IN THE MOLUCCAS. 289 



means prepossessing ; they would have been brighter could 

 we have foreseen that, ere we left it, we were to make many 

 delightful friends, whose kindness and hospitality would fix it 

 in ou^ remembrance as one of the most pleasant of towns t(» 

 reside in. 



Our only means now of reaching the Tenimber Islands was 

 by the Netherlands tri-monthly steamer, due on the 18th of 

 June, which had lately begun to run to New Guinea, touching 

 at Serah and Larat, both islets of the Timor-laut group, where 

 the Government had just then placed Postholders (civil offi- 

 cials of subordinate rank) charged with the initiatory work of 

 these new colonies. 



To a naturalist with a spare week or two at his disposal, 

 few islands can offer so acceptable a retreat as Amboina. To 

 spend the time as profitably as possible, therefore, we decided 

 to move a little distance into the interior. 



Mat/ lith. Breathless Sunday morning. Started for Paso, 

 a little village situated at the top of the Bay of Amboina, on 

 the narrow isthmus — only a few hundred yards broad — that 

 connects the southern or Leitimor with the northern (called 

 Hitu) portion of the island. It was a disappointment to us 

 that a ripple on the water quite prevented our getting a glimpse 

 of those fairy Gardens of the Sea to be seen here, which have 

 been so graphically described by Mr. Wallace. Jutting out from 

 the land along the shores of the bay were the curious Seros or 

 native fish-maises, in which a double line of close bamboo pali- 

 sades, reaching above the level of the water, enclosed a lane, 

 which extended shorewards from its seaward entrance a little 

 way beyond low-water mark, and doubling back terminated in 

 deep water in a circular well, where the fish that had entered 

 during high tide, and whose escape had been prevented by the 

 ebb, were enclosed and captured from a trap door in a little 

 platform erected over it. 



As we skirted along the shore, the sound of sacred music 

 floated out to us over the water from one of the little villages 

 in solemn and impressive cadence. We landed for a little 

 to look at the church whence it issued — the people here being 

 all " Orang Sirani," or Christians.* The congregation was 

 just dispersing, and we were surprised at the neatness of their 

 * Or " Nazarenes.'' 



