178 TRAVELS IK THK EAST ISBIAfT ARCHIPELAGO. 



read and re-reai The pages of the Boston papers 

 seemed like the faces of familiar Mends, and it 

 was difficult not to peruse the advertisements, col- 

 umn by column, before I could lay them aside. I, 

 iu turn, was able to wiite my friend.s that already I 

 possessed a fall series of neai'ly all the species of 

 shells I had come to seek 



East of Amboina lie three islands, sometimes 

 called the' "Uliassers." The first and nearest to 

 Amboina is Harutu (in Dutch Hai'oekoe) ; it is 

 also known to the natives as Oma, or Buwang-bessi, 

 " Ejecting- ii'on." The second is Saparua (m Dutch 

 Saparoea) ; but aceording to Mr. Crawfurd it should 

 be Sapurwa, or Sapurba, Irom the native numeral 

 Sa standing as an article, and the Sanscrit, pitrwa^ 

 " source " a name probably given it by the Malay 

 and Javanese traders, who came here to }>uy cloves 

 long before the Portuguese reached such a remote 

 region, and this is made more probable by the 

 name of the third island Nusalant (in Dutch Noesa- 

 laoet), which is compounded of the Javanese word 

 nma^ " an island,^* and the Malay word laut^ " the 

 sea," Nusalaut, therefore, means Sea Island, and was 

 evidently so named because it is situated more nearly 

 in the open sea. The Javanese word misa^ which is 

 applied, like the Malay word puh^ only to small 

 islands, enables us to trace out the early course of 

 the Javanese traders. At the southern end of Laiti- 

 mur is a kampong named Ntiso/niva (niba), ^' Fallen 

 Island," perhaps because some island, or a part 

 of Amboina itself, had sunk in that vicinity. Near 

 the Banda group is E^usatelo (better taluh), " M^ic 



