94 



Length. 



Natives, 



T I M O R. 



fpicy iflands, of which they have the mod extreme jealoufy; 

 for there is nothing- they apprehend fo much as the intercourfe 

 of other nations with their ufurpations in thefe parts. Timor 

 yields fo little profit, that, except for the reafon juft given, it 

 would have been long fince abandoned. The length of this 

 ifland is near two hundred miles, the breadth about fixty ; it is 

 divided into many kingdoms, fuch as Cupang and others. In 

 'Danipiefi time there wxre many Fortuguefe fettlements, or ra- 

 ther of the mixed breed ; the principal is ' at Lapbao^ on the 

 northern fide ; but even there he faw but three white men, the 

 refl: were copper-colored, wdth lank black hair ; they fpoke For- 

 tuguefe, w^ere of the Roman catholick religion, and would be 

 very angry if they were not thought Fortuguefe, as they value 

 themfelves greatly on their mongrel defcent. 



The natives are faid to be the bravefl: of any in all this vaft 

 archipelago, but at the fame time the mofl: favage. They con- 

 ceal their nakednefs by a fort of fhort apron, made of mriuy 

 narrow ftripes ; have bracelets round their arms, and collars of 

 fliells round their necks, and their hair ftands ere6t. Their wea- 

 pons arc vaft fabres, made of fandal wood ; with which, it is 

 faid, they can cut a man afunder at one blow. Mr. Nieuboff^ 

 gives the figures of the different wild foldiery of the iflands. 



Captain Cook paffed under a confiderable part of the fouthern 

 fide of T'mior, in his return from his firft voyage. The land ap- 

 peared very high, mountain above mountain rifing in flopes 

 from the fea, chiefly clothed with forefts. In fome parts were 

 fvvamps and mangrove-trees ; in others cleared land, the marks 



* Churchillj vol. ii. p. 316. 



of 



