60 



A ViSlT T€ THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



nttackod the tomi : this accounted for the panic on the 

 night of our arrival. The Diitclimen, Jiaving iircd oii the 

 town for some time, landed and burnt a few hoiisea, 

 paying Mr. Windham the compliment of making particular 

 inquiries for hisj which they destroyed, with much valuahle 

 property. The watering-place deserves particular notice, 

 ' — a lovely spot, ahout a mile and a half to the eastward of 

 the town, iii a small bight of white f^and. The water, 

 after being filtered througli some ^hundred yards of porous 

 rock, came welling out in several places through the sand, 

 about high- water mark, and as clear as crystal. On one 

 side of this* little bay, and close to the springs, grew a 

 magnificent tree of, I think, the Banyan species, throwing 

 its shade over an acre of ground. It was a striking object ; 

 and served as the trjsting-tree, where on markot-dajs tlie 

 mountaineers met the towuspeople, to exchange com- 

 modities. A mutual distrust appeared to subsist between 

 them, the highlauders seldom going into the town, nor 

 the townsmen to the mountains. 



The country people are tributary to the Sultan^ though 

 often refractory subjects ; and a system of clanship 

 appears to prevail amongst them. Mr. Windham pointed 

 Out to us a spot on the beach, between the watering-place 

 and the town, as the scene of pubUc executions ; he also 

 informed us that the capital crime most abhorred and 

 most severely punished — on the system^ as we supposed, 

 of honour amongst thieves " — was theft. The criminal 

 being bound to a frame-work, resembling St. Andrew's 



