assumed a rich, scintillating appearance, as if filled
■with millions of minute crystals of gold.
The controlewr, on hoard, who travelled with
me from Langowan, has heen farther into the interior,
south of Gorontalo, than any foreigner previously.
He found the whole country divided up among
many petty tribes, who are waging a continual warfare
with each other; and the immediate object of
his dangerous journey was to conciliate two powerful
tribes near the borders of the territory which the
Dutch claim as being under their command. He
found that all these people are excessively addicted
to the use of opium, which is brought from Singapore
to the western coast, near Palos, by Mandha-
rese and Macassars.
The dress of the people consists of a sarong,
made from the inner layers of the bark of a tree.
They have large parangs, and value them in proportion
to the number and minuteness of the damascene
lines on their blades. Twenty guilders is a
common price for them. The cont/t'oleur gave me a
very fine one, which was remarkably well tempered.
The most valuable export from this bay is gold,
which is found in great quantities, at least over
the whole northern peninsula, from the Minahassa
south to the isthmus of Palos. The amount exported
is not known, for, though the Dutch Government
has a contract with the princes to deliver
all the gold obtained in their territory to it at a
certain rate, they are offered a much higher price
by the Bugis, and consequently sell it to them.
No extensive survey has yet been made in this
territory, by the mining engineers employed by the
government, and the extent and richness of these
mines are therefore wholly matters of the most
uncertain speculation. The fact, however, that gold
was carried from this region before the arrival
of Europeans, more than three hundred and forty
years ago, and that the amount now exported appears
to be larger than it was then, indicates that
the supply must be very great. The government
has not yet granted to private individuals the
privilege of importing machinery and laborers, and
proving whether or not mining can be carried on
profitably on a large scale. A fragment of rock
from this region was shown me at Kema by a
gentleman, who said he knew where there were
large quantities of i t ; and that specimen certainly
was very rich in the precious metal. Gold is also
found in the southwestern peninsula of Celebes,
south of Macassar. The geological age of these
auriferous rocks is not known, but I was assured
that, back of Gorontalo, an outcropping of granite
had been seen. Buffaloes and horses are plenty and
cheap at Gorontalo, and many are sent by sea to
the Minahassa. The horses are very fine, and from
the earliest times the Bugis have been accustomed
to buy and kill them to eat, having learned that such
flesh is a most delectable food, centuries before this
was ascertained by the enlightened Parisians.
Ja n um y 11th.—Last night and to-day the sea
has been smooth, almost as smooth as glass, while
we know that on the opposite or western side of
Celebes there has been one continuous storm. This
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