where they were hauled up on the beach, and were being
caulked and covered with a thick white lime-plaster for
the homeward voyage, making them the brightest and
cleanest looking things in the place. Most of the small
boats had returned from the " blakang-tana ” (back
country), as the side of the islands towards New Guinea
is called. Piles of firewood were being heaped up behind
the houses; sail-makers and carpenters were busy at
work ; mother-of-pearl shell was being tied up in bundles,
and the black and ugly smoked tripang was having a
last exposure to the sun before loading. The spare
portion of the crews were employed cutting and squaring
timber, and boats from Ceram and Goram were constantly
unloading their cargoes of sago-cake for the traders’ homeward
voyage. The fowls, ducks, and goats all looked fat
and thriving on the refuse food of a dense population, and
the Chinamen’s pigs were in a state of obesity thaf foreboded
early death. Parrots and lories and cockatoos,
of a dozen different kinds, were suspended on bamboo
perches at the doors of the houses, with metallic green or
white fruit-pigeons which cooed musically at noon and
eventide. Young cassowaries, strangely striped with
black and brown, wandered about the houses or gambolled
with the playfulness of kittens in the hot sunshine, with
sometimes a pretty little kangaroo, caught in the Am
forests, but already tame and graceful as a petted fawn.
Of an evening there were more signs of life than at
the time of my former residence. Tom-toms, jews’-harps,
and even fiddles were to be heard, and the melancholy
Malay songs sounded not unpleasantly far into the night.
Almost every day there was a cock-fight in the street.
The spectators make a ring, and after the long steel spurs
are tied on, and the poor animals are set down to gash and
kill each other, the excitement is immense. Those who
have made, bets scream and yell and jump frantically, if
they think they are going to win or lose, but in a very
few: minutes it is all over ; there is a hurrah from the
winners, the owners seize their cocks, the winning bird is
caressed and admired, the loser is generally dead or very
badly wounded, and his master may often be seen plucking
out his feathers as he walks away, preparing him for
the cooking pot while the poor bird is still alive.
A game at foot-ball, which generally took place at sunset,
was, however, much more interesting to me. The ball
used is a rather small one, and is made of rattan, hollow,
light, and elastic. The player keeps it dancing a little
while on his foot, then occasionally on his arm or thigh,
till suddenly he gives it a good blow with the hollow of
the foot, and sends it flying high in the air. Another
player runs to meet it, and at its first bound catches it on
his foot and plays in his turn. The ball must never be
touched with the hand; but the arm, shoulder, knee, or