232 AUSTEALASIA. 



Guinea. Those of Buru, absurdly supposed by some to be the western home of 

 the Eastern Polynesians, are of middle size, with deep brown complexion and huge 

 " mop-heads." Most of their settlements are on the coast, where, as in Ceram, the 

 type has become largely modified by crossings with Malays and other immigrants. 

 In Amboyna Hindu features are even said to occur, and here the language would 

 seem to betray former Asiatic influences. 



Except in Ceram most of the Alfurus have discontinued head-hunting and 

 their other ferocious practices. All believe in a Supreme Being, creator and pre- 

 server of all things, great judge, rewarder of good and punisher of evil in this life 

 and the next. But he is honoured by no worship, prayers and incantations being 

 reserved for the innumerable beneficent and malevolent spirits, who dwell in the 

 rocks, the trees, the streams, and the wind. These are appeased by wizards and 

 astrologers, who also heal maladies, make the crops prosper, and preserve mariners 

 from the dangers of the deep. Marriages are exogamous, and the women as well 

 as debtors are treated with remarkable kindness. In the interior Mohammedanism 

 has hitherto failed to gain a footing, but on the coastlands its influence is predomi- 

 nant, and steadily increasing with the ascendency of the Malay intruders. On the 

 other hand Christian missionaries from Amboyna have already baptized some 

 thousands of Ceramese and other islanders. Jn some villages the Christians are 

 in the majority, and on the coast of Ceram facing Amboyna all the natives are at 

 least nominally Orang Sirani, or "]N^azarenes." 



The general spread of Christianity is mainly the result of the early proselytis- 

 ing zeal of the Portuguese, many traces of whose occupation still survive. In the 

 first year of the seventeenth century the Dutch seized Amboyna and Banda, where 

 they endeavoured to monopolise the trade in the famous sj)ices " worth their weight 

 in gold." They ordered the destruction of the nutmeg and clove forests every- 

 where in their domain except Amboyna and Banda, and even here the number of 

 plants was strictly limited by numerous decrees. For two hundred and fifty years 

 Amsterdam was the only market in the world where nutmeg, cloves, and mace 

 could be procured ; but this policy was followed by many evils, such as the depopu- 

 lation of formerly flourishing islands, the spread of piracy, and the debasement of 

 the natives condemned to forced labour on the plantations for haH a year. All 

 industries were sacrificed to the cultivation of the sj)ice plants, and the monopoly 

 itself became so burdensome and disastrous that it had at last to be abolished in 

 1860. Since then the yield has been greatly reduced in Amboyna, but the Banda 

 growers, favoured by the conditions of soil and climate, still compete successfully 

 with those of other spice-growing lands. 



Amhoyna, the native Ambon, capital of the Residence of the Southern Moluccas, 

 lies on the south side of the bay of like name at the foot of Mount Soya ; it 

 comprises a central trading quarter and suburbs Avith broad shady avenues 

 stretching for some distance in various directions, with a total popvilation of 

 thirteen thousand. It is commanded by Fort Victoria, and is now a free port, 

 where the largest vessels ride at anchor in ten or fifteen fathoms of water. 

 Ambovna is the centre of the reliffious establishments for all the surrounding 



