CHAPTER V. 



AMBOIjSTA. 



June 'i^tli. — ^We are this morning approacliing 

 Amboina, tlie goal of my long journey, and tlie most 

 important of tlie Spice Islands. Amboina is botli tlie 

 name of tlie island and its chief city. In form tlie 

 island is nearly elliptical, and a deepj narrow bay, 

 fourteen miles long, almost divides it longitudinally 

 into two unequal parts. That on the west, which 

 forms the main body of the island, is called Hitu ; and 

 that on the east Laitimur, which in Malay means 

 " the eastern leaf." Both are composed of high hills 

 which rise up so abruptly from the sea that, though 

 this bay for one-third of its length is nearly four 

 miles wide, yet it perfectly resembles a frith or broad 

 river. Along the shores are many little bays where 

 praus are seen at anchor, and on the beaches are 

 small groves of the cocoa-nut palm, which furnish 

 food and shade to the natives dwelling in the rude 

 huts beneath them. Higher up the hill-sides, large, 

 open areas are seen covered with a tall, coarse grass ; 

 but the richly-cultivated fields on the flanks of the 

 mountains in Java nowhere appear. These grassy 

 hill-sides are the favorite burial-places with the 



