IN TIMOR-LAUT. 321 



mally clad savage sitting at the table, nibbing his hijis against 

 our plates. Happily, I observed one day that they had a 

 mighty horror of snakes, which supplied me with an effectual 

 means of ridding ourselves when over-burdened with their com- 

 pany. I would cautiously proceed to insert my hand without 

 any apparent reference to our visitors, into the large tin in 

 which my spirit specimens were kept, an operation they pressed 

 closely and intently round me to watch. A vigorous splutter 

 inside made them draw back somewhat ; but on withdrawing my 

 hand with a writhing snake, the crowd would tumble over each 

 other out at the door screaming and shouting. As they never 

 waited to see the end of the operation, they never came to know 

 that I had not a mania for keeping live snakes. 



In the treatment of their children, both parents were inva- 

 riably kind and affectionate. To see the fathers carrying about 

 their children in the evenings, with kindly care, one could 

 scarcely believe in the savage ferocity of their natures, as we 

 had seen it exhibited more than once. Like mothers every- 

 where else, the women seemed pleased at the notice A would 



take of their infants, who, like those with white skins, derived 

 amusement from little dolls — stuffed with rice grains instead of 

 sawdust ; and the little packets of sugar she often gave them 

 were inviolately kept though tempting enough to the mothers 

 also, and given to them little by little. All their children were 

 profusely adorned with beads and necklets, and their little 

 limbs were encased in perfect bucklers of shell armlets. 



The youths and boys used to play in the evenings in the 

 most lively manner, often in company with the younger fathers, 

 while a crowd of interested' villagers looked on. One of their 

 great amusements was the sailing of miniature boats elegantly 

 made out of gaha-gaba, or sago palm stems, which they entered 

 for championship in spirited regattas. They would build also 

 forts of sand, and defend them against their comrade foes with 

 balls of wet mud. The laughter which hailed a good hit told 

 of the enjoyment and interest of the on-looking crowd of 

 villagers of all ages.- Their chief game, however, one more of 

 skill and precision tlian the others, was jDlayed with discs cut 

 off from the top of conus shells, of which each player had two 

 One of these quoits he deposited in a little depression in the 

 ground, arid the other he played from a crease a few yards 



