able portion of the population of
the islands, more especially in Dobbo and the parts nearest to it.

March 28th.--The "Orang-kaya" being very ill with fever had begged to go
home, and had arranged with one of the men of the house to go on with me
as his substitute. Now that I wanted to move, the bugbear of the pirates
was brought up, and it was pronounced unsafe to go further than the next
small river. This world not suit me, as I had determined to traverse the
channel called Watelai to the "blakang-tana;" but my guide was firm
in his dread of pirates, of which I knew there was now no danger, as
several vessels had gone in search of them, as well as a Dutch gunboat
which had arrived since I left Dobbo. I had, fortunately, by this time
heard that the Dutch "Commissie" had really arrived, and therefore
threatened that if my guide did not go with me immediately, I would
appeal to the authorities, and he would certainly be obliged to gig
a back the cloth which the "Orang-kaya" had transferred to him in
prepayment. This had the desired effect; matters were soon arranged, and
we started the next morning. The wind, however, was dead against us,
and after rowing hard till midday we put in to a small river where
there were few huts, to cook our dinners. The place did not look very
promising, but as we could not reach our destination, the Watelai river,
owing to the contrary wind, I thought we might as well wait here a day
or two. I therefore paid a chopper for the use of a small shed, and
got my bed and some boxes on shore. In the evening, after dark, we were
suddenly alarmed by the cry of "Bajak! bajak!" (Pirates!) The men all
seized their bows and spears, and rushed down to the beach; we got hold
of our guns and prepared for action, but in a few minutes all came back
laughing and chattering, for it had proved to be only a small boat and
some of their own comrades returned from fishing. When all was quiet
again, one of the men, who could speak a little Malay, came to me and
begged me not to sleep too hard. "Why?" said I. "Perhaps the pirates may
really come," said he very seriously, which made me laugh and assure him
I should sleep as hard as I could.

Two days were spent here, but the place was unproductive of insects or
birds of interest, so we made another attempt to get on. As soon as we
got a little away from the land we had a fair wind, and in six hours'
sailing reached the entrance of the Watelai channel, which divides