o be a great distance in the
interior. The country behind Coupang rises to the height of five
hundred feet, the higher hills being covered with woods, the lower with
cocoa-nut trees. On a cliff above the town is the fort of Concordia,
and near it a brook, just deep enough to float small prahus for a few
yards. East of it is the town, which consists of two principal streets,
running parallel with the beach for about a quarter of a mile, with two
small irregular streets crossing them. The houses near the sea are
simply small shops, belonging to Chinese. Behind the town is an open
space of grass, shaded by fine tamarind trees, with the Governor's house
on one side; and some roads run up thence to some good houses belonging
to Europeans, and to some clusters of huts inhabited by Malays. While
we were there, the stream was always occupied by people either bathing
or washing their clothes. I remember also a valley full of cocoa-nut
trees, bamboos, bananas, and tamarinds; but beyond, the country had
somewhat of an arid appearance. The current coin of the country was of
copper, called a _doit_, the value of one sixth of a penny. By my
notes, I see that I entered a schoolhouse, where a very intelligent man
was instructing a large number of Malay children in the Christian
religion, and in useful knowledge, with, I understood, most satisfactory
success. The native Timorese are a frizzle-haired race, who live in
rude huts, roofed with palm-leaves, attend but little to agriculture,
and are addicted to cutting off the heads of their enemies in battle,
and carrying them away as trophies like the Dyaks of Borneo.

The Governor received me very politely; and, from the inquiries he
enabled me to make, I felt very certain that the _Emu_ had visited the
place at the time described by the Chinese pedlar Chin Fi. What had
afterwards become of her no one knew. There were rumours, however, that
a suspicious sail had been seen in the neighbourhood of the Serwatty and
Tenimber Islands, while others spoke of the Arru Islands, and the
western coast of New Guinea. For want of better information to guide
us, we resolved accordingly to cruise among them, and to prosecute our
inquiries of the inhabitants. A large part of the population of the
Serwatty and Tenimber Islands have, through the instrumentality of the
Dutch missionaries, become Christians.

The first place we touched at was the island of Kessa, at an anchorage
not far from th