CERAM. 201 



visit. Scores of natives followed us, some to relieve 

 each other as chaii'-bearers, and others to carry im- 

 mense torches of dry palm-leaves, which successively 

 blazed brightly for a moment and lighted up the ad- 

 joining forests and our strange party. Several vil- 

 lages lay along our route, and, as we entered each, 

 huge piles of leaves were set on fii*e, and the half- 

 naked natives all whooped and shouted until we 

 really seemed to be in the midst of the infernal re- 

 gions. 



At daylight the next morning we started in two 

 praus for Ceram. As we left the rajah's house the 

 beauties of the villages gathered on the bank, and, 

 while we were embarking, chanted a song of hope 

 that we should have " a pleasant voyage over the 

 sea, and soon return in safety." The tifa and gongs 

 began the monotonous din, the rowers shouted and 

 tugged at theii' oars, and the high peaks of Saparua 

 slowly sank beneath the horizon. For a time no 

 laud was in sight, and I could but note how perfect- 

 ly we were repeating the experience of the earliest 

 navigators of the Mediterranean along the shores of 

 Phoenicia and Greece. 



Ceram is the largest island in the Moluccas. 

 Its length is one hundred and sixty-two geographi- 

 cal miles, but its greatest breadth is only forty. 

 Its area is computed to be about five thousand geo- 

 graphical square miles, which makes it rank next to 

 Celebes in the whole archipelago. It is divided into 

 three peninsulas by two deep bays on its southern 

 coast. The most eastern of these great inlets of the 

 sea is called Elpaputi Bay, which se2:)arates the west- 



