of an utterly barren country, with roads to make, and all
skilled labour and materials to import, it would have been
a losing concern. Gold also occurs, but very sparingly and
of poor quality. A fine spring of pure petroleum was discovered
far in the interior, where it can never be available
till the country is civilized. The whole affair was a
dreadful disappointment to the Portuguese Government,
who had considered it such a. certain thing that they had
contracted for the Dutch mail steamers to stop at Delli;
and several vessels from Australia were induced to come
with miscellaneous cargoes, for which they expected to
find a ready sale among the population at the newly-opened
mines. The lumps of native copper are still, however, a
mystery. Mr. Geach has examined the country in every
direction without being able to trace their origin; so that
it seems probable that they result from the debris of old
copper-bearing strata, and are not really more abundant
than gold nuggets are in Australia or California. A high
reward was offered to any native who should find a piece
■and show the exact spot where he obtained it, but without
effect.
The mountaineers of Timor are a people of Papuan type,
having rather slender forms, bushy frizzled hair, and the
skin of a dusky brown colour. They have the long nose
with overhanging apex which is so characteristic of the
Papuan, and so absolutely unknown among races of
Malayan origin. On the coast there has been much admixture
of some of the Malay races, and perhaps of Hindoo, as
timou men. (From a pMtograph.)
well as of Portuguese. The general stature there is lower,
the hair wavy instead of frizzled, and the features less
. vol. I. x