8o6

VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS.

animated, Oran jahat, repeated he, (wicked men,) and he brandifhed his fpear withviolence : become now almoft furious, he took a cocoa-nut, fixed it on the point ofhis fpear, and fignified to us by geftures in no refped equivocal, that after cutting offthe heads of the Englilh, they had paraded them on their lances ; that they had had awarlike dance around them, and that after cutting their bodies in pieces they had eatenthem.—We fhall return to this horrible practice of eating human flefh, a practice muchmore common formerly in all the iflands of the archipelago of Afia, but which theEuropeans have gradually fucceeded in abolilhing almoft every where, and which hereefpecially remains wholly without excufe, feeing that no people was ever more libe-rally endowed by nature than thofe which now engage our attention. I (hall only 1 add,that the thirft of vengeance was never more exemplified in any nation, than in theinhabitants of Timor againft the Englilh. In this refpeft they fully juftify what themoft exa£t hiftorians relate of the charafter of their progenitors.

To this foon fucceeded a widely different fcene: the young women, at our approach,had all of them taken refuge in a kind of feraglio they generally inhabit, and which Ifhall in another place deferibe. Still more curious than timid, they never ceafedlooking at us through the interftices of the bamboos of which the fides of the hut wereformed ; and, as we naturally turned our eyes moft often towards this part, our goodMalay, who feemed every inftant better fatisned with his new friends, gave us an addi-tional proof of his confidence by making figns to his wives to approach. They werefive in number, the eldeft not more than five-and-twenty years of age, and all of themconfpicuous for that regular and elegant fhape, thofe delicate contours, and that foftand affectionate phyfiognomy, the conftant appendages of the youthful female of thiscountry.

The fight of the young ftrangers feemed to make a lively impreffion; but theyquickly laid afide their natural timidity to receive the different prefents with which weloaded them. Shortly after we left all thefe good people, to refume the road toCoopang. On our departure the moft affeftionate teftimony of gratitude was lavifhedon us, even by the females, who had ceafed to be fearful of dire&ing towards us theirlarge black eyes, and who infilled, a piece of gallantry rather remarkable, on makingus each a trifling prefent.

The 28th of Auguft, we received a vifit from the king of the ifland of Saboo, (Sawoo)by name Amadima: he was of the middle fize, with a pleafing and lively countenance,and about five-and-forty years of age. We received the monarch in an apartmentbelonging to my colleague, Depuch, and myfelf, but had reafon to repent our con-duct ; for what with the princes, and the great officers who accompanied the monarch,almoft all that was moveable was taken away. An inclination to thieving is ftronglypredominant in the Malays, and their adroitnefs in this art was fuch, that they madeas many contributors as there were perfons on Ihore. They poffefs this vice in commonwith all favage or flightly civilized people ; which clearly proves, as a palling remark,that legiflators have with reafon made the facrednefs of property the bafis of theirfocial inftitutions.

Of all the articles we exhibited to the good Amadima, that which the moft afto-nilhed him, was phofphorus : its fpontaneous inflammation, the rapidity of its combin'tion, the colour of its flame, all feemed t© the Ample monarch fo prodigious, that hefpared no pains to induce me to part with the bottle in which I preferved fome ouncesof this fubftance. After having in vain proffered me in exchange a number of fowls,hogs, and Iheep, he feemed defirous of a laft temptation. With a confident look, hecalled to one of his great officers, caufed a very pretty betel-bag to be brought to