chap, xix.] A DUTCH MAIL STEAMER. 449 



at five, a good dinner with beer and claret at half-past six, 

 concluded by tea and coffee at eight. Between whiles 

 beer and sodawater are supplied when called for, so there 

 is no lack of little gastronomical excitements to while 

 away the tedium of a sea voyage. 



Our first stopping place was Coupang, at the west end 

 of the large island of Timor. We then coasted along that 

 island for several hundred miles, having always a view 

 of hilly ranges covered with scanty vegetation, rising ridge 

 behind ridge to the height of six or seven thousand feet. 

 Turning off towards Banda we passed Pulo-Cambing, 

 Wetter, and Boma, all of which are desolate and barren 

 volcanic islands, almost as uninviting as Aden, and offer- 

 ing a strange contrast to the usual verdure and luxuriance 

 of the Archipelago. In two days more we reached the 

 volcanic group of Banda, covered with an unusually dense 

 and brilliant green vegetation, indicating that we had 

 passed beyond the range of the hot dry winds from the 

 plains of Central Australia. Banda is a lovely little spot, 

 its three islands enclosing a secure harbour from whence 

 no outlet is visible, and with water so transparent, that 

 living corals and even the minutest objects are plainly 

 seen on the volcanic sand at a depth of seven or eight 

 fathoms. The ever smoking volcano rears its bare cone 

 on one side, while the two larger islands are clothed with 

 vegetation to the summit of the hills. 

 vol. I. G G 



