, we passed a small detached coral reef, and then steered for
the Arru Islands, in the hope of being able to gain some information from
the traders who frequent them, for the purpose of procuring the birds of
Paradise, trepang, pearls, etc. which are found in their vicinity.

During our passage across, we had very irregular soundings, and at
daylight on the 24th of March, saw the Arru Islands; all the islands of
this group, which extends from North to South about 100 miles, and the
eastern limits of which are but imperfectly known, are very low and
swampy, but from being well-wooded, have the appearance of being much
higher than they really are: many of the trees that we saw attained a
height of ninety feet, before they began to branch out.

DOBBO HARBOUR.

We stood along the islands to the northward all day, with very light
winds, and on the 25th were off the entrance of Dobbo harbour, situated
between the two islands, Wamma and Wokan. As there were several
square-rigged vessels in the harbour, we tacked and made signal for a
pilot, and were soon afterwards boarded by the master of one of the
vessels, who to our great delight hailed us in very good English. Under
his pilotage we ran in and anchored off a low sandy point, on which the
traders establish themselves during their stay, by building very neat
bamboo houses thatched with the palm leaf. Several hundred people,
including some Dutchmen from Macassar, and Chinamen, remain throughout
the year. The house of Messrs. Klaper and Nitzk, cost above 300 pounds
and contained goods to the amount of ten times that sum and upwards. The
trade with these islands appears to be carried on in the following
manner. Towards the end of the North-West monsoon, the trading vessels
from Java and Macassar, having laid in their stock for barter, come over
to Dobbo, generally touching at the Ki Islands to procure boats, which
are there built in great numbers. On arriving they make the chief of the
island (who carries a silver-headed stick, with the Dutch arms engraved
upon it, as an emblem of his authority) a present, which he considers to
be his due, consisting generally of arrack and tobacco. The large boats
they have brought from the Ki Islands having been thatched over, and
fitted with mat sails are then despatched through the various channels
leading to the eastward, under the charge of a Chinaman, to trade for
trepang, pearls, pearl oyster-shells, edible birds-nests, and birds of
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