432 The Aru Islands. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



THE ABU ISLANDS — RESIDENCE IN DOBBO. 



JANUARY TO MAECH, 1857. 



On the 8th of January, 1857, 1 landed at Dobbo, the trading 

 settlement of the Bugis and Chinese, who annually visit the 

 Aru Islands. It is situated on the small island of Wamma, 

 upon a spit of sand which projects out to the north, and is just 

 wide enough to contain three rows of houses. Though at 

 first sight a most strange and desolate-looking place to build 

 a village on, it has many advantages. There is a clear entrance 

 from the west among the coral reefs that border the land, 

 and there is good anchorage for vessels, on one side of the 

 village or the other, in both the east and west monsoons. 

 Being fully exposed to the sea-breezes in three directions, it 

 is healthy, and the soft sandy beach ofiers great facilities for 

 hauling up the praus, in order to secure them from sea-worms 

 and prepai-e them for the homewai-d voyage. At its southern 

 extremity the sand-bank merges in the beach of the island, 

 and is backed by a luxuriant growth of lofty forest. The 

 houses are of various sizes, but are all built after one pattern, 

 being merely large thatched sheds, a small portion of which, 

 next the entrance, is used as a dwelling, while the rest is 

 parted off, and often divided by one or two floors, in order 

 better to store away merchandise and native produce. 



As we had arrived early in the season, most of the houses 

 were empty, and the place looked desolate in the extreme — 

 the whole of the inhabitants who received us on our landing 

 amounting to about half a dozen Bugis and Chinese. Our 

 captain, Herr Warzbergen, had promised to obtain a house 

 for me, but unforeseen difficulties presented themselves. One 

 which was to let had no roof, and the owner, who was build- 

 ing it on speculation, could not promise to finish it in less 

 than a month. Another, of which the owner was dead, and 

 which I might therefore take undisputed possession of as the 



