A Native Boat. 367- 



the first three clays I saw that it would be quite useless for 

 me to stay, and begged the Rajah to give rae a prau and men 

 to carry me on to Goram. But instead of getting one close 

 at hand, he insisted on sending several miles off ; and when 

 after many delays it at length arrived, it was altogether un- 

 suitable and too small to carry my baggage. Another was 

 then ordered to be brought immediately, and was promised 

 in three days, but double that time elapsed and none appear- 

 ed, and we were obliged at length to get one at the adjoining 

 village, where it might have been so much more easily obtain- 

 ed at first. Then came calking and covering over, and quar- 

 rels between the owner and the Rajah's men, which occupied 

 more than another ten days, during all which time I was get- 

 ting absolutely nothing, finding this part of Ceram a perfect 

 desert in zoology, although a most beautiful country, and with 

 a very luxuriant vegetation. It was a complete puzzle, which 

 to this day I have not been able to understand ; the only thing 

 I obtained worth notice during my month's stay here being a 

 few good land shells. 



At length, on April 4th, we succeeded in getting away in 

 our little boat of about four tons burden, in which my nu- 

 merous boxes were with difiiculty packed so as'to leave sleep- 

 ing and cooking room. The craft could not boast an ounce 

 of iron or a foot of rope in any j^art of its construction, nor 

 a morsel of pitch or paint in its decorations. The planks were 

 fastened together in the usual ingenious way with pegs and 

 rattans. The mast was a bamboo triangle, requiring no 

 shrouds, and carrying a long mat sail; two rudders were 

 hung on the quarters by rattans, the anchor was of wood, and 

 a long and thick rattan served as a cable. Our crew consisted 

 of four men, whose sole accommodation was about three feet 

 by four in the bows and stern, with the sloping thatch roof to 

 stretch themselves upon for a change. "We had nearly a hun- 

 dred miles to go, fully exposed to the swell of the Banda sea, 

 which is sometimes very considerable ; but we luckily had it 

 calm and smooth, so that we made the voyage in comparative 

 comfort. 



On the second day we passed the eastern extremity of 

 Ceram, formed of a group of hummocky limestone hills ; and 

 sailing by the islands of Kwammer and Kefiing, both thickly 



