316 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



would come back to Surabaya, iu Java, I was in 

 doubt wliether I ought to go iurtlier east, especially 

 as Mr. Wallace had obtained little at Dorey, tlie 

 only port on the north coast, and besides, it has the 

 unfavorable reputation of being one of the most 

 sickly j)laces in the whole archipelago. The two 

 missionaries stationed at that place are now here, 

 having been obliged to return on account of re- 

 peated and severe attacks of fever. I was told that 

 the residents of Dorey are only free from this dis- 

 ease when they have a running sore on some j)art 

 of the body. While I was thus doubting whither to 

 direct my course, the man-of-war stationed to watch 

 for pirates in the Molucca Passage, between this 

 island and the northern end of Celebes, came into 

 port. She would return immediately to Kema, a 

 port on the eastern shore of the northern peninsula 

 of Celebes, and her commander kindly offered to 

 take me over to the " Minahassa," as the Dutch call 

 the northern extremity of that island. I had long 

 heard this spoken of as decidedly the most charming 

 part of the archipelago, and probably the most beau- 

 tiful spot in the world. But a moment was needed, 

 therefore, to decide whether I would go to the sickly 

 coast of Papua, or visit that beautiful land, and I ac- 

 cepted the commander's invitation with many thanks. 

 I had been on this island four days, and we had had 

 four earthquakes. Indeed, the mountain seemed 

 preparing for another grand eruption, and I was not 

 loath to leave its shores. So great is the danger of 

 its inhabitants being entombed alive by night in the 

 ruins of their own dwellings, that all the foreigners 



