(Footnote.  Latitude 10 degrees 10 minutes 11 seconds South, and longitude 9 degrees 50 minutes 00 seconds West of Swan River.)

(**Footnote.  See the view annexed.)

DUTCH MILITARY FORCE.

The whole force the Dutch have at Coepang is sixty soldiers, half of whom, too, are Javanese.  Yet the subjection in which this small force keeps the natives, is beyond belief.  A sergeant is the commandant at Rottee, and such power has he over the inhabitants, that he can at any time raise a thousand armed men in the course of a few hours.  Many of the largest ponies used at Coepang, are brought from Rottee.  Their origin no one could give me any information about; all agree in saying they were found with the island, and the natives have no traditions.

THE RESIDENT’S TALES.

My second visit to the Resident was for the purpose of accepting his offer of a guide, and of making arrangements for a day’s shooting.  I found him as usual, sitting smoking in a large cool room.  We were soon in the interior of Borneo, the scene of his former exploits.  Some of these were of so sanguinary a character, that they do him very little credit; and many of his tales partook of the marvellous.  Among the Dyaks, natives of the interior, it is a custom, he said, that when a man wishes to marry, he must produce a certain number of human heads.  He related that he had once seen a very handsome young woman, to whom a number of heads had been delivered, swimming about in some water, and playing with them.  At another time he averred that he saw a woman mix human brains with water and drink it!  Mr. Gronovius also informed me that the land on the western sides both of Timor and Borneo was gaining on the sea, particularly at the latter place; and a report prevailed that on some of the elevated parts of the former chama shells had been found.  In answer to my inquiries about earthquakes, I was told that, only the last month the island of Ternate in 0 degrees 50 minutes North had been visited by one, which had thrown down all the houses, and that in 1690, the town of Coepang had also been destroyed.  From the Resident also, I received accounts of three ports in Rottee, one on the north-west side, another on the south-east, and a third, on the north-east, opening into Rottee Strait.

THE TIMOREES.

Among the fresh information gained from Mr. Gronovius during this visit, was an account of the natives of Timor called Timorees.  They are very superstitious, and when a person of consequence dies, a number of karabows (buffaloes) pigs, and ponies are killed and placed over his grave, as an offering to the evil spirit.  Some, in case of sickness, imagine, that by eating a whole buffalo, even the horns and hoofs, by degrees, they can appease the anger of the demon to whom they attribute all their misfortunes.

Many of the Timorees have really handsome features, strikingly different from the Malays.  Their hair, which is neither woolly nor straight, but crisp, and full of small waves, is worn long behind, and kept together by a curiously formed comb.  There is altogether a degree of wildness in their appearance that ill accords with their situation; for nearly all the Timorees in Coepang are slaves sold by the Rajahs of the different districts, the value of a young man being fifty pounds.