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ACCOUNT OF CELEBES , AMBOYNA, &C.

For thefe and other reafons, the offices above alluded to, are eagerly fought after,and are only obtained for a certain fum of money, of which fome of the governorswho have ruled here in behalf of the Company, have not a little availed ; I couldenumerate fome who have come here with very little property, and in the courfe of afew years, by thefe, and other means, have accumulated confiderable wealth, and who,immediately upon their return to Batavia, have, in confequence, folicited leave fromthe government to tranfmit large fums of money to Europe .

The fale of thefe rejentffiips is not, however, an innovation of late date; for, fromthe beginning, every oran cayo paid fifty rix-dollars for his nomination, a patti, onehundred, and a rajah ftill more; fo that the rajah of Nouffanivel was even once obligedto give a gratification of three thoufand rix-dollars.

The Chinefe who frequent this ifland, as well as all the others in the eaftern partsof India , where the Company have poffeffions, are not, however, very numerousat Amboyna, becaufe there is very little trade, and fcarcely any agriculture, two pur-fuits, to which, in general, that nation are very averfe to. If a calculation of theirnumber were to be made from the head-money which they pay, all the Chinefe wouldfcarcely be found to amount to one hundred individuals; but the frauds which arepractifed in the declarations made in this refpect, are the caufe that this cannot beconfidered as a proper rule.

They dwell here in a ftreet, which is called after them, where they keep their ffiops, ,with all forts of provifions, &c. for fale.

They are under the authority of a chief of their own nation, who is called captain,and who has at prefent a lieutenant under him, which was not formerly the cafe; butone of the governors was induced to inflitute this lieutenant’s office, by means of aprefent of five hundred rix-dollars.

They do not intermarry with the Amboynefe, but marry amongft each ether; and ifit happen that they are in want of women, they take Macaffer or Bouginefe girls forconcubines.

In the month of April of the year 1775, a Chinefe youth came purpofely fromBatavia to Amboyna, to marry the daughter of one of his countrymen whowas fettled here, and was a man of property. I went to fee the ceremonies thatwere made ufe of; I came too late to fee the beginning of them, which, I was told,confifted principally in the throwing backwards and forwards of an egg into the widefleeves of the bridegroom and of the bride. I found them both fitting next to eachother in a parlour, with their eyes fixed on the ground, as if meditating on what hadbeen done, without fpeaking a word to, or looking at each other. An oblong littletable flood before them, covered with red filk, which was embroidered with flowersof gold; upon it were fet, before each of them, a little cup of tea, and three orfour little china difhes with confedlionary and boiled birds’ nefts. The bridal bed wasin the fame apartment; it was likewife hung (round with red filk; but there was apartition made in it, feparating the place where the bridegroom was to lie, from that ofthe bride ; the former, however, occupied about two-thirds of the bed. The bride,who was a plump jolly maiden, nearly white, and pretty enough, wore a robe of redfilk, with long and wide fleeves; a chain of gold hung round her neck, and downupon her bofom: on her head fhe wore a black bonnet, tapering upwards to a point,and adorned with three rows of jewels. The bridegroom was drefied in a fimilar robeof blue filk and cotton. They both kept their arms and hands conftantly tuckedinto the fleeves. When the bridegroom flood up, he did it fo flowly aud cautioufly*and without moving his eyes in the leaft, that he appeared perfectly like an image ofwax, or an atomaton moved by invifible mechanifm.

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