WHITE— A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White 241 



could yelp, hoot and yell at each other till nothing else can be 

 heard, but their greatest redeeming quality is honesty. 

 Although this crowding went on for weeks, and many things 

 lying about which must have been a great temptation, yet 

 nothing was missed but a hand lead and line which some of 

 the crew accused the natives of taking, but I am confident 

 they did not take it, and thought I heard it fall into the water. 

 Thev did not take a pin or a piece of paper without asking for 

 it. * They are as a whole strictly honest, and although they 

 are but savages they are a pattern for their more enlightened 

 brothers. A good many of the Aru men speak Malay so that 

 1 was able to get along with them very well as I learnt a good 

 deal of the Aru language as well. One could not say that 

 they are industrious, although they work plantations, but like 

 all savages are idle, their greatest pleasure being chewing and 

 talking. They chew "Beetel Nut" lime and green leaves 

 sometimes mixed with a little tobacco if they can get it, and 

 carry this chewing to a great excess. I am afraid they would 

 be great drinkers if they could get it, as I have been asked for 

 "Sopi" (spirit) hundreds of times. Some men have refused 

 everything else in exchange for birds, but I hardly ever in- 

 dulged them, without it be a chief, and never in exchange for 

 anything else. Their homes are good passable structures, 

 always built on piles raised from the ground five or six feet, 

 have' a split bamboo floor, and an opening through the 

 centre as an entrance. The sides are usually of mats, and the 

 roof thatched with palm leaves. The only ornaments seen in 

 the houses were trophies of the chase, such as cassowaries' 

 feathers and bones, fish tails, bird feathers, etc. The 

 utensils for preparing food and holding water, etc., were rough 

 clay pots. Some with very wiue mouths in shape much like 

 the old three legged iron pot; in these they boil their food. 

 Gaudy coloured plates and basins were seen, but these came 

 from Dobbo. Many families had a copper or brass gong. 

 Some of the houses are large, being 30 feet long, and several 

 families dwell in them. The villages are small, consisting 

 of one to three or four houses, scattered anywhere from the 

 coast to the interior. Their plantations are all well fenced 

 with spars laid on their sides ahout two inches apart, and 

 three or four feet high ; this is to keep wild pigs out. In many 

 places they construct pig traps by making little shoots or 

 leads with stakes driven into the ground and a cross piece 

 lashed along the top with rattan, the lead is about five or six 

 yards at the entrance, and about a foot or less at the other 

 end. A pig on the outside would if tempted by the green 



