210 A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES ch. ix 



I remember watching a German barque approaching 

 Manado one evening as the sun was setting, and wondering 

 if she would be able to make fast before the darkness set in. 

 She approached within a few yards of the anchorage, and I 

 was expecting to hear every moment the rattle of the chain, 

 when the land wind set in, and she drifted out to sea 

 again. The next morning at sunrise she was far away on 

 the horizon, but by the evening was again within a few 

 yards of her anchorage. Again she failed, and again ; and 

 it was not until the fourth night after her first appearance 

 that she reached the anchorage and made fast. 



The captain afterwards told me that had there been a 

 buoy in the roads to which he could have fastened a hawser 

 he would have been able to get in on each of the four occa- 

 sions. It was only the fear of the land wind getting the 

 upper hand before he was able to send his hawser ashore 

 that compelled him on each occasion to go out again into 

 the bay. 



Manado, it must be remembered, is not only the chief 

 town of an extremely fertile and promising land, but is 

 also within a few miles of the direct route between the 

 centres of commercial activity of China and Australia, and 

 it is quite possible that if a little more attention were paid 

 by the Dutch to the development of the marine accommo- 

 dation of this town it might lead to a very considerable 

 increase in her commercial prosperity. 



At present the exports from Minahassa are copra, coffee, 

 cocoa, nutmegs, vanilla, and a few other spices, rattan, 

 copal, ebony, and other wood, and it is quite possible that 

 within a few years tobacco and perhaps tea will be added 

 to the list. But Minahassa is capable of doing more than 

 this, and with a better service of steamers trading directly 

 with the civilised world, might in time become one of the 

 principal centres of the trade in tropical produce. 



