VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS. 805

teen to twenty feet high, rofe from the bottom, hard as marble, and of various hues;thefe gigantic maifes it is of which all the fmall iflands of this bay conAfts. Thefe it iswhich play the chief part in the progreflive diminution of depth in the bay of Babao,a remarkable phenomenon of which we fhall fpeak in another place. , In the midft ofthe mountains of the interior of Timor in the deep bofom of the vallies, in the ravinesof torrents, every where are found the wrecks of thefe aftonilhing animals, while themind is inadequate to the conception by what means nature has been enabled to raifethefe plateaux of madrepores, of fuch huge dimenfions, to fo great a height above theprefent level of the fea. This, however, is not the only phenomenon deducible fromthe -ftudy of thefe zoophytes : in a Memoire fur quelques Obfervations Zoologiquesapplicable a la Theorie de la Terre *, prefented by me to the Inllitute, I have remarkedfeveral more; and in the hiftory of Timor we fhall again fee others ftill more intereft-ing, efpecially in the zoological part of our labours.

The 26th, Meffrs. Depuch, Bernier, Lefueur, and myfelf, formed a party on a flightexcurfion into the neighbourhood of Coopang. We foon found ourfelves oppofite toa moft charming abode: it was placed in midft of a beautiful plantation of cocoa-trees;a rivulet of freth water ran with pleating murmur beneath them, and the houfe, fur-rounded by a Ample but elegant periftyle, refembled a fmall antique temple, at theextremity of a long avenue of banani'ers, orange, pomegranate, and other trees,grateful either for their beauty or their fragrance.

Delighted with the appearance of this manfion, we were about to enter the groundsby a gate of open-work which was then open, when a Malay, armed with a longfpear placed himfelf in the entrance, and oppofed our paflage; his attitude wasthreatening, and haughtinefs and diidain were depided in his countenance. Whilft wewere endeavouring to make him acquainted with our defire of feeing the beautifulplantation before us, a fecond flave prefented himfelf, with a fpear, like that of theformer, and in a manner ftill more infolent than that of his fellow, forbade admiflion.We went away with a fentiment of difguft for the mafter of the place, which it wouldbe difficult to paint.

In the mean time, in proportion as we penetrated deeper into the interior, our col-lection rapidly encreafed, fo much fo indeed, that we were under neceflity foon to feeka place of reft. A Malay houfe offered its fhelter, in which we were received with .the frank cordiality charaderiftic of the inhabitants of Timor . Doudou, doudou, baeoran di France, (be feated, be feated good men of France, ) was the Arft falutation ofhim who appeared to be the mafter of the houfe. We begged fome frefh cocoa-nuts ;a youth immediately flapped away, and with inconceivable agility climbed a neighbour-ing cocoa-tree, cut four cocoas, and holding two by his mouth, and two with one ofhis hands, defcended as quickly from the tree. While we were admiring the Angularmanner in which the loftieft trees were thus afcended, a manner I fhall elfewhereexplain, the Malays themfelves examined us with much apparent intereft ; our phyft-ognomy pleafed them, and our youth in particular : Bae orun mouda, (good youngmen,) was reiterated from mouth to mouth in a half whifper.

One of their fpears excited my attention : I approached to examine it, and deAringto know the manner in which they ufe it, I begged one of the men near me, to giveme a fpecimen. The manoeuvres he had the complaifance to repeat before me, feemedto remind him of the events which had lately taken place in the ifland. Orun ingrefs,faid he, Orun boonoo, (Englifh-men, murderous men): his phyAognomy was now

* Memoirs on fome Zoological Obfervations applicable to the Theory of the Earth .

animated