18 J: TRAVELS IX THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



her planks, and immediately slie sinks in tlie surf, 

 while those on board find themselves far from the 

 shore. Pushing off, we stood directly eastward to 

 Saparua, four miles distant, and at half-past three 

 entered a small bay, and were at the kampong Haria. 

 This island has quite the form of the letter H, being 

 nearly divided into two equal parts by a deep bay 

 on the south side and another on the north. The 

 length of the western peninsula, which is a little 

 longer than that of the eastern, is two and a quarter 

 geographical miles, and the narrow isthmus which 

 connects them is about a mile wide. The peninsulas 

 are very mountainous, the highest peaks rising fif- 

 teen hundred feet above the sea, but the isthmus is 

 composed of low hills, and is mostly an open prairie. 

 The whole area of the island is ten square geographi- 

 cal miles. Its population numbers more than eleven 

 thousand, making it the most densely j)eopled of all 

 the islands that now produce cloves. Along its 

 shores are no less than sixteen villages, mostly on the 

 two bays. Of these only three are Mohammedan, 

 the others are Christian. In 1817, when the English 

 restored these islands to the Dutch, a great rebellion 

 broke out in this island, which it took nearly two 

 years to quell, and, what is remarkal^le, the leaders 

 of this revolt were Christians, that is, members of the 

 Dutch Church. 



From Haria we crossed the southern peninsula 

 to the chief town, also called Saparua, at the head 

 of the southern bay. Unlike the narrow foot- 

 paths on the island of Amboina, the roads here 

 are broad enough for carts, though none are used, 



