CHAPTER XXVI. 



BOUKU. 



(may and JUNE 1861. Map, p. 74.) 



T HAD long wished to visit the large island of Bouru, 

 which lies due west of Ceram, and of which scarcely 

 anything appeared to be known to naturalists, except 

 that it contained a babirusa very like that of Celebes. 

 I therefore made arrangements for staying there two 

 months after leaving Timor Delli in 1861. This I could 

 conveniently do by means of the Dutch mail-steamers, 

 whiclr make a monthly round of the Moluccas. 



We arrived at the harbour of Cajeli on the 4th of May; 

 a gun was iired, the Commandant of the fort came along- 

 side in a native boat to receive the post-packet, and took 

 me and my baggage on shore, the steamer going off again 

 without coming to an anchor. We went to the house of the 

 Opzeiner, or overseer, a native of Amboyua — Bouru being 

 too poor a place to deserve even an Assistant Eesident ; yet 

 the appearance of the village was very far superior to that 

 of Delli, which possesses " His Excellency the Governor," 



