TUE ARU ISLAXDS. [chap, xxxi 



up in paper. The next morning they were goM, and only 

 a few scattered ttathers indicated their fate. hanging 

 slieir wa5 out of their reach ; hut liaving stupidly kit a 

 hox which served as a stop, a full-plumaged Paradise bird 

 was next mortiing missing ; and a dog btdow tlie house was 

 to be seen still nuimhling over the fnignients, witli the fine 

 golden plumes all trampled in the mud. Every night, as 

 souQ as I was in bed, 1 couM hear them searching about 

 for what they could devour, under my table, and all about 

 my boxes and baskets, keeping me in a state of suspense 

 till morning, lest something of value might incautiously 

 have been left within their reach. They would drink the 

 oil of my floating lamp and eat the wick, and upset or 

 break my crockery if my lazy boys had neglected to wash 

 away even the smell of anything eatable. Bad, however, 

 as they are hei-e, they were woi-se in a Dyak's bouse in 

 liorneo where 1 was once staying, for there they gnawed 

 off the tops of my waterproof boots, ate a large piece out of 

 an old leather game-bag, besides devouring a portion of my 

 mosquito curtain I 



A'pril 28i/fc.— Last evening we had a grand consultation, 

 which had evidently been arranged and discussed before- 

 hand. A number of the natives gathered round me, and 

 said they wanted to talk. Two of the best Malay scholars 

 helped each other, the rest putting in hints and ideas in 

 their 0%vn language. They told me a long rambling stoiy ; 

 but, partly owing to tlicir iiuperfect knowledge of Malay, 

 partly through my ignorance of local terms, and pai-tly 

 through the incoherence of their narrative, I could not 

 make it out very clearly. It was, however, a tradition, 

 and I was glad to* find they had anything of the kind. A 

 long time ago, they said, some strangers came to Aru, and 

 came here to \Vunuml>ai, and the chief of the Wan urn ha i 

 jjeople did not like them, and wanted them to go away, 

 but they would not go, and so it came to figliting, and 

 many Aru men %vere killed, and some, along with the chief, 

 were taken prisoners, and cai'ried away by the strangers. 

 Some of the speakers, however, said that he was not carried 

 away, but went away in his own boat to escape from the 

 foreigneiB, and w^cnt to the sea and never came back again. 

 But they all beHeve that the chief and the people that 



