304 TIMOR. [chap. xiii. 



of an utterly barren country, with roads to make, and all 

 skilled labour and materials to import, it would have been 

 a losing concern. Gold also occurs, but very sparingly and 

 of poor quality. A fine spring of pure petroleum was dis- 

 covered far in the interior, where it can never be available 

 till the country is civilized. The whole affair was a 

 dreadful disappointment to the Portuguese Government, 

 who had considered it such a certain thing that they had 

 contracted for the Dutch mail steamers to stop at Delli ; 

 and several vessels from Australia were induced to come 

 with miscellaneous cargoes, for which they expected to 

 find a ready sale among the population at the newly-opened 

 mines. The lumps of native copper are still, however, a 

 mystery. Mr. Geach has examined the country in every 

 direction without being able to trace their origin ; so that 

 it seems probable that they result from the debris of old 

 copper-bearing strata, and are not really more abundant 

 than cold nuggets are in Australia or California. A high 

 reward was offered to any native who should find a piece 

 and show the exact spot where he obtained it, but without 

 effect. 



The mountaineers of Timor are a people of Papuan type, 

 having rather slender forms, bushy frizzled hair, and the 

 skin of a dusky brown colour. They have the long nose 

 with overhanging apex which is so characteristic of the 

 Papuan, and so absolutely unknown among races of 



