antation, and a tribe
of children, dancing along through the delicious shade of a palm-grove,
leads the way to a point of view on a green knoll, with merry laughter
and eager gesticulation. Blue mountain crests soar above dark realms of
virgin forest, where the sombre conifers exude the precious _damar_,
which glues itself to the red trunks in shining lumps often of twenty
pounds' weight, or sinks deeply into the soft soil, from whence the
solidified gum needs excavation. The _damar_, pounded and poured into
palm-leaf tubes, serves for the torches of the fishermen, and for the
lighting of the dusky native houses. Batjan--rich in gold, copper, and
coal--awaits full development of the mineral treasures hidden in the
mountains of the interior. The island was colonised in early days by a
band of wandering Malays, who exchanged the perils of the sea for the
tropical abundance of this unknown anchorage, sheltered within the
reefs of the lagoon-like bay. If an aboriginal element existed in
Batjan, it probably died out or mingled with the immigrant race, which
broke off from the main body of the nomadic Malays, and formed one of
the numerous sub-divisions of the stock eventually planted on almost
every island and continent of the vast Pacific. The weaving of a bark
cloth, stained with the red juice of water-plants, suggests an industry
of these early days. The native cuisine still includes the unfamiliar
Malay delicacy of flying fox cooked in spice, and the hereditary skill
in hunting finds endless satisfaction in forests abounding with deer,
wild pig, and edible birds. A touch of barbarism lends a charm to
mysterious Batjan, and the marked individuality which belongs to every
portion of the Molucca group is nowhere more apparent than in this
island, which lies on the borderland of civilisation without losing the
distinctive character stamped upon it by the influences of an
immemorial past.

Crescent-shaped Boeroe, where difficulties in landing involve launch,
_bloto_, and paddling through a long reach of shallow water to a black
swamp, possesses a commercial rather than an artistic value, being the
only place in the Archipelago which exports eucalyptus oil, locally
known as _kajopoetah_. A fleet of _praus_, with graceful masts of
bending bamboo, surrounds the steamer, the aromatic cargo packed in
long bamboo cases. The head-man of the _campong_, lightly attired in
his native brown, with a few touches of contrasting colour in s