VOYAGES OF THE BDGIS. 



101 



In tlie road were many praus of forty or fifty tons' 

 bui'den, and some even twice as large. lu the begin- 

 ning of the western monsoon tbey go in great num- 

 bers to the Arru Islands^ the principal rendezvous * 

 for the people of Ceram, Goram, the Ki Islands, Te- 

 nimber, Baba^ and the adjacent coast of New Guinea. 

 Mr. Wallace, who was particularly seeking the birds 

 of paradise, went in one of these nide vessels to the 

 Arms, a distance of one thousand miles, "WTien Mr, 

 Jukes was at Port Essington, in January, 1845, two 

 of these praus were there. One had made the pas- 

 sage from Macassar in ten, and another in fifteen 

 days. But, on these long voyages, many never re- 

 turn. In the last of the month a thii'd came into 

 that poi*t and reported that four others, more than 

 had arrived safely, had jnst foundered during a 

 heavy gale, and that the crew of only one was saved. 

 Many go every year to the islands off the eastern 

 end of Ceram and to the neighboring coast of Papua, 

 and sometimes along its northern shores to Geelvink 

 Bay. These long voyages indicate that the Bugis 

 are now what the Malays were when the Portuguese 

 first came to the East, namely, the great navigators 

 and traders of the archipelago. They cany to all 

 these localities English calicoes and cotton goods of 

 theii" own manufiicture, also Chinese ffonjr?i and lame 

 quantities of arrack. They bring in return tortoise- 

 shell, mother-of-pearl shell, pearls, birds of paradise, 

 and tripmig^ which appears to be the common Malay 



* Mr. Wallace estimated tJie value of the goods carried there from 

 Maeaspar alone at 30(1,000 guiWera (80,000 dollars), and those brought 

 fl-om other places at 50,000 guilders (20,000 dollars) more. 



