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299 
return for this it is only just that every able-bodied man 
should be compelled to lend a hand in maintaining this 
happy condition of affairs. In a land where the neces¬ 
sities of life are so easily obtained, and the wants of the 
people are few, poverty is inexcusable and starvation 
unknown. Under such circumstances it would be im¬ 
possible for the Government to obtain a sufficient number 
of men to labour on the roads at a reasonable wage, and 
in consequence they would be either neglected or ex¬ 
tremely costly to maintain. The luerendienst is, then, 
the only system by which the roads can be kept in a 
proper state of repair without over - burdening the 
exchequer or increasing the taxation of the people 
beyond their capabilities. If it is true that some of the 
Dutch officials have occasionally used the lieerendienst for 
their own personal service, it is the abuse of the system 
we should deprecate, not the system itself.” 
West of Minahasa is Gorontalo, which gives its name 
to the great gulf intervening between the peninsula and 
the rest of the island. The district, which is inhabited 
by native tribes under chiefs or rajas, is administered by 
a Dutch Assistant-Resident. Most of the people here 
are of a markedly different type from the short, light- 
coloured, and amiable-looking Minahasans, being taller, 
darker, and with crisper hair, but nevertheless showing 
no sign of Papuan blood. Many are Mohammedans, but 
the greater number pagans, as are almost all the tribes 
farther west, except on the coast, where are some settle¬ 
ments of Bugis and Mandars who trade with the people 
of the interior. The town of Gorontalo is situated close 
to the Limbotto Lake, and contains about 3000 inhabit¬ 
ants. Its chief exports are copra and copal. The 
Dutch have been settled here from the seventeenth cen¬ 
tury, and remains of an old fort still exist, with walls 
