THE HEAD-HUNTERS OF CERAM. 203 



leur stationed liere told us of the " Alfiira " * wlio 

 dwelt amono; the neio-hhorino: mountains ; and, that 

 I might have the opportunity of seeing these wild 

 savages, the Kesident kindly sent a number of the 

 coast people to invite them to come down and per- 

 form their war-dance before us. In a few hours a 

 party of about twenty appeared. Only eight or ten 

 were able-bodied men ; the others were women, chil- 

 di-en, and old men. In height and general appear- 

 ance they closely resemble the Malays, and evidently 

 form merely a subdivision of the Malay race. Their 

 peculiar characteristics are the darker color of their 

 skins and of their hair, which, instead of being lank 

 like that of the Malays, is crisp, but not woolly like 

 that of the Papuans. They wear it so very long, that 

 they may properly be said to have large and bushy 



under "Waliai, forty thousand nine hundred and twenty-five; and, in the 

 great area east of Elpapnti Bay, it was supposed that there dwelt between 

 twenty-one and twenty-two thousand; making a total of eiglity-nine 

 thousand and eiglity-seven, about ninety thousand ; but Dr. Bleeker, who 

 gives these figures, thinks there are half as many more people among 

 the mountains, and that tlie whole population of the island should be 

 put down at one hundred and fifty thousand. He gives the population 

 of tliese islands for 1855 in round numbers as follows : 



Amboina 29,500 Amblau 1,000 Manipa 700 



Harakn 7,200 Bonoa 1,500 Saparua 11,600 



Burn 9,200 Nusalaut 3,500 Ceram 150,000 



Total 214,200 



These figures may be regarded as good estimates of the population at the 

 present time. 



* This name Alfura, in Dutch Alfoera, is also written Alfora, Alafora, 

 Arafura, and Ilalafora. Mr. Crawfurd finds that it is composed of the 

 Arabic articles a^r, el^ and the preposition/om, without ; and was simply 

 a general denomination given by the Portuguese when they were su- 

 l)remo in the Moluccas to all the native inluibitants who were without 

 the pale of their autliority. 



