My own Character 473 



fused and rambling a manner that I could make nothing out 

 of it, till I inquired how long ago it was that all this hajspened, 

 when they told me that after their people were taken away 

 the Bugis came in their praus to trade in Aru, and to buy 

 tripang and birds' nests. It is not impossible that something 

 similar to what they related to me really happened when the 

 early Portuguese discoverers first came to Aru, and has formed 

 the foundation for a continually increasing accumulation of 

 legend and fable. I have no doubt that to the next genera- 

 tion, or even before, I myself shall be transformed into a magi- 

 cian or a demi-god, a worker of miracles, and a being of super- 

 natural knowledge. They already believe that all the animals 

 I preserve will come to life again ; and to their children it will 

 be related that they actually did so. An unusual spell of fine 

 weather setting in just at my arrival has made them beUeve I 

 can control the seasons; and the simple circumstance of my 

 always walking alone in the forest is a wonder and a mystery 

 to them, as well as my asking them about birds and animals 

 I have not yet seen, and showing an acquaintance with their 

 forms, colors, and habits. These facts are brought against me 

 when I disclaim knowledge of what they wish me to tell them. 

 " You must know," say they ; " you know every thing : you 

 make the fine weather for your men to shoot ; and you know 

 all about our birds and our animals as well as we do ; and you 

 go alone into the forest, and are not afraid." Therefore every 

 confession of ignorance on my part is thought to be a blind, a 

 mere excuse to avoid telling them too much. My very writ- 

 ing-materials and books are to them weird things ; and were 

 I to choose to mystify them by a few simple experiments with 

 lens and magnet, miracles without end would in a few years 

 cluster about me ; and future travellers, penetrating to Wa- 

 numbai, would hardly believe that a poor English naturalist, 

 who had resided a few months among them, could have been 

 the original of the supernatural being to whom so many mar- 

 vels Avere attributed. 



For some days I had noticed a good deal of excitement, 

 and many strangers came and went, armed with spears and 

 cutlasses, bows and shields. I now found there was war near 

 us — two neighboring villages having a quarrel about some 

 matter of local politics that I could not understand. They 



