GEORGE.  “Gililo is Celebes in miniature, being of the same singular shape, and producing similar fruits.  I have little more of its advantages to set forth.  But near here is a portion of the Ocean called Molucca Sea, which possesses a strange peculiarity.  It is the periodical appearance of a current of opaque white water, like milk, which, from June to August or September, covers the surface of the basin in which the Banda Islands are situated.  During the night it is somewhat luminous, which makes the spectator confound it with the horizon.  It is dangerous for vessels, for the sea seems to undergo an inward boiling agitation wherever it passes.  During its prevalence the fish disappear.  This white water is supposed to come from the shores of New Guinea and the Gulf of Carpentaria.”

MR. STANLEY.  “You are slightly wrong, George, in stating this curious sea to be near Gililo.  Gililo is on, the equator, and the Molucca Sea is at least 5 deg. below the equator, and directly south of Ceram.”

EMMA.  “Ceram produces quantities of sago, and contains large forests of those trees:  they are extremely profitable, for one tree will sometimes yield as much as five or six hundred pounds of sago!  The original inhabitants were called Alfoors, and, as some of the race still exist, I will introduce them.  The only dress of the men is a girdle encircling the loins.  They fix bunches of palm leaves to their heads, shoulders, and knees, and wear square bucklers, which they ornament with considerable taste.  The eyesight of these people is uncommonly acute; and their swiftness is such as to enable them to chase the wild hog with success.  Rats and serpents form part of their food.  This island is equally fertile with the other Moluccas, and produces spices of all kinds, but particularly cloves and nutmegs.  There are, happily, more Christians now to be found in Ceram than there were a few years since:  nevertheless the majority are still Mohammedans, and barbarous in their habits.”

MR. BARRAUD.  “Yes.  Very little improvement has taken place in the manners of the Alfoors.  The young men, even to this day, adhere to the savage practice of propitiating their intended wives, by presenting them with the heads of five or six of their enemies.  In order to seize their victims by surprise, they lie in ambush in the woods, cover themselves with moss, and hold branches of trees in their hands, which they shake in a manner so natural, that they have the appearance of real trees:  they then allow the enemy to pass, assassinate him by coming up behind him, and, cutting off his head, carry it away as a trophy.  These murderers are received by the people of the village with all the honors of a barbarous triumph.”