman, and also to a Danish shop-keeper, who 

 could both speak English, and who promised to assist me in 

 finding a place to stay at suitable for my pursuits. In the 

 mean time I went to a kind of club-house, in default of any 

 hotel in the place. 



Macassar was the first Dutch town I had visited, and I 

 found it prettier and cleaner than any I had yet seen in the 

 East. The Dutch have some admirable local regulations. 

 All European houses must be kept well whitewashed, and 

 every person must, at four in the afternoon, water the road 

 in front of his house. The streets are kept clear of refuse, 

 and covered drains carry away all impurities into large open 



