S O O L O O. 



349 



parties wandered along the alluvial beach for two or three miles in 

 each direction, no signs of coral were observed. Many fragments of 

 red, gray, and purple basalt and porphyry were met with along the 

 beach; talcose rock and slate, syenite, hornblend, quartz, both com- 

 pact and slaty, with chalcedony, were found in pieces and large 

 pebbles. Those who were engaged in dredging reported the bottom 

 as being of coral, in from four to six or eight fathoms ; but this was 

 of a different kind from that of which the fort was constructed. 



I"ir, 



FORT AT CALDERA. 



The fort was built in the year 1784, principally for protection 

 against the Sooloo pirates, who were in the habit of visiting the settle- 

 ments, and carrying off the inhabitants as slaves, to obtain ransom 

 for them. This, and others of the same description, were therefore 

 constructed as places of refuge for the inhabitants, as well as to afford 

 protection to vessels. 



Depredations are still committed, which render it necessary to keep 

 up a small force. One or two huts which were seen in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the bay, are built on posts twenty feet from the ground, 

 and into them they ascend by ladders, which are hauled up after the 

 occupants have entered. 



These, it is said, are the sleeping-huts, and are so built for the 

 purpose of preventing surprise at night. Before our arrival we had 

 heard that the villages were all so constructed, but a visit to one soon 

 showed that this was untrue. The natives seen at the village were 

 thought to be of a decidedly lighter colour and a somewhat different 

 expression from the Malays. They were found to be very civil, 

 and more polished in manners than our gentlemen expected. On 

 asking for a drink of water, it was brought in a glass tumbler on 

 a china plate. An old woman, to whom they had presented some 

 trifles, took the trouble to meet them in another path on their 



vol. v. 88 



