208 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCniPELAGO. 



witli a roar like lieavy tliiinder. Although I was 

 born by the shore of the open sea, and had seen boats 

 land in all kinds of weather, I never saw the most 

 daring sailors attempt it through such a surf as was 

 breaking before us. Every few moments the water 

 would rebound from the sand until it rose twice and 

 a half as high as the natives standing near it, at least 

 fifteen feet. One of our number could not conceal his 

 timidity, and declared that every one of us would 

 1)6 di'owned if we should attempt to land at that 

 time. The Resident, however, said he should try it, 

 and I assured him he should not go alone ; and the 

 others concluded not to allow themselves to be left 

 behind. More than two hundred natives had now 

 gathered on the beach. They soon made a rude 

 skid or vnde ladder, with large poles on the sides, 

 and small green ones with the bark torn ofi^ for the 

 rounds. This was laid down when the wave was 

 forming, and a heavy prau pushed on to it as the 

 wave broke, and a broad sheet of surf partially 

 buoyed her up. As this wave receded, she was suc- 

 cessfully launched. We were now ordered to change 

 from our boat into that one, and at once we ran in 

 toward the shore over the heavy rollers. Other na- 

 tives now appeared on the beach vnth a huge coil 

 of rattan an inch or more in diameter, and, two or 

 three of them seizing one end, ran down and plunged 

 headlong into a high wave as coolly and as unhesi- 

 tatingly as a diver would leap from the side of a 

 boat in a quiet bay. The end of the rattan was fast- 

 ened firmly to the front part of our boat ; the other 

 was carried up a long way on the l^each, and the na- 



