IN TIMOB. 449 



CHAPTER III. 



IN THE KINGDOM OF BIBiriUgU. 



Leave for Bibicucu — Bridles — A trio of Braves — ^War and its attendant 

 ceremonies — Rahomali — Lull ground — Bibicucu— Harvest-fields — Oulti- 

 vation^Take the law into my own hands — Connubial relations — Water- 

 fall — ^Birds — Herbarium — -Disquieting news — Mount Kabalaki — Move 

 forward to Saluki — Native market — Description of natives seen there — 

 Ornaments — Dyes — -An enraged Timorese — Red-haired race — Timorese 

 a mixed race — Up the Makulala River — Gold — Ceremonies of gold- 

 gathering — Arrive at the Rajah of Saluki's. 



Friday, April &h. — At daylight be»an the loading of the 

 horses and men ; but finding that the herbarium gathered at 

 Turskain would from its size hamper our progress very much, 

 1 had it packed up and sent by special messengers to Fatunaba 

 to A. About seven o'clock we got under weigh for the Rajah 

 of BibifUfu's by a south-east course towards the sharp peak of 

 Tahaolat. The horse I now rode was furnished with a native 

 saddle, composed of long pads on each side of the spine, 

 secured by cords instead of bands, and with neat wooden 

 pulleys in place of buckles. The Timorese in riding place 

 only the great toe in the stirrup, consequently these were 

 merely little blocks of wood at the end of a cord, with a hole 

 fpr the insertion of the digit; or, often more simply still, a 

 small wooden disk for the support of the first two toes, between 

 which the stirrup cord is grasped. The bridle-bit — a fearful 

 instrument of tortiire from the sharp spikes with which it was 

 armed — was of brass, of native manufacture and good work- 

 manship, cast, as I was told, in separate pieces in a mould of 

 wax, lined with very fine clay. 



On one of the hill-tops on our way we passed three men who 

 had come from a neighbouring hut to see our cavalcade. My 

 servant, who was a native of the kingdom we were approach- 



