THE TIMOREES.

The Timorees do not bear the character of being very industrious; the small portion of land they cultivate is turned up in the following manner:  a slight fence is placed round the part required for the purposes of agriculture and a drove of bullocks is driven furiously backwards and forwards over it; which very much resembles the mode adopted for thrashing corn in some parts of South America.

The Rajahs of the western portion of Timor receive their appointment from the Resident at Coepang; and their installation I am told is rather a grand affair.  Nearly all the Timorees speak Malay, a soft pleasant-sounding tongue, apparently easy to be acquired; but there were few of the Coepang people that spoke the native language.  Some of the Timor customs are singular:  if a woman, for example, dies in childbirth, she is buried on the spot where she breathes her last.

DUTCH SETTLEMENT IN NEW GUINEA.

During our stay at Coepang I met the doctor of the Dutch settlement at Triton Bay, on the west coast of New Guinea.  He gave me a very poor account of the inhabitants.  The Dutch settlers, he says, can scarcely venture out of the fort; as the natives have bows and arrows, as well as muskets, with which they are excellent marksmen.  Their firearms they obtain in exchange for birds of paradise, tortoise-shell and birds-nests, from vessels from the Arru, and other islands in the Eastern Archipelago.  When a vessel arrives on the coast they flock down from the interior to trade, which cannot be done without an interpreter.  It is even then attended with great risk, owing to the extreme treachery of the natives.  Knives, stained blue, and cotton goods are in great request; but, although they of aware of the superiority of Europeans, they will not on any account allow them to live in their country.  The inhabitants, however, are better disposed on the shores of Great Bay, a deep indentation on the north-east side of the island, where great quantities of nutmeg grow.

On the 5th the Mangles arrived from Sydney by the outer route through Torres Strait, having lost all her anchors, and been nearly wrecked in a south-east gale near Halfway Island.  She was commanded by the same master, Mr. Carr, to whom I have before alluded as having given the first information concerning the survivors of the crew of the Charles Eaton.

ISLAND OF ROTTEE.

The next afternoon we weighed, and the following morning anchored, the water being deep, close in near Tykale Inlet, on the south-west side of Rottee, for observations,* and for the purpose of better determining the position of Pulo Douw, and the other islands in its neighbourhood.

(Footnote.  They placed the south point of the inlet in latitude 10 degrees 46 minutes 18 seconds South and longitude 0 degrees 43 minutes 50 seconds West of Coepang.)

An extensive coral flat fronts this part of Rottee, connecting it with the small islands lying off it.