78 A NATURALIST IN CELEBES ch. iv 



me the great favour of selling me some fish, but more 

 frequently they would plead that they were taking them to 

 the market at Manado, and my attempts to trade with them 

 were unsuccessful. 



Then there were the sopis from the Sangir Islands, 

 bringing perhaps a rajah on his way to pay a visit to the 

 Eesident of Manado. 



It was always interesting to see new faces ; and so strong 

 was the sense of security in the island that we never felt the 

 least anxiety about our property when these wandering seamen 

 came to visit us in our settlement. I wonder where else in 

 the world a small colony of planters, almost unprotected and 

 perfectly unprepared, would welcome as we did boat-loads 

 of dusky-looking villains such as these. I may say that 

 my house was often left entirely unguarded ; and yet, with 

 two exceptions, I never lost a single article of any value to 

 me during my ten months' residence in the island ; and of 

 the two exceptions I may say that it is quite as hkely as 

 not that the things were taken away by a misunderstanding 

 of my instructions rather than by wilful theft. 



Just behind my house there was a large shed, where 

 frequently the crews of passing vessels would make a fire 

 to roast their pig or cook a turtle or simply boil their rice 

 and spend the evening in a sing-song. For many hours 

 of an evening the wild plaintive songs of the Sangirese 

 sailors would continue, now rising and swelling in a general 

 chorus, now sinking to a low, half-mufiled solo. The 

 Sangirese music affected me at first, as I suppose most 

 Oriental music does English ears, as painfully nasal and 

 discordant ; but after listening to it carefully for several even- 

 ings together, and at last recognising the several songs as 

 they were sung, I began to feel their weird spirit and power 

 and even to look forward to hearing them again. The curious 

 and annoying thing about their music was that I found it 



