atronized those isles, and will set forth
their various qualifications."

DORA. "Celebes is the largest of the Moluccas, and is a ragged,
irregular-looking island, in shape similar to a star-fish. The
inhabitants are rendered active, industrious, and robust by an
austere education. At all hours of the day, the mothers rub their
children with oil or water, and thus assist nature in forming their
constitutions. At the age of five or six, the male children of
persons of rank are put in charge of a friend, that their courage
may not be weakened by the caresses of relatives, and habits of
reciprocal tenderness. They do not return to their families until
they attain the age at which the law declares them fit to marry.
Celebes was first discovered by the Portuguese in 1512; but the
Dutch expelled them in 1660, and it now belongs to them. Unlike most
of the other islands, it abounds in extensive grassy plains, free
from forests, which are looked upon as the common property of the
tribes who dwell thereon, and are carefully guarded from the
intrusion of aliens. The people are Mohammedans."

GEORGE. "Gililo is Celebes in miniature, being of the same singular
shape, and producing similar fruits. I have little more of its
advantages to set forth. But near here is a portion of the Ocean
called Molucca Sea, which possesses a strange peculiarity. It is the
periodical appearance of a current of opaque white water, like milk,
which, from June to August or September, covers the surface of the
basin in which the Banda Islands are situated. During the night it
is somewhat luminous, which makes the spectator confound it with the
horizon. It is dangerous for vessels, for the sea seems to undergo
an inward boiling agitation wherever it passes. During its
prevalence the fish disappear. This white water is supposed to come
from the shores of New Guinea and the Gulf of Carpentaria."

MR. STANLEY. "You are slightly wrong, George, in stating this
curious sea to be near Gililo. Gililo is _on_, the equator, and the
Molucca Sea is at least 5 deg. _below_ the equator, and directly south
of Ceram."

EMMA. "Ceram produces quantities of sago, and contains large forests
of those trees: they are extremely profitable, for one tree will
sometimes yield as much as five or six hundred pounds of sago! The
original inhabitants were called Alfoors, and, as some of the race
still exist, I will introduce them. The only dress of the men is a
girdle encircling