162 MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISLANDS [chap, xxviii. 



steamer. Then, how comparatively sweet was everything 

 on board — uo paint, no tar, no new rope, (vilest of smells 

 to the qualmish !) no grease, or oil, or varnish ; but instead 

 of these, bamboo and rattan, and coir rope and palm 

 thatch; pure vegetable fibres, which smell pleasantly if 

 they smell at all, and recall quiet scenes in the green 

 and shady forest. 



Our ship had two masts, if masts they can be called, 

 which "were great moveable triangles. If in an ordinary 

 ship you replace the shrouds and backstay by strong 

 timbers, and take away the mast altogether, you have the 

 arrangement adopted on board a prau. Above my cabin, 

 and resting on cross-beams attached to the masts, was a 

 wilderness of yards and spars, mostly formed of bamboo. 

 The mainyard, an immense affair nearly a hundred feet 

 long, was formed of many pieces of wood and bamboo 

 bound together with rattans in an ingenious manner. The 

 sail carried by this was of an oblong shape, and was hung 

 out of the centre, so that when the short end was haiiled 

 down on deck the long end mounted high in the air, 

 making up for the lowness of the mast itself The fore- 

 sail was of the same shape, but smaller. Both these were 

 of matting, and, with two jibs and a fore and aft sail astern 

 of cotton canvas, completed our rig. 



The crew consisted of about thirty men, natives of 

 Macassar and the adjacent coasts and islands. They were 



