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

336 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.with a sprinkling of half-wild Papuans from Timor, Babber, andother islands — yet all goes on as yet very quietly. This motley,ignorant, bloodthirsty, thievish population live here without theshadow of a government, with no police, no courts, and nolawj'ers ;yet they do not cut each other's throats ; do notplunder each other day and night ;do not fall into the anarchysuch a state of things might be supposed to lead to. It is veryextraordinary ! It puts strange thoughts into one's head aboutthe mountain-load of government under which people exist inEurojDe, and suggests the idea that we may be overgoverned.Think of the hundred Acts of Parliament annually enacted topre\'ent us, the people of England, from cutting each other'sthi'oats, or fi'om doing to our neighbours as we would not bedone by. Think of the thousands of lawyers and barristerswhose whole lives are spent in telling us what the hundi^edActs of Parliament mean, and one would be led to infer that ifDobbo has too little law England has too much.Here we may behold in its simplest form the genius of Commerceat the work of Civilization. Trade is the magic that keepsall at peace, and unites these discordant elements into a wellbehavedcommunity. All are traders, and all know that peaceand order are essential to successful trade, and thus a publicopinion is created which puts down all lawlessness. Often informer years, when strolling along the Campong Glam inSingapore, I have thought how wild and ferocious the Bugissailors looked, and how little I should like to trust myself amongthem. But now I tind them to be very decent, well-l^ehavedfellows ; I walk daily unarmed in the jungle, where I meet themcontinually ; I sleep in a palm-leaf hut, which any one mayenter, with as little fear and as little danger of thie^'es or murderas if I were under the protection of the Metropolitan police.It is true the Dutch influence is felt here. The islands arenominally under the government of the Moluccas, which thenative chiefs acknowledge ; and in most years a commissionerarrives from Amboyna, who makes the tour of the islands, hearscomplaints, settles disputes, and carries away prisoner anyheinous offender. This year he is not expected to come, as noorders have yet been received to jirepare for him ; so the peopleof Dobbo will probably be left to their own devices. _One daya man was caught in the act of stealing a piece of ii'on fromHerr Warzbergen's house, which he had entered by making ahole through the thatch wall. In the evening the chief tradersof the i^lace, Bugis and Chinese, assembled, the offender wastried and found guilty, and sentenced to receive twenty lasheson the spot. They were given with a small rattan in the middleof the street, not very severely, as the executioner appeared tosympathize a little with the culprit. The disgrace seemed to bethought as much of as the pain ; for though any amount of clevercheating is thought rather meritorious than otherwise, openrobbery and housebreaking meet witli universal reprobation.