A CORNER OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIES. 685 



The seals having been concentrated, the work of slaughter com- 

 mences : each man is armed with a pole having a hook attached 

 to one end, with which the seals are one by one drawn from the 

 pile and killed by a single blow on the head. The skin is then 

 quickly removed with the fat blubber, which is wrapped up in it; 

 it is valueless as fur, and eventually tanned, split, and made up 

 as imitation kid into gloves, linings of porte-monnaies, valises, 

 shoes, etc. 



In less than two months after the sealers first start out, the 

 seals have completely disappeared ; where they go is a mystery. 

 In the fall they reappear in small groups making their way north 

 again. 



The whaling season then follows immediately after the seal- 

 ing, the same steamers sometimes being employed. 



Early in September, whether the season has been successful or 

 not, the Dundee whalers start on their return voyage, following 

 the east coast of British America and Labrador until they lose 

 the benefit of the polar current near Newfoundland. 



It is a rough trip ; gales and tremendous seas are peculiar to 

 both time of year and locality, yet it may be considered almost 

 uneventful to the crews of those racked and bruised vessels which 

 will require the whole winter to refit for next season's work. 



-♦♦♦- 



A CORNER OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIES. 



By Captain G. LANGEN. 



THE Key or K6" Islands of the Dutch East Indies derive their 

 name from a native word signifying " What do you say ? " 

 The native tradition runs that when Macassar traders first land- 

 ed there and inquired in the Malay tongue after the name of the 

 land they had set foot on, the natives answered, " Kay," and this 

 expression was mistaken by the questioners for the name of the 

 islands. The group consists of two larger islands, of which the 

 westerly one bears the name of Nuhu-roa, or Little Key, and the 

 easterly one Ju-ud, or Great Key, with a number of smaller isl- 

 ands around them. Great Key is undoubtedly geologically much 

 older than Little Key and the other surrounding islands, and 

 possesses elevations of from two thousand to three thousand feet, 

 while Little Key and the other islands are very low. Great Key is 

 principally of a rocky and volcanic formation ; Little Key and 

 the surrounding islands are formed of coral and interveined by 

 flint and quartz. Little Key, according to the most reliable chiefs, 

 was raised out of the sea about thirty-five years ago, during the 



