198 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



residency, over whicli an assistant resident or resi- 

 dent of tlie second rank is placed. 



From Lainitu we passed along the nortliem shore 

 to Nullahia, wliere we remained for tlie niglit. Here 

 I pui'cliased many beautiful " liai-p-sliells " and a few 

 large cones, whicli were formerly so rare tin at they 

 have been sold in Em^ope for more than two hundred 

 dollars apiece. The next day we continued on to 

 Amet, the largest Tcampong on the island. Here a 

 good missionary was located, who was indeed like 

 Melchisedek, "both priest and king." From this 

 place he is accustomed to travel to the various vil- 

 lages, preaching, teaching, and keeping a general sur- 

 veillance over the conduct of his people, and the good 

 results of his labor were well shown in the general 

 spirit of thrift and order which characterizes these 

 villages as compared to the Mohammedan kampongs 

 I had previously visited on the shores of Amboina. 

 Every person in all these villages is nominally a 

 Christian, and this, I believe, is the only island in the 

 archipelago of which that can be said. The mission- 

 ary, however, informs me that a few of them occa- 

 sionally steal away to some secret place among the 

 mountains where they practise their ancient rites by 

 making offerings to spirits, possibly those of their 

 ancestors, which they were accustomed to worship 

 before the introduction of Christianity, 



The \dllage of Amet is one of the best places in 

 the whole Moluccas to gather shells. The platfoim 

 of coral which begirts the island extends out here 

 nearly two English miles from high-water level to 

 where the heavy swell breaks along its outer edge ; 



