chap, xni.] A VALUABLE ISLAND. 309 



natives to extend its cultivation, and good roads by which 

 it could be cheaply transported to the coast. Under such 

 a system the natives would soon perceive that European 

 government was advantageous to them. They would begin 

 to save money, and property being rendered secure they 

 would rapidly acquire new wants and new tastes, and 

 become large consumers of Eiiropean goods. This would 

 be a far surer source of profit to their rulers than im- 

 posts and extortion, and would be at the same time more 

 likely to produce peace and obedience, than the mock- 

 military rule which has hitherto proved most ineffective. 

 To inaugurate such a system would however require an 

 immediate outlay of capital, which neither Dutch nor 

 Portuguese seem inclined to make, — and a number of 

 honest and energetic officials, which the latter nation at 

 least seems unable to produce ; so that it is much to be 

 feared that Timor will for many years to come remain 

 in its present state of chronic insurrection and mis- 

 government. 



Morality at Delli is at as low an ebb as in the far interior 

 of Brazil, and crimes are connived at which would entail 

 infamy and criminal prosecution in Europe. While I was 

 there it was generally asserted and believed in the place, 

 that two officers had poisoned the husbands of women 

 with whom they were carrying on intrigues, and with 

 whom they immediately cohabited on the death of their 



