Morality At Delli Is At As Low An Ebb As In The Far Interior Of
Brazil, And Crimes Are Connived At Which Would Entail Infamy And
Criminal Prosecution In Europe.
While I was there it was generally
asserted and believed in the place, that two officers had poisoned the
husbands of women with whom they were carrying on intrigues, and with
whom they immediately cohabited on the death of their rivals.
Yet no
one ever thought for a moment of showing disapprobation of the crime,
or even of considering it a crime at all, the husbands in question
being low half-castes, who of course ought to make way for the
pleasures of their superiors.
Judging from what I saw myself and by the descriptions of Mr. Geach,
the indigenous vegetation of Timor is poor and monotonous. The lower
ranges of the hills are everywhere covered with scrubby Eucalypti,
which only occasionally grow into lofty forest trees. Mingled with
these in smaller quantities are acacias and the fragrant sandalwood,
while the higher mountains, which rise to about six or seven thousand
feet, are either covered with coarse grass or are altogether barren.
In the lower grounds are a variety of weedy bushes, and open waste
places are covered everywhere with a nettle-like wild mint. Here is
found the beautiful crown lily, Gloriosa superba, winding among the
bushes, and displaying its magnificent blossoms in great profusion. A
wild vine also occurs, bearing great irregular bunches of hairy grapes
of a coarse but very luscious flavour.
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