192 
VOYAGE OP THE POTOMAC. 
[Febraary,- 
surrounded by numerous smaller ones. It has a fine river, good , 
anchorage, and refreshments of various descriptions, including 
excellent water. The inhabitants are mild and inoffensive, very 
different from their neighbours on the main, or on any other island 
in the range. The inhabitants sell their daughters to the slave- 
dealers, who convey them to Batavia, and other markets, where 
they are purchased for wives or slaves, as the case may be. 
The reason assigned for this unnatural conduct is, in some in- 
stances, that the inhabitants of Pulo Nyas have become so deeply 
involved in debt by gaming, that they cannot extricate themselves 
but by selling their children, if they have any ; if not, by giving 
up themselves for slaves for a certain period. The consequence 
is, that several hundred girls and boys are exported annually. 
Our informant was at Troumon, azid present at the landing of 
one cargo of these unfortunate beings. They were principally 
females and boys of about sixteen years of age, who, after being 
counted, were marched up to the slave-market. These females, 
like all who come from this island, were beautifully formed, with 
complexions much lighter than those of the natives of Sumatra* 
The captain of the vessel which brought them to Troumon was 
the son of a Scotchman, by a Nyas woman, while his pwn wife' 
was daughter to the King of Nyas. 
About ninety miles south of the equator is another of the islands,^ 
of considerable size, known by the name of Pulo Pogy, with a 
companion of smaller dimensions on the south. The north Pogy 
is of very irregular shape, and thickly indented with bays and 
coves, particularly on its western side. The south Pogy is narrow,- 
and tapering towards its southern extremity. Both of them are 
inhabited, but very little is known of their history or character,, 
except that they are tattooed like the natives of most islands in 
the South Sea and Pacific Ocean. 
The most southerly of these islands is Engano, situated in lati- 
tude 5° 20' south. It is about eight leagues in extent, of a trian- 
gular form, and presents a level appearance when viewed at the 
distance of ten or twelve miles. It is about sixty miles from the' 
coast, and has an iron-bound shore, surrounded by rocks and break- 
ers. The only account which we have ever seen of the inhabitants 
is contained in the sixty-eighth volume of Philosophical Transac- 
tions, for the year seventeen hundred and seventy-eight. The 
