120 
GESSIR ATTOL. 
watch the by-floating of such waves I cannot 
imagine. 
Next morning we were up with the light to 
see the curious peaks of the east of Ceram, 
which slope down towards the many tiny islands 
of which Gessir — our next point of call — is the 
most important and interesting. The forenoon 
was intensely hot, and we could only keep under 
the awning, looking out on the pleasing prospect 
and the beautiful sea, which wore the loveliest 
of greenish -blue hues. But during the afternoon 
a breeze, almost cold, made it possible to go on 
shore and see for ourselves this marvellous little 
island fair. Gessir is a mere horse-shoe-shaped, 
cocoanut-fringed coral attol, once one of the 
most dreaded nests and secure hiding-places of 
pirates in these seas, but now one of the busiest 
and most curious marts in the extreme East, 
crowded with the representatives and the handi- 
work of every race in the archipelago. 
It is the rendezvous of the paradise and other 
bird-skin collectors from the mainland of New 
Guinea, from Salwatty, Mysore, and Halmaheira, 
and of the pearl-divers of Aru ; hither the tripang, 
tortoise-shell, bee's- wax, nutmegs, dammar, and 
other rich produce from a multitude of islands 
are brought to be exchanged with the Malay 
