MACASSAR. 
43 
me first say that 1 saw no Macassar oil. I 
looked in every window, and read every sign- 
hoard, and scanned every building that might 
be a factory, and asked every one I came in 
contact with, but no one knew anything about 
Macassar oil ! 
Macassar is the point from which the products 
of Western civilisation are disseminated through 
the barbarous East, and is one of the great em- 
poriums of the native trade of the archipelago. 
Rattans from Borneo, sandal-wood and beeVwax 
from Flores and Timor, tripang from the Gulf 
of Carpentaria, cajeput-oil from Bourn, wild 
nutmegs and mussoi-bark from New Guinea, — 
are all to be found in the stores of the Chinese 
and Bugis merchants of Macassar, along with 
the rice and coffee which are the chief products 
of the surrounding country. There is also the 
trade to the Aru Islands, of which almost the 
whole produce comes to Macassar in native 
vessels to contribute to the luxurious tastes of 
the most civilised races. Pearls, mother-of- 
pearl, and tortoise-shell find their way to 
Europe, while edible birds'-nests and tripang, 
or sea-slug, are sent off by ship-loads for the 
gastronomic enjoyment of the Chinese. 
Near the wharf Macassar has quite a business 
