174 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



take their proper place behind us. To give tlie trade 

 more eclat ^ I took a good quantity of small coj^per 

 coins and distributed tliem freely among tke small 

 childi'en as I passed along. The result of this ma- 

 noeuvre was most magical ; everybody was anxious to 

 make my acquaintance and sell me shells. Even tlie 

 good Mohammedan priest laid aside his feelings of 

 indifference toward the Christian stranger, and in- 

 vited me under his roof. He also intimated that he 

 could favor me with a few species, but, as his prices 

 were five times as high as those of the common 

 people, I neglected to make a selection from his 

 treasures. 



Each evening that I was in this village the rajah 

 insisted on my passing hour after hour on his veran- 

 da, describing to him the foreign countries he could 

 name. Like many other natives who would like to 

 be free from all Eui'opean rule, it afforded him great 

 comfort to hear that Tana Ollanda (Holland) was 

 much smaller in area than France or England. When 

 I came to tell him that Tana America was a still 

 gi-eater country, he listened politely, but a half-in- 

 credulous smile revealed his belief that I only spoke 

 of it in such an enthusiastic manner because I was an 

 American; yet when I added, that however much 

 other nations might wish to possess these beautiful 

 islands, America would never have such a desire, his 

 knowledge of geography seemed to have become com- 

 plete at once, and he explained to all who were lis- 

 tening that Tana America was admitted by all to be 

 the largest and the most powerful of all nations. He 

 also had an almost endless series of questions to ask 



