induced to wash the
tumbler, and to omit the last reassuring ceremony. The _sageroe_, sweet
and refreshing, gains tonic properties from an infusion of quassia,
which sharpens the flavour and strengthens the compound, packed in
bamboo cases or plaited palm-leaf bags for transport to the
neighbouring islands. A grey fort, and weather-worn Government offices,
flank the green _aloon-aloon_ of Amboyna, surrounded by tamarind
avenues. The Dutch Resident finds ample employment, owing to the mania
for litigation among the Ambonese. The honour of appearing before a
Court of Justice is eagerly sought, and imaginary claims or grievances
are constantly invented in order to satisfy the ambition for publicity.
A modest and retiring temperament forms no part of native equipment,
and the slight veneer of Christianity, in the crudest phase of Dutch
Protestantism, increases the aggressive tendency. The missionary
agencies of Calvinistic Holland seem incapable of practical sympathy
with the island people; but half a loaf is better than no bread, and
in any form of Christian faith the Heavenly Husbandman scatters grains
of wheat among the tares, that all His wandering children may reap a
share of harvest gold even from a stubborn and sterile soil.

Amboyna shows signs of commercial prosperity in the crowded _passer_
and the busy Chinese _campong_, for the enterprising Celestial forms an
important element of the mercantile community in the Clove Island.
Three memorial tablets erected in front of the hoary fort, the bare
Dutch church, and the crumbling guard-house, record the worthy name of
Padrugge, a Dutch Governor who restored Amboyna after complete
destruction by a violent earthquake, that ever-haunting terror within
the great volcanic chain of the Malay Archipelago. The steep acclivity
behind the palm-shaded park of the Residency contains a stalactite
grotto, infested by a multitude of bats, which cling to the sparkling
pendants of the fretted roof, unless disturbed by the Ambonese coolies,
who regard them as culinary delicacies, and catch them in this ancient
breeding-place, with a noise which brings down the terrified creatures
into unwelcome proximity, cutting short any attempts at exploration,
and causing rash intruders to beat a hasty retreat.

In the hush of dawn, when the intensity of calm steals colour as well
as sound from the motionless waters, we embark on an expedition to the
_Zeetuinen_, or Sea Gardens, the fairy world of