The People Here - At Least The Chief Men - Were Of A Much Purer
Malay Race Than The Mahometans Of The Mainland Of Ceram, Which Is
Perhaps Due To There Having Been No Indigenes On These Small
Islands When The First Settlers Arrived.
In Ceram, the Alfuros of
Papuan race are the predominant type, the Malay physiognomy being
seldom well marked; whereas here the reverse is the case, and a
slight infusion of Papuan on a mixture of Malay and Bugis has
produced a very good-looking set of people.
The lower class of
the population consist almost entirely of the indigenes of the
adjacent island. They are a fine race, with strongly-marked
Papuan features, frizzly hair, and brown complexions. The Goram
language is spoken also at the east end of Ceram, and in the
adjacent islands. It has a general resemblance to the languages
of Ceram, but possesses a peculiar element which I have not met
with in other languages of the Archipelago.
After great delay, considering the importance of every day at
this time of year, a miserable boat and five men were found, and
with some difficulty I stowed away in it such baggage as it was
absolutely necessary for me to take, leaving scarcely sitting or
sleeping room. The sailing qualities of the boat were highly
vaunted, and I was assured that at this season a small one was
much more likely to succeed in making the journey. We first
coasted along the island, reaching its eastern extremity the
following morning (April 11th), and found a strong W. S.W. wind
blowing, which just allowed us to lay across to the Matabello
Islands, a distance little short of twenty miles.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 87 of 412
Words from 23138 to 23421
of 111511
