word of it, I go on with my book or work undisturbed.
Now and then they scream and shout, or laugh frantically
for variety; and this goes on alternately with vociferous
talking of men, women, and children, till long after I am
in my mosquito curtain and sound asleep.
At this place I obtained some light on the complicated
mixture of races in Aru, which would utterly confound an
ethnologist. Many of the natives, though equally dark
with the others, have little of the Papuan physiognomy,
but have more delicate features of the European type,
with more glossy, curling hair. These at first quite puzzled
me, for they have no more resemblance to Malay than, to
Papuan, and the darkness of skin and hair would forbid
the idea of Dutch intermixture. Listening to their conversation,
however, I detected some words that were
familiar to me. “Aecabo” was one- and to be sure that
it was not an accidental resemblance, I asked the speaker
in Malay what f accabo” meant, and was told it meant
“ done or finished,” a true Portuguese word, with its
meaning retained. Again, I heard the word “ jafui” often
repeated, and could see, without inquiry, that its meaning
was “ he’s gone,” as in Portuguese. “ Porco,” too, seems
a common name, though the people have no idea of its
European meaning. This cleared up the difficulty. I at
once understood that some early Portuguese traders had
penetrated to these islands, and mixed with the natives,
influencing their language, and leaving in their descendants
for many generations the visible characteristics of their
race. If to this we add the occasional mixture of Malay,
Dutch, and Chinese with the indigenous Papuans, we have
no reason to wonder at the curious varieties of form and
feature occasionally to be met with in Aru. In this very
house there was a Macassar man, with an Aru wife and a
family of mixed children. In Dobbo I saw a Javanese and
an Amboyna man, each with an Aru wife and family; and
as this kind of mixture has been going on for at least
three hundred years, and probably much longer, it has
produced a decided effect on the physical characteristics
of a considerable portion of the population of the islands,
more especially in Dobbo and the parts nearest to it.
March 28th.—The “ Orang-kaya ” being very ill with
fever had begged to go home, and had arranged with one of
the men of the house to go on with me as his substitute.
Now that I wanted to move, the bugbear of the pirates was
brought up, and it was pronounced unsafe to go further
than the next small river. This would not suit me, as I
had determined to traverse the channel called Watelai to
the “ b lak an g -tan ab u t my guide was firm in his dread
of pirates, of which I knew there was now no danger, as
several vessels had gone in search of them, as well as a
Dutch gunboat which had arrived since I left Dobbo. I
had, fortunately, by this time heard that the Dutch “ Com