A CONVIVIAL OF THE DEAD-HUx\TERS. 209 



tives ranged themselves in two rows, eacli grasping 

 it with one hand as if ready to haul in the leviathan 

 himself, when the warning should be given. A 

 number of hea\'y seas now rolled in and broke, but 

 the natives, by means of their paddles, kept us from 

 being swept foi-ward or backward. A smaller swell 

 is coming in now. Every native gives a mid yell, 

 and those on the shore haul in the rattan with all 

 their might, and away we dart on the crest of a 

 wave with the swiftness of an arrow. We are now 

 in the midst of the surf, and oui* boat is on the skid, 

 but away we glide at the speed of a locomotive, and 

 already we are high upon the bank before the next 

 wave can come in. 



The Resident, who enjoyed surprising me as 

 much as possible, had carefully concealed the urgent 

 business that had compelled him to land in such a 

 difficult place, and my curiosity was not diminished 

 when I noticed his imperative orders for the militia, 

 who accompanied us as a guard, to come on shore 

 immediately. We were evidently near, or already 

 in, an enemy's country. A large gathering of the 

 natives was now ordered at the rajah's house, an 

 examination began, and several men were sentenced 

 to be seized by the guard and brought to Amboina 

 for trial. They had been guilty of participating in a 

 feent Taihian^ or meeting of a secret organization, that 

 was formed as early at least as a few years after the 

 arrival of the Dutch. There are various opinions as 

 to its object, some asserting that it originated as a 

 confederation of many tribes against other tribes, and 

 others supposing its design to be to resist the author- 



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