AMBOYNA. 
1 13 
was devoted to an exchange of civilities between H.M.S. “Challenger” and the authorities. 
We saluted the Dutch flag with the rapid fire of twenty-one guns—our tars taking a pride 
in handling the few guns at our disposal—and the fort returned the salute in the slow, 
comfortable fashion of our Dutch cousins, while the strains of their national air came floating 
on the breeze. All that invested the name of Amboyna with memories of hatred and 
vengeance is at length happily forgotten, nevermore to be 
“ Picked from the worm-holes of long-vanished days, 
Nor from the dust of old oblivion raked.” 
Early on the 6th we dropped a few miles further down the harbour to take in coal. 
Partly to avoid the dust and noise connected with this operation, partly to enjoy the rare 
luxury of feeling solid ground beneath our feet, we pitched a tent in a pleasant shady spot 
overlooking the coaling-sheds. Here we pursued our various tasks of writing, drawing, chart¬ 
making, posting-up of books, &c., while inhaling the balmy air of Amboyna, considered to be 
the healthiest colony in the Dutch Indies. All around us were spread green meadows in 
which cattle were placidly grazing, and the whole scene, with its background of wooded 
hills, was more suggestive of a valley in the Swiss Alps than of a spot within six degrees of 
the Equator. 
Our attention was attracted by a number of monuments which covered the slope of 
a hill at a short distance from our tent. They proved to be Chinese tombs, probably erected 
CHINESE TOMB NEAR AMBOYNA. 
over the graves of wealthy Chinese merchants who had died at Amboyna. Their large 
dimensions, as well as the care bestowed upon their ornamentation, attest the dutiful respect 
with which the Chinese honour the memory of their departed. Rising one above the other 
along the face of the hill, they all front the same point of the horizon, namely, the west, and 
were probably oviented ’ or rather occidented, with the aid of a compass. Each tomb consists 
of an artificial mound, on the western slope of which is a carefully walled-in space in the 
form of the Greek letter n. The two arms of the oval end in a scroll or spiral ornament, 
and the space enclosed contains a small mound, that seems to be the actual grave, and 
which is planted with shrubs. In front is an upright stone slab bearing an inscription 
in Chinese characters, and overlooking an altar similar in design to the altar or tables 
in Chinese temples, on which incense is burned. A low wall, sometimes adorned with 
bas-reliefs, extends on each side, and the level semi-circular space before the altar is 
