Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/276

222 It is very beautiful, and laid out with shady gardens. Here may be seen Malay phraus, Chinese junks, and picturesque craft from the Aru and Ké Islands. The natives are a mixture of Dutch, Portuguese, Malay, Papuan, and Chinese—a queer mixture of blood. They live mostly on sago and fish, both easily procured, and so they are content and lazy. The women dress in black and carry everything on their heads, and on Sundays men and women don attempts at European clothes. Earthquakes are very frequent. Amboyna is one of the oldest European settlements in the East. It is 260 square miles in area, and has a population of 32,000. The highest point is 4oro ft. It has an imposing Government House, and the Fort Victoria was enlarged by the Dutch in 1609. It is a garrison town.

The cultivation of the clove and the quantity of sago grown supply the inhabitants with much they require, and the sea yields fish of various sorts. The white houses of the Dutch mingle with the palm-woven houses of the natives. A favourite but exciting beverage is the sageroe, made from the sugar palm. The coral reefs and the creatures inhabiting them are of great interest, as is the coral itself. Tropical flowers and foliage, beautiful birds—there being over twenty species belonging to Amboyna—shells, coral, fish—there is no end to the interest here, and it is a land of plenty.

Ceram is 216 miles long, with an area of 7000 square miles, and the highest point is 9612 feet. There are no good harbours or navigable rivers, and it is only known to Europeans at one part, where it is only 15 miles across. It is clothed with virgin forests, and the natives are still headhunters and probably pirates. The Dutch have four stations, and at Wahai are European coffee