CHAP. XXXI.] MF OWN CHARACTER. 263 



ever bcadly, they spit upon tlie place, and it immediately 

 became well. And they made a great net of rattans, and 

 entangled their prisoners in it, and sunk them in the 

 water ; and the next day, when they pulled the net up on 

 shore, they made the drowned men come to life again, and 

 carried them away. 



Much more of the same kind was told me, but in so 

 confused and rambling a manner that I could make no- 

 thing out of it, till I inquired how long ago it was that 

 all this happened, when they told me that after their 

 people were taken away the Bugis came in their praus to 

 trade in Aru, and to buy tripang and birds' nests. It is 

 not impossible that something similar to what they related 

 to me really happened when the early Portuguese dis- 

 coverers first came to Aru, and has formed the founda- 

 tion for a continually increasing accumulation of legend 

 and fable. I have no doubt that to the next generation, 

 or even before, I mj^self shall be transformed into a magi- 

 cian or a demigod, a worker of miracles, and a being of 

 supernatural knowledge. They already believe that all 

 the animals 1 preserve will come to life again ; and to 

 their children it will be related that they actually did so. 

 An unusual spell of fine weather setting in just at my 

 arrival has made them believe I can control the seasons ; 

 and the simple circumstance of my always walking alone 

 in the forest is a wonder and a mystery to them, as well as 



