4 4 f> Tff^ ARV ISLAmS, [CHAP. xxx. 



know that peace and order are essential to successful trade, 

 and thus a public opinion is created which puts dovm all 

 lawlessness. Often in former years, when strolling alonjof 

 the Campong Glam in Singapore, I have thought how wild 

 and ferocious the Bugis sailors looked, and how little I 

 should like to tnist myself among tbem. But now I find 

 them to be very decent, well-behaved fellows ; I walk 

 daily imarraed in the jungle, where I meet thera con- 

 tinually ; I sleep in a palm-leaf hut, which any one may 

 enter, with as little fear and as little danger of thieves or 

 murder as if 1 were under the protection of the Metro- 

 politan police. It is true the Dutch influence is felt here. 

 The islands are nominally under the government of the 

 Moluccas, which the native chiefs acknowledge; and in 

 most years a commissioner arrives fi'om Amboyna, who 

 makes the tour of the islands, hears complaints, settles 

 disputes, and carries away prisoner any heinous offender. 

 This year he is not expected to come, as no orders have yet 

 been received to prepare for him ; so the people of Dobbo 

 will probably be left to their own devices. One day a 

 man was caught in the act of stealing a piece of iron from 

 HeiT Warzbeigen's house, which he had entered by making 

 a hole through the thatch wall. In the evening the chief 

 traders of the place, Bugis and Chinese, assembled, the 

 ofTeuder was tried and found guilty, and sentenced to 

 receive twenty lashes on the spot. They were given with 

 a small rattan in the middle of the street, not very severely, 

 as the executioner appeared to sympatliise a little with the 

 culprit. The disgrace seemed to be thought as much of as 

 the pain ; for though any amount of clever cheating ia 

 thought rather meritorious than otherwise, open robbery 

 and housebreaking meet with univei"sal reprobation. 



