tives ranged themselves in two rows, each, grasping
it with one hand as if ready to haul in the leviathan
himself, when the warning should be given. A
number of heavy seas now rolled in and broke, but
the natives, by means of their paddles, kept us from
being swept forward or backward. A smaller swell
is coming in now. Every native gives a wild yell,
and those on the shore haul in the rattan with all
their might, and aw;ay we dart on the. crest of a
wave with the swiftness of an arrow. We are now
in the midst of the surf, and our boat is on the skid,
but away we glide at the speed of a locomotive, and
already we are high upon the bank before the next
wave can come in.
The Eesident, who enjoyed surprising me as
much as possible, had carefully concealed the urgent
business that had compelled him to land in such a
difficult place, and my curiosity was not diminished
when I noticed his imperative orders for the militia,
who accompanied us as a guard, to come on shore
immediately. We-were evidently near, or already
in, an enemy’s country. A large gathering of the
natives was now ordered at the rajah’s house, an
examination began, and several men were sentenced
to be seized by the guard and brought to Amboina
for trial. They had been guilty of participating in a
feest Icalcian, or meeting of a secret organization, that
was formed as early at least as a few years after the
arrival of the Dutch. There are various opinions as
to its object, some asserting that it originated as a
confederation of many tribes against other tribes, and
others supposing its design to be to resist the author-
14