CHAP. XXV.] NATIVE CHRISTIANS. 77 



there are European missionaries ; Lut there is little or no 

 external difference between the Christian and Alfuro 

 villages, nor, as far as I have seen, in their inhabitants. 

 The people seem more decidedly Papuan than those of 

 Gilolo. They are darker in colour, and a number of them 

 have the frizzly Papuan hair; their features also are harsh 

 and prominent, and the women in particular are far less 

 engaging than those of the Malay race. Captain Van der 

 Beck was never tired of abusing the inhabitants of these 

 Christian villages as thieves, liars, and drunkards, besides 

 being incorrigibly lazy. In the city of Amboyna my friends 

 Doctors Mohnike and Doleschall, as well as most of the 

 European residents and traders, made exactly the same 

 complaint, and would rather have Mahometans for ser- 

 vants, even if convicts, than any of the native Christians. 

 One great cause of this is the fact, that with the Mahome- 

 tans temperance is a part of their religion, and has become 

 so much a habit that practically the rule is never trans- 

 gressed. One fertile source of want, and one great incen- 

 tive to idleness and crime, is thus present with the one 

 class, but absent in the other ; but besides this the Chris- 

 tians look upon themselves as nearly the equals of the 

 Europeans, who profess the same religion, and as fur 

 superior to the followers of Islam, and are therefore prone 

 to despise work, and to endeavour to live by trade, or by 

 cultivating their own land. It need hardh' be said 



