CANAL TO BAaUALA BAY. 



or never enter it, as the road ' off the city is so far 

 from the mouth of the l>ay that it is very seklom any 

 coiisideral;)le swell" rolls in from the ocean, and more- 

 over, the shores of this bay are considered extremely 

 unhealthy on account of fevers, while sickness of that 

 kind is very rare at the outer anehoriage. On the 

 eastern or Laitimur side of the bay there are several 

 kampongs upon the low land along the shore. Back 

 from the low land, on the Hitn side, there is a grad- 

 ual ascent to mountains a mile or two back. One of 

 them, Salhutu, rises twelve hundred metres above 

 the sea, and is the highest peak on the island. lu 

 the shallow water around the head of the bay gi-ow 

 many mangrove-trees (RMzoplior(B). A low isthmus 

 of sand and alluvium, only some thirteen hundred 

 yards broad, and but a few feet above high- water 

 level, connects Laitimur wdth Hitu. Through this a 

 canal was cut in 1827 to the large bay of Baguala, 

 in order that the praus bound from Ceram to Am- 

 boina might avoid the long route round the danger- 

 ous shores of Laitimur ; but in twelve years this pas- 

 sage became so filled up with sand as to be impas- 

 sable, except for small boats, and now they can only 

 go to and fro during high tide, and thus whatever 

 ithere is to be transported must be carried on the 

 backs of coolies. It is very pdnfiil to see such valu- 

 able improvements neglected and becoming useless, 

 for it shows that the whole tendency in this region, 

 instead of being toward progress, is only toward 

 decay. Crossing this isthmus, we continued along 

 the sandy shores on the north side of Baguala Bay, 

 for this is the only highway between the city of Am- 



