202 
ARRU ISLANDS. 
up like a fan (ia a similar manner to the sails of 'a 
Chinese junk), set upon a tripod mast of bambooa, while 
it ia steered with two niddcrs. Two other masts are also 
erectedj which answer no purpose but that of displaying 
several small flags, 
"The pearl fishciy is thus carried on. The trader 
makes an agreement (for the oysters) for so much a 
hundred j paying an advance of a certain quantity of 
arrakj cloth^ &c. When the price is agreed on, the fisher 
goes to the bank and dives for the oysterSj which are 
mostly small and black, in from twenty-four to thirty 
feet water, selecting the best he can find. The diving is 
attended with much difficulty and danger, as, from the 
time he remains uuder water, the blood often bursts from 
the nose and mouth of the divert while he is also liable 
to be destroyed by the numerous sharks which are to be 
found there,"* 
Until a comparatively recent period, the inhabitants of 
the eastern islands of the group were in the habit of 
joining the Papuan fleets which made periodical semi- 
piratical expeditions among the islands of the Moluccas, 
famishing their quota of prahus, which resemble very 
closely those of the Oatanatas, Among the southern 
tribes, considerable improvements have been made in 
the art of navigation, which appear to have been derived 
chiefly from the foreign ti-aders. In the western, or, 
as they may be called, Christian*' islands, the larger 
prahus are almost all obtained from the Ki Group, which 
lies sixty miles to the west, and is occupied by the most 
• KolIT, « Vojage of the *Dourga/ " p. 176» 
