120 A COLLECTING TRIP 
we set sail I couid see the great voleano of Rinjani 
twelve thousand feet high, clouding up, and crowds of 
canoes, each with an outrigger on each side, hurrying 
to shore; each canoe had a crowd of Sassaks on board, 
queer wild creatures who carry great knives in their 
belts; inland a little you see them with spears eight 
feet long. The shore is low here with thousands of 
cocoanut palms and a white beach in front, a picture 
of peaceful beauty. Yet only in 1896 the Dutch had a 
great battle with the Sultan, who had become piratic- 
ally inclined and had to be deposed; the people do 
not look as if they were tacked down yet. Twenty- 
four hours from here is Macassar, whence we shail 
cable you and mail this. The town is a free port and 
growing very fast owing to trade with Singapore and 
Australia. We are now nearly ten degrees below the 
equator, which we shall cross seven times before we 
again reach Singapore on our homeward route at last. 
I shall write again from Ambon, or Amboina, as it is 
on the maps, and cable, if possible. 
Love from both to all. 
Tom. 
P.S. It is remarkable how much we accumulate 
in a day’s collecting. Ah Woo and Bandoung go to the 
seashore for star fish, sea urchins, ete., Indi to the 
woods for insects, Pim, Shearing, Van Kampen, Ros. 
and myself, do reptiles and insects. Van Kampen 
speaks Malay and I am beginning too and we soon have 
the native kids bringing in what they can catch them- 
selves. Our gang gets more stuff in a day than a col- 
lector here alone would in ten. 
