case we should most likely all be murdered. I could not
deny these probabilities, and although I showed them that
we could not get back to our starting-point with the wind
as it was, they insisted upon returning. We accordingly
put about, and found that we could lay no nearer to Uta
than to Teor ; however, by great good luck, about ten
o’clock we hit upon a little coral island, and lay under
its lee till morning, when a favourable change of wind
brought us back to Uta, and by evening (April 18th) we
reached our first anchorage in Matabello, where I resolved
to stay a few days, and then return to Goram. It was
with much regret that I gave up my trip to Ke and the
intervening islands, which I had looked forward to as
likely to make up for my disappointment in Ceram, since
my short visit on my voyage to Aru had produced me
so many rare and beautiful insects.
The natives of Matabello are almost entirely occupied
in making cocoa-nut oil, which they sell to the Bugis and
Goram traders, who carry it to Banda and Amboyna.
The rugged coral rock seems very favourable to the growth
of the cocoa-nut palm, which abounds over the whole island
to the very highest points, and produces fruit all the year
round. Along with it are great numbers of the areca or
betel-nut palm, the nuts of which are sliced, dried, and
ground into a paste, which is much used by the betel-
chewing Malays and Papuans. All the little children here,
Lven such as can just run alone, carried between their
jlips a mass of the nasty-looking red paste, which is even
{more disgusting than to see them at the same age smoking
leigars, which is very common even before, they are weaned.
■Cocoa-nuts, sweet potatoes, an occasional sago cake, and
■the refuse nut after the oil has been extracted by boiling,
■nrm the chief sustenance of these people; and the effect
■ of this poor and unwholesome diet is seen in the frequency ITof eruptions and scurfy skin diseases, and the numerous
Lores that disfigure the faces of the children.
The villages are situated on high and rugged coral
■peaks, only accessible by steep narrow paths, with ladders
H
Band bridges over yawning chasms. They are filthy with
■rotten husks and oil refuse, and the huts are dark, greasy,
■and dirty in the extreme. The people are wretched ugly
dirty savages, clothed in unchanged rags, and living in the
most miserable manner, and as every drop of fresh water
¡has to be brought up from the beach, washing is never
thought of; yet they are actually. wealthy, and have the
means of purchasing all the necessaries and luxuries of life.
Fowls are abundant, and eggs were given me whenever I
visited the villages, but these are never eaten, being looked
upon as pets or as merchandise. Almost all of the women
wear massive gold earrings, and in every village there are
dozens of small bronze cannon lying about on the ground,
although they have cost on the average perhaps 10L a