198 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN AECHIPELAGO. 



residency, over wliicli an assistant resident or resi- 

 dent of the second rant is placed. 



From Lainitn we passed along the northern shore 

 to Nnllahiaj where we remained for the night. Here 

 I purchased many beautifol "harp-shells" and a few 

 large cones, which were formerly so rare that they 

 have been sold in Europe for more than two hundred 

 dollars apiece. The next day we continued on to 

 Amet, the larges^t hampoTig on the island. Here a 

 good miasionaiy was located, who was indeed like 

 Melchisedek, "both priest and Mng." From this 

 place he is accustomed to travel to the various vil* 

 lages, preachings teaching, and keeping a general snr- 

 veillanee over the conduct of his people, and the good 

 results of his labor were well shown in the general 

 spirit of thiift and order which characterizes these 

 villages as compared to the Mohammedan kampongs 

 I had previously visited on the shores of Amboina. 

 Every person in all these villages is nominally a 

 Chnstian, and this, I believe, is the only island in the 

 archipelago of which that can be said* The mission- 

 ary, however, informs me that a few of them occar 

 sionally steal away to some secret place among the 

 mountains where they practise their ancient rites by 

 making offerings to spirits, possibly those of their 

 ancestors, which they were accustomed to worship 

 before the introduction of Christianity. 



The \allage of Amet is one of the best places in 

 the whole Moluccas to gather shells. The platform 

 of coral which begirts the island extends out here 

 nearly two English miles from high-water level to 

 where the heavy swell breaks along its outer edge ; 



