3l8 ARU. 



quantity of floating seeds off Java, and the casting up of Bar- 

 ringtonia, Aleurites triloba^ and Nipa Palm seeds on the shores 

 in germinating condition.* 



These large drifts from the forests have a further interest, 

 in that they let drop their remains to the bottom of the deep 

 sea, thereby not only serving as food to the deep-sea animals, 

 but leaving their husks to be preserved as fossils in deep-sea 

 deposits. I shall refer to this latter point in considering deep- 

 sea questions in tne sequel. 



We anchored off the town ot Dobbo, not in the least altered 

 in the few years since Wallace's visit, with its line of Macassar 

 trading vessels drawn up on the beach ; its " prau " builders at 

 work, and a crowd assembled to gaze at us. We were visited 

 by Malay notables in their finest dresses of coloured silks, and 

 by Dutch half-caste missionaries who came in tail coats and 

 tall hats. 



The sun was excessively powerful at Aru, and I felt the 

 glare on the white sandy beach more severely than anywhere 

 else during the voyage. In wading in search of seaweeds on 

 the coral shore platform, I positively found the water much 

 warmer than was pleasant to my legs. The water was very 

 shallow, only half way up my knees, and was heated by the 

 reflections from the white bottom. 



We encountered the Malay language for the first time at 

 Dobbo, and since no one there, except the missionaries, who 

 spoke Dutch, understood any European language, it was fortu- 

 nate that our navigating officer, Staff-Commander Tizard, had 

 learnt the language when engaged in surveying in the China 

 Seas and on the coast of Borneo. He arranged for guides, and 

 started us with a small stock of the language. 



It is the easiest in the world to pick up a little of. There is 

 no grammar, and any one who has got a Malay dictionary can 

 talk Malay. " I go," " I shall go," " I went," are all expressed 

 by the same word in Malay, and one is irritated on discovering 

 how thoroughly satisfactory such a simple arrangement is, to 

 reflect on the endless complications of verbs and their inflexions 

 in so many other languages and on the time which one has 

 wasted over them. 



I made several excursions on shore with one or more guides. 

 One whom I generally took with me was a very active fellow, 

 and I soon found him too quick for me in the close hot forest. 

 I have always found it a bad plan to let native guides suppose 

 that one is easily tired and unable to keep up with them, so I 

 adopted an expedient with the man which has served me in 



* Chamisso, '" Bemerkungen auf einer Entdeckungs-Reise, iSi5-i?i8, 

 pp. 366-401. Weimar, 1821. 



