THE ALFURA OF BURU. 271 



Ternate in 1511, the shores of the island were 

 occupied by the Malays, who had ah'eady subjected 

 the earliest inhabitants of the island of which we 

 have any knowledge. Dui'ing my stay at Kayeli I 

 saw several of them, though they are always shy 

 about entering the ^Tllage. Like the Alfura of Ceram, 

 they resemble the Malays in stature and general ap- 

 pearance, but are distinguished from them by then* 

 darker color, and by their hair, which is frizzly, not 

 lank like that of the Malays, and not woolly, like 

 that of the Papuans. As in Ceram, many of them 

 suffer from that unsightly disease, icthyosis, in which 

 the skin becomes dry and comes off in scales. Theii' 

 houses are described as the most miserable hovels, 

 consisting of little more than a roof of palm-leaves 

 resting on four poles, with a kind of platform a foot 

 or two above the ground, where they sit and sleep. 

 They are all free, and slavery is wholly unknown. 

 Mr. T. J. Miller, who was formerly resident here, took 

 much pains to gather all the information possible in 

 regard to them. He states that they have divided 

 the island into Fennas or tribes, each of which has 

 a chief. Instead of livincr toocether in ^dlla2:es, like 

 the Malays, they are scattered over their whole tem- 

 tory. Several of these chiefs continue to acknowl- 

 edge one of the Mohammedan rajahs, or, as they are 

 named by the Dutch, " regents," in the village of 

 Kayeli, as theii* superior. Formerly, each was obliged 

 to send one young girl to its regent for a bride 

 every year, but the Dutch have long since relieved 

 them from such an unwelcome exaction. In former 

 times also they were compelled to pay their regent a 



