.426 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



that in Timor there are forty different languages. I am not 

 in a position to say whether they are dialects or languages ; 

 but I observed that in some districts the people did not 

 understand the speech of their neighbours. 



I feel quite anxious at leaving A. here alone. Female 

 servants are impossible to be found in Dilly ; but. the old 

 woman who looks after the coffee-gardens near us, has agreed 

 to sleep in the hut within her call, and to assist her in her 

 few domestic duties. She herself will not hear of any one 

 else, and scouts the idea of danger from the natives, and is 

 quite brave over it. Our friends at the palace desire her to 

 make her home with them, but the fever risks of Dilly are too 

 great. I do not like the neighbours over much, and am far 

 from comfortable in the idea of leaving her so unprotected. 



