X.] OBI MAJOR. 235 



growing here. Oi the latter there was a considerable quantity, 

 and it was looked upon as likely to prove highly remunerative. 

 Like that in Celebes and other parts of the Dutch Indies, however, 

 it had sutiered from a disease which causes the fruit to shrivel and 

 drop off even after it has reached its full size. At the season of 

 our visit there had been an improvement, and w^e found many of 

 the trees looking extremely well and loaded with pods. These 

 plantations were excellent collecting-grounds both for birds and 

 insects, and we visited them several times on this occasion, and 

 also on our return from New Guinea. 



We divided forces at Batchian, and two of us taking Tahirun, 

 Usman, and three other hunters, sailed for Obi with M. Monod de 

 Froideville in the Sing-Tjin. The night was perfect in its loveli- 

 ness, and the moon, which shone with a brightness unusual in ilie 

 tropics, was mirrored almost unbroken in the surface of a wonder- 

 fully calm sea. Under such circumstances even the thought of 

 bed is a direct insult to Nature, and w^e sat up far into the morning 

 watching the faint loom of the dark mountain masses of the central 

 island as we circled round it, for we had decided to land on the 

 southern side. At daybreak we were able to run in towards the 

 land, and a couple of hours later we anchored oft' the mouth of a 

 small river, in a perfectly unprotected position, for, as far as is yet 

 known, the island is without harbours. 



Obi ]\lajor, the chief of the group, is a fine island about forty- 

 five miles in length by twenty in breadth. The mountains of the 

 interior reach a height of 5000 feet or more, but appear to be 

 clothed with forest to their summits, as indeed is the whole island. 

 Its shores abound in tempting-looking beaches, and the land is 

 apparently both fertile and healthy. Yet, oddly enough, the group 

 is totally luiinhabited, the only instance of the kind in the whole 

 of the East Indian Archipelago, and that too in spite of its central 

 position. Now and then it is visited by Malay fishermen from 

 Batchian, who build huts and remain for a week or two to smoke 

 fish or catch turtle, but no permanent settlement exists, and it does 



