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Along the South Coast. 365 



and a locality a hundred miles eastward, I could find no new 

 insects, and extremely few even of the common species of 

 Amboyna and West Ceram. It was evidently no use stop- 

 ping at such a place, and I was determined to move on as 

 soon as possible. 



The village of Teluti is populous, but straggling and very 

 dirty. Sago-trees here cover the mountain-side, instead of 

 growing as usual in low swamps ; but a closer examination 

 shows that they grow in swampy patches, which have form- 

 ed among the loose rocks that cover the ground, and which 

 are kept constantly full of moisture by the rains, and by the 

 abundance of riUs which trickle down among them. This 

 sago forms almost the Avhole subsistence of the inhabitants, 

 who appear to cultivate nothing but a few small patches of 

 maize and sweet potatoes. Hence, as before ex^^lained, the 

 scarcity of insects. The orang-kaya has fine clothes, hand- 

 some lamps, and other expensive European goods, yet lives 

 every day on sago and fish as miserably as the rest. 



After thi-ee days in this barren place I left on the morning 

 of March 6th, in two boats of the same size as those which 

 had brought me to Teluti. With some difficulty I had ob- 

 tained permission to take these boats on to Tobo, where I in- 

 tended to stay awhile, and therefore got on pretty quickly, 

 changing men at the village of Laiemu, and arriving in a heavy 

 rain at Ahtiago. As there was a good deal of surf here, and 

 likely to be more if the wind blew hard during the night, our 

 boats were pulled up on the beach ; and after supping at the 

 orang-kaya's house, and writing down a vocabulary of the 

 language of the Alfuros, who live in the mountains inland, I 

 returned to sleep in the boat. Next morning we proceeded, 

 changing men at Warenama, and again at Hatometen, at both 

 of which places there was much surf and no harbor, so that 

 the men had to go on shoi'e and come on board by swimming. 

 Arriving in the evening of March Yth at Batuassa, the first 

 village belonging to the Rajah of Tobo, and under the gov- 

 ernment of Banda, the surf was very heavy, owing to a strong 

 westward swell. We therefore rounded the rocky point on 

 which the village was situated, but found it very little better 

 on the other side. We were obliged, however, to go on shore 

 here ; and waiting till the people on the beach had made 



