426 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



that in Timor there are forty different languages. 1 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 anzions at leaving A. here alona 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 and to assist her in her 

 few domestic duties. She herself will not he-ar of any one 

 else, and scouts the idea of danger from the nutives^ sind is 

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

 moke her home with tJieni, 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. 



