310 AUSTRALASIA. 



Along the whole of this seaboard the mainland is less frequented than the 

 adjacent islands. Those of Geelvink bay have each some busj^ markets, the most 

 important of which is Ansus, on the south side of Jobi or Jappen. The inhabitants 

 of the station greatly resemble the Mafurs of Dorei ; but the interior o£ the island 

 is occupied by much-dreaded savages, who are accused, rightly or wrongly, of 

 cannibalism. 



On the Dutch territory facing the Moluccas the most frequented station is Sekaar, 

 which stands on a small bay at the southern entrance of MacCluer Inlet. The 

 traders from Ceram penetrate in this direction as far as the port of Bintuni in search 

 of sago and nutmegs ; but they never venture to approach the northern shores of 

 the gulf, whose inhabitants are dreaded as pirates and man-eaters. Here the most 

 powerful " rajah" is the prince of Atti-Atti, an insular group of some twenty 

 houses lying west of Sekaar, and occupied by a motley population of nominal 

 Mohammedans. The rajah of this place is the representative of the Sultan of 

 Tidor in these waters, and the tribute of the villages along the coast is collected 

 by him. Thanks to his intervention the Tidor suzerain and the Dutch Govern- 

 ment itself have ceased to be myths for the natives of these districts ; in the^ 

 Karas archipelago, in the Island of Adi, and as far as Namatotte and Aiduma, near 

 the bay where formerly stood Fort Bus, the authority of the Netherlands is fully 

 recognised; but farther eastwards the power of the " Company " is no longer 

 anything more than a name. The Papuans of these regions are said by travellers 

 to approach the African Negro type more than any others ; formerly they carried 

 on a trade in slaves, and according to the early explorers at times even sold their 

 own children into bondage. 



The Aru, that is, " Mother-of-Pearl," Archipelago, lying about 90 miles south 

 of the New Guinea coast, enjoys far greater commercial importance than the 

 trading places on the mainland. Dobbo, the commercial centre of the group, 

 commands a well-sheltered channel in the islet of Wamma, one of the coralline 

 rocks in the north-west of the archipelago. During the season from March to 

 May whole fleets of praus assemble here from Ceram and the surrounding islands, 

 from the Kei Archipelago and even from Macassar. According to Wallace the 

 exports of Dobbo, chiefly mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, holothuriae, birds of 

 paradise and edible birds'-nests, have a mean annual value of £18,000. During 

 the busy period the houses are unable to afford accommodation to the numerous 

 traders flocking hither from all parts of Western Indonesia ; but after the fair the 

 place is completely deserted. 



The Aru Archipelago depends on the Amboyna Residence, and usually once a 

 year a Dutch commissioner comes round from the capital to make his general 

 inspection and deliver judgment on pending cases. His intervention, however, is 

 little needed, for during his absence the people administer their own affairs fairly 

 well, having neither murders nor thefts to punish. According to von Rosenberg, 

 some groups of Negritoes dwell near the fisheries in the eastern part of the 

 archipelago. The Alivurus (Alfurus) of the Aru Islands claim descent from an 

 ancestral tree, and are regarded by Riedel as of the same stock as the Australians 



