NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 
567 
Outside the harbour a slight southeasterly swell was experienced, which rendered 
the landing on the weather shore of Banda Island a little difficult. A coral reef, which 
dries at low water, skirted the shore for about 50 yards at the landing place, imme- 
diately outside of which the depth was 20 fathoms, so that the pinnace was barely able 
to anchor. The party was conveyed on shore in small boats, the native labourers from 
the plantation running the canoes clear of the worst seas, and then carrying the members 
of it to land in arm-chairs. 
Whilst breakfast was being prepared, a Javanese band of a dozen musicians and two 
dancing girls, hired for the amusement of the labourers, and evidently a part of the 
establishment, gave an entertainment. At first it was thought that stringed music was 
heard, but it was found that the sound was produced from the usual Javan instruments, 
some dozen bell-shaped gongs with raised knobs on their tops, standing on the ground, 
and a number of melophones made from bamboo laths, arranged like musical glasses. 
The girls were dressed in the usual sarongs, with a long scarf crossed gracefully 
over their shoulders, the- face, arms, and hands were coloured with a yellowish dye, and 
the hair bound into a knot above their heads, and ornamented with a wreath of flowers. 
The dance consisted of graceful bendings of the body accompanied with movements of 
the arms and scarf, and a musical chant. 
After breakfast the party rode to the top of the range of hills running through the 
island. When the land is viewed from seaward, it appears to be covered with an almost 
(narr, chall. exp.— vol. i.— 1885.) 72 
