THE TIMOR GROUP r,73 



introduced, the mutton is very good. In the Dutcli ]jiut, 

 coffee is not grown for export, and there is very little 

 trade, ponies and sandalwood forming the only items of 

 any importance. 



The inhabitants of Timor are regarded by almost all 

 travellers in that country as a very mixed race, in which 

 the Malay, Polynesian, and Papuan elements are blended. 

 It is impossible to find a typical Timor native, so much 

 does individual differ from individual. On the whole, 

 they somewhat approach the Papuan type, but the hair 

 is much less frizzled and the features less prominent. 

 There is also a marked tendency to yellowness in the 

 colour of the skin. The Timorese have never inveuted 

 writing, as have the Sumatran tribes, and in point of 

 civilisation they are not more advanced than the Dyaks. 

 They weave cotton cloths of a peculiar pattern, make 

 curious wallets of cloth, and form ingenious umbrellas 

 from palm-leaves. They carry signal pipes by which 

 they can communicate with each other at great distances 

 across ravines. They do not live in villages, but in 

 scattered huts, or family hamlets, thus differing from 

 almost all the peoples we have hitherto considered. The 

 practice of tabu is in full force, and almost every settle- 

 ment has a Luli house or temple, the most important 

 object in which is the Vatu-hdi, or sacred stone, on which 

 offerings are made to an indefinite deity or spirit. A 

 species of nature-worship exists, and there are sacred 

 groves wherein no branch may be broken or stone 

 turned. The natives are still head-hunters in many parts, 

 but the custom of sacrificing slaves at the interment of 

 their chiefs and on other occasions has been checked to a 

 certain extent by European rule. Some tribes have 

 become Christian, or nominally so. Eice is grown to 

 some extent, but the staple food of the natives is Indian 



