From Amahai we sailed westward across Elpaputi Bay to the peninsula already described as rejoicing in the melodious name of Kaibobo. Here, at a small village, a native of Amboina had established himself, and commenced planting cocoa-trees, which we found thriving most satisfactorily, even better than in the gardens I had previously visited on Amboina. At the present prices this is the most profitable product that can be raised in the Moluccas, and the good result of this trial shows what enormous quantities might be shipped yearly from this single great island of Ceram, if foreigners or natives would devote themselves to its culture.

Near by were two villagers of Alfura, who had been induced to abandon their old habits of roaming among the mountains and make for themselves a fixed dwelling-place. The rajah of each place came to the village where we landed, to acknowledge his allegiance to the Dutch Government. From that place we proceeded southward along the eastern shore of the peninsula. While we were in the bay, the opposite shore sheltered us from the heavy southeasterly swell that now rolled in before a driving rain-storm, and made our round-bottomed praus roll and pitch so that the rowers could scarcely use their oars. At length, near night, we came to anchor off a village that the Resident was obliged to visit. It was situated on a straight, open beach, which descended so abruptly beneath the sea, that the high swell never once broke before finding itself suddenly stopped in its rapid course; it rose up in one huge wall that reeled forward and fell on the steep shore with a roar like heavy thunder. Although I was born by the shore of the open sea, and had seen boats land in all kinds of weather, I never saw the most daring sailors attempt it through such a surf as was breaking before us. Every few moments the water would rebound from the sand until it rose twice and a half as high as the natives standing near it, at least fifteen feet. One of our number could not conceal his timidity, and declared that every one of us would be drowned if we should attempt to land at that time. The Resident, however, said he should try it, and I assured him he should not go alone; and the others concluded not to allow themselves to be left behind. More than two hundred natives had now gathered on the beach. They soon made a rude skid or wide ladder, with large poles on the sides, and small green ones with the bark torn off for the rounds. This was laid down when the wave was forming, and a heavy prau pushed on to it as the wave broke, and a broad sheet of surf partially buoyed her up. As this wave receded, she was successfully launched. We were now ordered to change from our boat into that one, and at once we ran in toward the shore over the heavy rollers. Other natives now appeared on the beach with a huge coil of rattan an inch or more in diameter, and, two or three of them seizing one end, ran down and plunged headlong into a high wave as coolly and as unhesitatingly as a diver would leap from the side of a boat in a quiet bay. The end of the rattan was fastened firmly to the front part of our boat; the other was carried up a long way on the beach, and the natives ranged themselves in two rows, each grasping it with one hand as if ready to haul in the leviathan himself, when the warning should be given. A number of heavy seas now rolled in and broke, but the natives, by means of their paddles, kept us from being swept forward or backward. A smaller swell is coming in now. Every native gives a wild yell, and those on the shore haul in the rattan with all their might, and away we dart on the crest of a wave with the swiftness of an arrow. We are now in the midst of the surf, and our boat is on the skid, but away we glide at the speed of a locomotive, and already we are high upon the bank before the next wave can come in.

The Resident, who enjoyed surprising me as much as possible, had carefully concealed the urgent business that had compelled him to land in such a difficult place, and my curiosity was not diminished when I noticed his imperative orders for the militia, who accompanied us as a guard, to come on shore immediately. We were evidently near, or already in, an enemy’s country. A large gathering of the natives was now ordered at the rajah’s house, an examination began, and several men were sentenced to be seized by the guard and brought to Amboina for trial. They had been guilty of participating in a feest kakian, or meeting of a secret organization, that was formed as early at least as a few years after the arrival of the Dutch. There are various opinions as to its object, some asserting that it originated as a confederation of many tribes against other tribes, and others supposing its design to be to resist the authority of the Dutch, the view apparently entertained by that government.

But a short time before we arrived they had held one of their drunken revels at a place only half an hour’s walk among the neighboring mountains. In these convivials at first each indulges as freely as he chooses in an intoxicating liquor made from the juice of the flowering part of a palm; then all join in a dance, and kick about a human head which has been obtained for this especial occasion, and is tossed into the midst of these human fiends all besmeared with its own clotted blood. The natives whom our soldiers were seizing were present and took part in one of these bloody carousals, as they themselves acknowledged. I must confess that a sickening sensation, akin to fear, crept over me that night before I fell asleep, as I realized the probability that, if it were not for our guard, instead of our taking away those culprits to be punished as they richly deserved, they would sever every one of our heads and have another diabolical revel over their bloody trophies.

All night the wind piped loudly in strong gusts, and the heavy pulsating of the surf came up from the beach beneath us. In the morning the storm had not abated, but I was anxious to go back to Amboina, and no one of the party desired to remain long in that savage place. To embark was more difficult than to land. Again the skid was put down on the sand, the prau placed on it, and as the water receded the natives pushed us off, several waves sweeping over their heads; but they were so completely amphibious, that it did not appear to trouble them in the least. Unfortunately, a strong gust struck us just as we floated, and for some minutes we remained motionless in one spot, the sea rolling up until what Virgil says, with a poet’s license, was literally true of us, the naked earth could be seen beneath our keel.

Again all that day we pitched and tossed, and the distance we had to go seemed endless, until, as the sun sank, the high land of Saparua rose before us and we entered a broad bay. The natives saw us coming, and quickly kindled on the shore huge blazing fires, which were repeated in the form of long bands of bright light on the mirror-like surface of the quiet sea, and now we were welcomed with shouts to the same place where the native belles had sung such a plaintive song at our departure.

From Saparua I returned directly to Amboina, for one who has been accustomed to the mail facilities of our land will subject himself to almost any inconvenience in order to reach the place where the mail-boat touches.

Life at Amboina, and at almost every other place in the Dutch possessions, at the best is dull. Once or twice a month, in accordance with an established custom, the governor gives a reception on Sunday evenings, when all the Europeans and most of the mestizoes come and dance till late; and as there are some seven hundred of these people in the city, and the larger portion attend, such parties are quite brilliant affairs. The music is furnished by a small band connected with the detachment of soldiers stationed here.

An occasional wedding also helps to break up the unvarying monotony, and kindly furnishes a topic for general conversation, so that for a time every one does not feel obliged to complain of the abundance of rain, if it is the rainy season, or of the lack of rain if it is the dry monsoon. Whenever an official goes back to Holland, or is transferred from one place to another, which usually occurs once in three years, even when he is not promoted, he sells most of his furniture at auction. His friends always muster in full force, and each one is expected to show his attachment to his departing friend by purchasing a number of articles, or something of little value, at ten or a hundred times its price. Such an occasion also gives a change to the talk among merchants.

An auction here, instead of being a kind of private trade, as with us, is directly under the management of the government. An authorized auctioneer is regularly appointed at each place, and a scribe carefully enters the name of the successful bidder, the article he has purchased, and the price. Three months of grace are allowed before such a bill becomes due, but then the buyer must at once pay the sum due or make some arrangement satisfactory to the seller. When natives, whose assets are always limited, have purchased a number of articles, the scribe frequently takes upon himself the responsibility of ordering them not to bid again.