210 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN AROHIPELAGO. 



ity of the Dutch, tlie view apparently entertained by 

 tliat government. 



But a short time before we arrived they bad held 

 one of tbeir drunken revels at a place only balf an 

 hour's walk among the neighboring mountains. In 

 these convivials at first each indulges as freely as he 

 chooses in an intoxicating liquor made from the juice 

 of the flowering part of a palm; then all join in a 

 dance, and kick about a human head which has been 

 obtained for this especial occasion, and is tossed into 

 the midst of these human fiends all besmeared mth 

 its own clotted blood. The natives whom our sol- 

 diers were seizing were present and took part in one 

 of these bloody carousals, as they themselves acknowl- 

 edged. I must confess that a sickening sensation, 

 akin to fear, crept over me that night before I fell 

 asleep, as I realized the probability that, if it were 

 not for our guard, instead of our taking away those 

 culprits to be punished as they richly deserved, they 

 would sever every one of our heads and have an- 

 other diabolical revel over their bloody trophies. 



All night the ^vind piped loudly in strong gusts, 

 and the heavy pulsating of the surf came up fi'om the 

 beach beneath us. In the morning the storm had 

 not abated, but I was anxious to go back to Amboina, 

 and no one of the party desired to remain long in 

 that savage place. To embark was more difficult 

 than to land. Again the skid was put down on the 

 sand, the prau placed on it, and as the water receded 

 the natives pushed us off, several waves sweeping 

 over theii' heads ; but they were so completely am- 

 phibious, that it did not appear to trouble them in the 



