SUSALAUT. 



187 



August 17 tk~— At 5 A. M. started with the Resi- 

 dent for Nusalaut. Oiir party included the doctor 

 stationed "vvith the ganison, the commandant of 

 militia, whose birthday had been so faithfully ob- 

 served the day before, my merchant - fiiend, the 

 stuurman," or captain, and last, and perhaps I 

 should add least, a little mestizo scribe, whose prcp- 

 er title was " the commissie." A strong head wind, 

 with trequent squalls of rain, made om' progi'ess slow 

 till we reached a high point which the natives called 

 Tanjong O, the Headland 0. From that point over 

 to Nusalaut was a distance of some two miles. As 

 we left the shore, and pushed out into the open sea, 

 our progress became still slower. Inch by inch we 

 gained till we were half-way across, when the wind 

 freshened, and for a time we could scarcely hidd our 

 own, despite the incj'eased jargon from the tifa and 

 the gong, and a wilder whooping trom every native, 

 varied by mutterings from each, to the effect that he 

 was the only one who was really ivorMng. Almost 

 the moment these people meet with any unexpected 

 difficulty they become disheartened, and want to give 

 up theii' task at once, exactly like little childim 



Nusalaut, lite the other Uliassers, is completely 

 surrounded by a shallow platform of coral, which is 

 mostly bai'e at low water. AVe therefore entered a 

 small bay, where the deep water would allow our 

 boat to come near the shore. Coolies now waded 

 off with chairs on their shoulders, and landed us 

 dry-footed on the beach, where were a dozen natives, 

 clad in what is supposed to have been the war-cos- 

 tume of theu* ancestors long before the arrival of 



