It
Is Then Soaked, And So Continuously And Regularly Beaten Out That
It Becomes As Thin And As Tough As Parchment.
In this foam it is
much used for wrappers for clothes; and they also make jackets of
it, sewn neatly together and stained with the juice of another
kind of bark, which gives it a dark red colour and renders it
nearly waterproof.
Here are four very distinct kinds of people who may all be seen
any day in and about the town of Batchian. Now if we suppose a
traveller ignorant of Malay, picking up a word or two here and
there of the "Batchian language," and noting down the "physical
and moral peculiarities, manners, and customs of the Batchian
people" - (for there are travellers who do all this in four-and-
twenty hours) - what an accurate and instructive chapter we should
have' what transitions would be pointed out, what theories of the
origin of races would be developed while the next traveller might
flatly contradict every statement and arrive at exactly opposite
conclusions.
Soon after I arrived here the Dutch Government introduced a new
copper coinage of cents instead of doits (the 100th instead of
the 120th part of a guilder), and all the old coins were ordered
to be sent to Ternate to be changed. I sent a bag containing
6,000 doits, and duly received the new money by return of the
boat. Then Ali went to bring it, however, the captain required a
written order; so I waited to send again the next day, and it was
lucky I did so, for that night my house was entered, all my boxes
carried out and ransacked, and the various articles left on the
road about twenty yards off, where we found them at five in the
morning, when, on getting up and finding the house empty, we
rushed out to discover tracks of the thieves. Not being able to
find the copper money which they thought I had just received,
they decamped, taking nothing but a few yards of cotton cloth and
a black coat and trousers, which latter were picked up a few days
afterwards hidden in the grass. There was no doubt whatever who
were the thieves. Convicts are employed to guard the Government
stores when the boat arrives from Ternate. Two of them watch all
night, and often take the opportunity to roam about and commit
robberies.
The next day I received my money, and secured it well in a strong
box fastened under my bed. I took out five or six hundred cents
for daily expenses, and put them in a small japanned box, which
always stood upon my table. In the afternoon I went for a short
walk, and on my return this box and my keys, which I had
carelessly left on the table, were gone. Two of my boys were in
the house, but had heard nothing. I immediately gave information
of the two robberies to the Director at the mines and to the
Commandant at the fort, and got for answer, that if I caught the
thief in the act I might shoot him.
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