chap, xiii.] SOAP SRPINGS. 291 



found such a poverty of insects and birds that I deter- 

 mined to go for a few days to the island of Semao at the 

 western extremity of Timor, where I heard that there was 

 forest country with birds not found at Coupang. With 

 some difficulty I obtained a large dug-out boat with out- 

 riggers, to take me over, a distance of about twenty miles. 

 I found the country pretty well wooded, but covered with 

 shrubs and thorny bushes rather than forest trees, and 

 everywhere excessively parched and dried up by the long- 

 continued dry season. I stayed at the village of Oeassa, 

 remarkable for its soap springs. One of these is in the 

 middle of the village, bubbling out from a little cone of 

 mud to which the ground rises all round like a volcano in 

 miniature. The water has a soapy feel and produces a 

 strong lather when any greasy substance is washed in it. 

 It contains alkali and iodine, in such quantities as to 

 destroy all vegetation for some distance round Close by 

 the village is one of the finest springs I have ever seen, 

 contained in several rocky basins communicating by 

 narrow channels. These have been neatly walled where 

 required and partly levelled, and form fine natural baths. 

 The water is well tasted and clear as crystal, and the 

 basins are surrounded by a grove of lofty many-stemmed 

 banyan-trees, which keep them always cool and shady, 

 and add greatly to the picturesque beauty of the scene. 

 The village consists of curious little houses very dif- 



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