234 



THE MOLUCCAS. 



[chap. 



abouts, and was dressed in a little coat of navy blue faced with 

 scarlet, and furnished with miniature tails which stuck out in a 

 most ridiculous manner behind. Large gold epaulets decorated his 

 shrivelled old shoulders, and a middy's dirk dangled at his hip. 

 He had a debonair appearance about him that was delightful, and 

 one felt at once that he must necessarily regard Batchian with 

 contempt. His proper s]ihere undoubtedly was the Eow, where 





FRAU OF THE SCLTAX OF BATCHIAX. 



with a good boot and an eyeglass he would have been a complete 

 success. With him came the Kontroleur, Mr. Storme, for Batchian 

 had at that time l)een recently made a Dutch station, and, 

 wonderful to relate, an Englishman — the first and last we met 

 with in our travels in this part of the w^orld — an old Carthusian 

 whose wanderings had extended even to Xew Guinea, Under his 

 guidance we explored the town. At the back is a river, which we 

 crossed by a neat bridge of split areca palm-trunks, and followed 

 a narrow path leading through a dense sago swamp for a mile 

 or more, which brought us to some plantations, both native 

 and European. The Bafjan Maatschappij have coffee and cacao 



