Volume II Part 16 (2/2)

We were speedily ushered into the presence of DT Vanden Dungen Gronovius What sort of person, reader, do you picture to yourself with such a name? Great of course; and in truth such was he, not only in height and bulk, but as he soon informed us, in deeds likewise; he talked fast, and se of all the recent discoveries We learned from him that the Zelee and Astrolabe were laid on their beam ends for twenty-four hours in the hurricane of last Noveton After listening to so stories about Borneo, where the Resident had been Superintendent for twelve years, we took our leave I was glad to find that Mr Gronovius entertained views enerally do He had, as he toldthat Coepang ration allowed Heor shooting

FORT CONCORDIA

The observations for latitude, longitude, etc were staff I was surprised to find this fort so uns fit to be fired out of were two brass six-pounders, the carriages indeed of which were not trustworthy On these guns I noticed the same mark as on that we found at Hout two s of the anecdote of a party fro one at Valdivia on the west coast of South Auns were very much out of repair, and when the remark was made to the old Spaniard who showed the fort, that they would not bear to be fired out of ONCE, with a shrug of his shoulders he replied that he thought they would bear it TWICE! But to return to Fort Concordia: it stands on a madreporic rocky e town of Coepang, which, certainly, froer with a favourable opinion of the industry of its inhabitants, though it improves in proportion as you retreat froht on which the fort stands is washed by a small rapid stream that skirts the south side of the town

Its course froe, on the sides of which a stranger ht feast his eyes on the riches of tropical scenery

Here and there above thecoconut tree would rear its graceful for breeze On every hill was presented the contrast of redundant natural verdure, clothing its sides and su the lower slopes These by irrigation are turned into paddy plantations, the winds blowing over which give rise to those insidious fevers, intermittent, I a, as well as dysentery, frole afterwards suffered

(Footnote Latitude 10 degrees 10 rees 50 minutes 00 seconds West of Swan River)

(Footnote See the view annexed)

DUTCH MILITARY FORCE

The whole force the Dutch have at Coepang is sixty soldiers, half of whom, too, are Javanese Yet the subjection in which this seant is the commandant at Rottee, and such power has he over the inhabitants, that he can at any time raise a thousand arest ponies used at Coepang, are brought froivethey were found with the island, and the natives have no traditions

THE RESIDENT'S TALES

My second visit to the Resident was for the purpose of accepting his offer of a guide, and ofI found hie cool room We were soon in the interior of Borneo, the scene of his foruinary a character, that they do him very little credit; andthe Dyaks, natives of the interior, it is a custom, he said, that when a man wishes to marry, he must produce a certain number of human heads He related that he had once seen a very handso wo about in so with them

At another time he averred that he saoman mix human brains ater and drink it! Mr Gronovius also informed me that the land on the western sides both of Ti on the sea, particularly at the latter place; and a report prevailed that on some of the elevated parts of the former chama shells had been found In answer to my inquiries about earthquakes, I was told that, only the last rees 50 minutes North had been visited by one, which had thron all the houses, and that in 1690, the town of Coepang had also been destroyed From the Resident also, I received accounts of three ports in Rottee, one on the north-west side, another on the south-east, and a third, on the north-east, opening into Rottee Strait

THE TIMOREES

A this visit, was an account of the natives of Timor called Timorees They are very superstitious, and when a person of consequence dies, a nus, and ponies are killed and placed over his grave, as an offering to the evil spirit So a whole buffalo, even the horns and hoofs, by degrees, they can appease the anger of the demon to whom they attribute all their misfortunes

Many of the Tily different froht, but crisp, and full of sether by a curiously forree of wildness in their appearance that ill accords with their situation; for nearly all the Ti are slaves sold by the Rajahs of the different districts, the value of a youngfifty pounds

A powerful Rajah, co our stay there Unfortunately we all uard, and appeared to be on very good terms with the merchants of the place, who h interested motives; probably he supplies them with slaves

His character is notoriously bad; it was only the other day that he had one of his wives cut to pieces, for so offence

A SHOOTING EXCURSION

On takingexcursion We were to go to a place called Pritie, on the northern shore of Babao Bay, and distant some fifteen miles from the shi+p, which rendered it necessary therefore toaccordingly found us on the northern shore of the bay, but we soon ascertained that our guide knew very little about thenear the shore, a bank of softit for soue direction our guide gave us of Pritie The day was fast advancing; so we made our way back to a cliffy projection we had passed before light, where, after soot on shore Whilst the breakfast was cooking, I les, all the charts and plans I had seen being very erroneous

Our guide appeared to take our not going to Pritie greatly to heart; but we made the best of our way to soh land seen froreed there were plenty of deer close by, which we believed, fornule was i for an hour or two, at the expense of nearly tearing the clothes off our backs, and eain determined to make for Pritie, or at least to try and find it The tide too now served, and after a pull of soht, we spied at length two canoes hauled up a, we soon found some houses, and a person to show us the road to Pritie; for we had still a walk of three hly pleased with this, to us, novel sight; and our enjoyrimaces of some impudent monkeys perched on the tops of the lofty trees, out of shot range, and too nimble to be hit with a ball

VALE OF PRITIE

We at last reached our destination, on the eastern side of a beautiful stream Ied summits in an amphitheatre round the rich and picturesque vale of Pritie, which lay at the feet of their varied slopes, one ht shot up by the waterside, and between them, as we approached, the little sharp-roofed houses of the village of Pritie could be seen scattered here and there auide, who had by this time recovered his serenity of mind, led us direct to the Commandant, a mild and very civil old Javanese, to who to show us every attention His roonificent pair of antlers which, ere rejoiced to hear, had been lately taken from a deer shot within a hundred yards of the house After a repast of young coconuts, and gula, a kind of honey; it was arranged that a party should be collected to go with us on the s