The detail of the coasts of the island, particularly of its south-eastern side, on which there are many indentations and bays, is very little known; the natives are reported generally to be favourably inclined to Europeans, but it would be dangerous for an unarmed vessel to place too much reliance upon the faith of a Timorean, whose thirst for powder might induce him to commit any mischievous act to obtain it.  The mountaineers are described to be a warlike race of men, but since the cession of the island to the Dutch by the King of Ternate, to whom it appears to have originally belonged, they are distributed under the sovereignty of different rajahs, to whom they pay implicit obedience; and are, in fact, little better than mere slaves.  On all parts of the coast good wholesome water may be procured, excepting at Sesally on the north coast where it is said to be of a noxious quality, occasioned by a tree or plant that grows on its tanks, and taints the stream.  Whatever suspicion there may be attached to the truth of this story, there is no doubt of its being far from wholesome; for it is avoided as poisonous by the people who reside near it.  I was curious to discover whether it was occasioned by its flowing near one of the far-famed Poison trees (Upas antiar) of Java, but my informant could not satisfy my inquiry.

The island is very mountainous, and some of its summits, as Captain Flinders observes, may probably rival the Peak of Teneriffe.  The country slopes off towards the sea, and appears to be fertile and populous.  The recesses of the mountains and the rivulets that derive their sources from them are said to be rich in gold and silver, and they are also reported to yield copper and iron; it is, however, with great difficulty that gold is procured, on account of a superstitious feeling on the part of the mountaineers, who think it necessary to sacrifice a human life for every bottle of gold dust that is collected; and this barbarous custom, we were informed, is rigidly enforced by the chiefs, who, of course, take good care that the lot does not fall upon their own heads.  Gold is however sometimes found in the bed of the river near Coepang, particularly after occasional freshes from the mountains, and during the rainy season; but it is detected in so small a quantity as hardly to repay the searchers for their trouble.

Some years since, during the early possession of this part of the island by the Dutch, sixty soldiers were sent into the country to search for gold, but they were all killed by the mountaineers and since then no further attempt has been made; indeed it would take a very considerable force to effect it, on account of the warlike character of these people.  Their defensive mode of warfare is to distribute themselves in all directions among the trees and rocks, from which, by their numbers and unerring aim, they might easily destroy a much larger force than the Dutch could afford to send against them from any of their