840 Batchian. 



forest became flooded, the roads filled with mud, and insects 

 and birds were scarcer than ever. On December 13th, in the 

 afternoon, we had a sharp earthquake shock, which made the 

 house and furniture shake and rattle for five minutes, and the 

 trees and shrubs wave as if a gust of wind had passed over 

 them. About the middle of December I removed to the vil- 

 lage, in order more easily to explore the district to the west 

 of it, and to be near the sea when I wished to return to Ter- 

 nate. I obtained the use of a good-sized house in the Cam- 

 pong Sirani (or Christian village), and at Christmas and the 

 New Year had to endure the incessant gun-firing, drum-beat- 

 ing, and fiddling of the inhabitants. 



These people are very fond of music and dancing, and it 

 would astonish a European to visit one of their assemblies. 

 We enter a gloomy palm-leaf hut, in which two or three very 

 dim lamps barely render darkness visible. The floor is of 

 black sandy earth, the roof hid in a smoky impenetrable black- 

 ness ; two or three benches stand against the walls, and the 

 orchestra consists of a fiddle, a fife, a drum, and a triangle. 

 There is plenty of company, consisting of young men and 

 women, all very neatly dressed in white and black — a true 

 Portuguese habit. Quadrilles, waltzes, polkas, and mazurkas 

 are danced with great vigor and much skill. The refreshments 

 are muddy coffee and a few sweetmeats. Dancing is kept up 

 for hours, and all is conducted with much decorum and pro- 

 priety. A party of this kind meets about once a week, the 

 principal inhabitants taking it by turns, and all who please 

 come in without much ceremony. 



It is astonishing how little these people have altered in 

 three hundred years, although in that time they have changed 

 their language and lost all knowledge of their OAvn national- 

 ity. They are stiU in manners and ap]3earance almost pure 

 Portuguese, very similar to those with whom I had become 

 acquainted on the banks of the Amazon. They live very poor- 

 ly as regards their house and furniture, but preserve a semi- 

 European dress, and have almost all full suits of black for Sun- 

 days. They are nominally Protestants, but Sunday evening 

 is their grand day for music and dancing. The men are oft- 

 en good hunters ; and two or three times a week deer or wild 

 pigs are brought to the village, which, with fish and fowls, 



