482 



mountaineers possess tin ornaments, and 3"^ tin tias little value for 

 them and iron and coppei' is valued much higher by them. Though 

 in genei-al the correctness of these hypotheses will be readily acknow- 

 ledged, we cannot help lemarking that they do not prove anything, 

 for in the possession of the Rokkanese objects of another nature 

 are found, the origin of which is as little known, whilst they can 

 by no possibility be constructed by them. Among these are e.g. the 

 lens-shaped pieces of brass, called by the Endehnese "mas di Rokka" 

 (gold of Rokka), and the dirty-red heads known in the Timor Ar- 

 chipelago by the name of Muti Tanah or JMuti Salah. These are 

 made of artfully manufactured glass and certainly not originating from 

 the Malay Archipelago ^), but of these the same story is told as of 

 the tin, i.e. that tiiey appear on the sin-face when the grass is burnt. ^) 

 With regard to the "mas di Rokka" A. Fuenzel indicated already 

 that it is an alloy of tin and copper. "') When I was in 1888 at 

 Mbawa the mountaineers asked me a gold-piece "with the leaping 

 horse" (£ i) foi' it. This "gold of Rokka" can no mor^ be originating 

 from Flores, for a nation that stands so low, is not able to manu- 

 facture such an alloy. ^) With respect to the so-called tin objects the 

 same can be asserted. As early as 1884 it was known, that they 

 consist in reality of an alloy of tin and lead, a fact which has not 

 been taken into account, in the tirst place C. J. van Schelle did 

 not do so, not even afterwards, when a piece of "tin" obtained 

 during the campaign of ISDO appeared to consist of 59,8% tin and 

 40,27o lead. '} Max Weber brought likewise into relief, that the 

 bracelets bought by him in 1888 were composed of these two 

 metals. ^} The fact communicated by him that the natives of East 



1) This subject was treated very elaborately by G. P. Rouffaer ("Waar 

 kwamen de raadselachtige moetisulah's (aggri kralen) in de Timor-groep oorsproH' 

 keiijk vandaan ?" Bijdr. v. de T. L. en Vk. (6) 6. 's Gravenhage 1899, p. 409— 

 675). 



2) J. E. Teysmann. Verslag eener botanische reis van Timor. . . Natuurk. Tijd- 

 schrift van Ned. ind. 34. Batavia 1874, p. 350. — S. Roos. iets over Endeh. 

 Tijdschr. voor Ind. T. L. en Vk. 24. 1877, p. öOl. 



■') Mineralogisches aus dera Ost Indischen Archipel. Tschermaks Mineralog. Mittheilg., 

 Wien 1877, p. 3u6. 



*) With regard to copper, it is quite certain that at least since the middle of 

 the 18th century it was imported into Flores, 'J. G. M. Rademacher. "Korte be- 

 schrijving van het eiland Gelebes en de eilanden Flores, Sumbawa, Lombok en 

 Bali." Verhandel. Batav. Geuoolseh. v, K. en W. 4. Batavia 1786, p. 252.) 



5) Koloniaal Verslag van 1891, p, 26. 



^) "Mededeelingen over zijne reizen in Indië." Tijdsch. K. Nederl. Aardr. Gen. 

 (2) '7. 1S90, p. 457. — Ethnographische Notizen über Flores und (<elebes. Intern. 

 Archiv. f. Ethnographic, Suppl. 3. Leiden 1890, p. 15, 16. 



