229

ACCOUNT OF CELEBES , AMBOYNA, &C.

Upon the deceafe of this eminent chief, the three eftates, or the thirty-nine noblesas they are then reduced to, are equally affembled, who eleft one of their own bodyto fucceed to his dignity, without paying any particular attention to his family : butfuch regentfhips of the forty as happen to be vacant, are filled up from the neareftrelations of the deceafed King, provided they are not born of a bondfwoman.

Thefe people had their lhare in the general oppreflion which was the confequenceof the extenfion of the power of Macaffer, but they redeemed their freedom by thepayment of one hundred cattis, being one hundred and twenty-five pounds of gold.

They live very peaceably among themfelves, and follow their commercial purfuitswith much activity. 1'hey are the greateft merchants of Celebes , and at prefent alfothe richeft and mod redoubted nation of the ifland. They pay no regard to anyengagements either with the Company or with Boni, alleging that they have beencancelled by the laft war ; fince, after that time, Wadjo has increafed in power in pro-portion as the confideration of Boni has declined.

CHAP. XI. — Account of the Kingdom ofTourattea. — The Country of Linques. —- Tau-ra dj a. — The People called Boadjoos. — The Kings of Ereka and Letha. — TheCountry of Cajelie. — Its Productions. — Toerongan. — Its Dependencies. — Boele-boele .— The IJland Bouton. — Various petty States upon the Ifland Sumbawa .—Paffir and Coeti , in Borneo .

TOURATTEA extends from the river Tjeeko, along the fea-coaft to the fouthand eafl to the river Tino, the eaftern bank of which belongs to Bontain j it isbounded on the north by Macaffer, and on the weft and fouth by the fea.

In ancient times it was inhabited by a free people, living under feveral independentPrinces ; the chief of whom were thofe of Binano and Bankale. The country ofLinques lies between the two laft named ftates, not far from the bay of Tourattea.Py the contraQ: of Boni, their independence was allowed by the Company, althoughthe King of Boni looks upon them as his fubje&s, without admitting them to beequally allies of the Company.

Touradja is a large country, lying inland, bordering to the north upon the Alforefefountains, which feparate it from the bay of Tominee ; to the eaft upon Loehoeand Wadjo, to the fouth upon Sedeenring, and to the weft upon the Mandharefefountains.

A large proportion of the Touradjefe are mountaineers and idolaters. Anotherpart live upon the water, and their veffels are continually roving round Celebes , theuland of Ende and Sumbawa . Thefe fubfift by fifhing, by the preparing oftripangs * *, and by catching of tortoifes for the fhells ; they are likewife called Boad-J°os, and are efteemed Haves of Boni, or of Goach f.

The

,« ^ la .H want for nothing. He then accepts of the government. Befides the four high, and thekj ^ '^rior nobles, there is Hill a kind of freeholders called dyons, as in Boni. The aramatooa can only^ U P t ^ le number of the four high and forty inferior nobility, when they are, by want of heirs, extindt ;p e ca nnot increafe the number. In Warjoo, the nobility is hereditary.” Account of Celebes , added* ^°y a g e to the Mergui Archipelago, p. 75.

. , f ame with fwallow, or fea flug, mentioned in the following note. Tr.

*nen f • j ® oa ^j 00 people, who are likewife called oran laut, or men of the fea, are a kind of itinerant fifher-0 f *. to come originally from Johore, at the eaft entrance of the Straits of Malacca , though fome arepinion that they muft have come either from China or Japan , They live chiefly in fmall covered boats

on