The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

XXX.] THE ARU ISLANDS.—RESIDENCE IN DOBBO. 335a boat I have purcliased, for an excursion into the interior.There is immense difficulty about men, but I believe theOrang-kaj^a," or head man of Wamma, will accompany me tosee that I don't run into danger.Having become quite an old inhabitant of Dobbo, I willandendeavour to sketcli the sights and sounds that pervade it,the manners and customs of its inhabitants. The place is nowpretty full, and the sti'eets present a far more cheerful aspectthan when we first arrived. Every house is a store, where thenatives barter their produce for what they are most in needof.Knives, choppers, swords, guns, tobacco, gambler, plates, basins,handkerchiefs, sarongs, calicoes, and arrack, are the principalarticles wanted by the natives ; but some of the stores containalso tea, coffee, sugai-, wine, biscuits, &c., for the supply of thetraders ;and others are full of fancy goods, china ornaments,looking-glasses, razors, umbrellas, pipes, and purses, wliicli takethe fancy of tlie wealthier natives. Every tine day mats arespread before the doors and the ti'ipang is put out to dry, aswell as sugar, salt, biscuit, tea, cloths, and otlier things that getinjured by an excessively moist atmosphei'e. In the morningand evening spruce Chinamen stroll about or chat at eachother's doors, in blue trousers, white jacket, and a queue intowhich red silk is plaited till it reaches almost to their heels.An old Bugis hadji regularly takes an evening stroll in all thedignity of flowing green silk robe and gay turban, followed bytwo small boys carrying his sirih and betel boxes.In every vacant space new houses are being built, and allsorts of odd little cooking-sheds are erected against the oldones, while in some out-of-the-way corners, massive log pigstiesare tenanted by growing porkers ; for how could the Cliinamenexist six months without one feast of pig ? Here and there arestalls where bananas are sold, and every morning two little boysgo about with trays of sw^eet rice and grated cocoa-nut, friedlisli, or fried plantains ; and whichever it may be, they have butone cry, and that is— " Chocolat—t—t "! This must be_ aSpanish or Portuguese cry, handed down for centuries, whileits meaning has been lost. The Bugis sailors, while lioisting themainsail, cry out, " Vela a vela,—vela, vela, vela "! repeated inan everlasting chorus. As "vela" is Portuguese for a sail, Isupposed I had discovered the origin of this, but I found afterwardsthey used the same cry when heaving anchor, and oftenchange it to "hela," which is so much an universal expression ofexerfion and hard breathing that it is most probably a mereinterjection al ci-y.I dare say there are now near five hundred people in Dobbo ofvarious races, all met in this remote coi'ner of the East, as theyexpress it, "to look for their fortune ;" to get money any waythey can. They are most of them people who have the veryworst reputation for honesty as well as every otlier form ofmorality— Chinese, Bugis, Ceramese, and half-caste Javanese,