REACH TIMOR. 



183 



bottom with 60 and 70 fathoms. We passed some 

 distance from the western end of Samow Island 

 in the morning ; but the high peaks of Timor were 

 not seen till near noon. The eager eyes of the 

 native whom we had brought with us from Swan 

 River were the first to descry them ; and he ex- 

 claimed in tones of rapturous astonishment, " Land ! 

 big fella ! all the same cloud !" I shall not easily 

 forget the amazement of this savage, accustomed as 

 he was to behold the level plains of his native land, 

 when he saw, towering in alpine grandeur to the sky, 

 the pinnacled heights of Timor. He seemed scarcely 

 able to conceive, even when assured by the evidence 

 of his own senses, that it was possible for mountains 

 to be so high and ranges so vast as those that now 

 developed themselves before him. 



In crossing the mouth of Coepang Bay towards 

 Samow, in the evening, the appearance was truly 

 grand. A vast heap of vapour was slowly moving 

 across the mountains, disclosing at intervals their 

 jagged summits towering towards the sky, and oc- 

 casionally allowing the eye to penetrate for a 

 moment into the depths of mysterious valleys that 

 seemed to stretch for unknown distances into the re- 

 cesses of the great Timoree Range. Some wild 

 flying clouds that rapidly traversed the heavens im- 

 parted a curious alternation of light and shadow to the 

 low lands that presented themselves to our view — 

 chequering the whole with gloomy patches and light 

 spots, and revealing or hiding in rapid succes- 



