410 MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISLANDS [chap. xxvm. 



assumed a fearfully black appuaiaiicc. Accordir^ to 

 custom, when strung wiiul or rain is expected, our large 

 isails were furled, and with their yards let down on (ieck, 

 and a small square iurefiail alone kept The great mat 

 aails are most awkwurd thiuj^s to manage in rough weather. 

 The yards which siqiport them are seventy l"eet long, and 

 of course very heavy ; and tlie only way to furl them being 

 to roll up the sail on the boom, it is a very dangerous 

 thing to have them standing when overtaken by a squall. 

 Our crew, though numerous enough for a vessel of 7U0 

 instead of one of 70 tons, have it very nmeh their own 

 way, and there seeuis to be seldom move than a dozen at 

 work at a time. When anything important is to be done, 

 however, all start up willingly enough, bub then all think 

 themselves at liberty to give llieir opinion, and half a 

 dozen voices are heard giving orders, and lliere is such a 

 shrieking and confusiou that it seems woiideiinl anything 

 gets tlone at idi. 



Considering we have fifty men of several tribes and 

 tongues on board, wild, half-yavage l^joldng fellows, and few 

 of tiiem feeling any of the restraints of moraUty or educa- 

 tion, we get on wonderfully welL There is no fightiug or 

 quarrelling, as there would certainly be among the same 

 number of Europeans with as little restraint upon their 

 actions, and there is scarcely uuy of that noiae and excite- 

 ment which might be expected. In tine weather the 

 greater part of them are quietly enjoying themselves — 

 Bome are sleeping umler the shadow of the sails ; others, in 

 little groups of three or four, are talking or chewing betel j 

 one is nuiking a new handle to his clioppiiig-kuife. another 

 la stitching away at a new pair of trousei-s or a shirt, and 

 all arc as quiet and well-conducted as on board the best- 

 ordered Englii-h niertljantman. Two or three take it by 

 turns to watch in the bows and see after the. braces and 

 halyards of the great sails ; the two ateei*smen are below 

 in the steerage; our captain, or the juragan, gives the 

 course, guitled partly by the compass and partly by the 

 direction of the wind, and a watch of iwo or three on tlie 

 poop look after the trimndn^i of the sails uud call out tho 

 lioiu-s by the water-clock. This is a very ingenious con- 

 Li'ivance, which meaaiuctt time well in iH'th rough w^eathoi 



