■i38 The Aru Islands. 



crabs, who forsake the beach to wander in the forest. I have 

 actually seen a spider carrying aWay a good-sized shell, and de- 

 vouring its (probably juvenile) tenant. On the beach, which 

 I had to walk along every morning to reach the forest, these 

 creatures swarmed by thousands. Every dead shell, from the 

 largest to the most minute, was appropriated by them. They 

 formed small social jiarties of ten or twenty around bits of 

 stick or sea-weed, but dispersed hurriedly at the sound of ap- 

 proaching footsteps. After a windy night, that nasty-look- 

 ing Chinese delicacy the sea-slug was sometimes thrown up 

 on the beach, which was at such times thickly strewn with 

 some of the most beautiful shells that adorn our cabinets, 

 along with fragments and masses of coral and strange sponges, 

 of which I picked up more than twenty different sorts. In 

 many cases sponge and coral are so much alike that it is 

 only on touching them that they can be distinguished. Quan- 

 tities of sea-weed, too, are thrown up ; but, strange as it 

 may seem, these are far less beautiful and less varied than 

 may be found on any favorable part of our own coasts. 



The natives here, even those who seem to be of pure Pa- 

 puan race, were much more reserved and taciturn than those 

 of Ke. This is probably because I only saw them as yet 

 among strangers and in small parties. One must see the 

 savage at home to know what he really is. Even here, how- 

 ever, the Papuan character sometimes breaks out. Little 

 boys sing cheerfully as they walk along, or talk aloud to 

 themselves (quite a negro characteristic) ; and, try all they 

 can, the men can not conceal their emotions in the true Ma- 

 lay fashion. A number of them were one day in my house, 

 and having a fancy to try what sort of eating tripang would 

 be, I bought a couple, paying for them with such an extrava- 

 gant quantity of tobacco that the seller saw that I was a 

 green customer. He could not, however, conceal his delight, 

 but as he smelt the fragrant weed, and exhibited the large 

 liandful to his companions, he grinned and twisted and gave 

 silent chuckles in a most expressive pantomime. I had often 

 before made the same mistake in paying a Malay for some 

 trifle. In no case, however, was his pleasure visible on his 

 countenance — a dull and stupid hesitation only showing his 

 surprise, which would be exhibited exactly in the same way 



