oos hopping about, quite as tame and as elegant as fawns. Young
cassowaries also, striped with black and brown, ran about as tame as
barn-door fowls. This is a wingless bird, the body of which is about
double the size of that of a large turkey, but its long legs make it
five or six feet in height. It is covered with long, coarse, black,
hair-like feathers. The skin of the neck is bare, and is of a bright
blue and red. Instead of wings it has a group of horny black spines,
like porcupine quills. The species I have described is found in the
neighbourhood of the island of Ceram. Mr Hooker told us that it feeds
chiefly on fallen fruits, and on insects or Crustacea. The female lays
from three to five large eggs of a shagreen-green colour, upon a bed of
leaves. The male and female sit alternately for about a month upon
them. The articles we saw exposed for sale in the fair were chiefly
pearl shell and the tripang, known also as the _beche-de-mer_; as also
tortoise-shell, edible birds' nests, pearls, and birds of paradise, or
rather their stuffed skins. The Malay traders had brought for sale, or
to exchange with these articles, guns, swords, knives, choppers,
tobacco, plates and basins, handkerchiefs, _sarongs_, calicoes, and
arrack in bottles. Tea, coffee, sugar, and wine, were also to be seen;
and even fancy goods, such as china ornaments, pipes and purses;
umbrellas, razors, and looking-glasses; indeed, it is curious what a
number of articles are found in this out-of-the-way spot, and many of
them costing no more than they did in England.

These articles are exchanged for English calico, crockery, cutlery,
fire-arms, gunpowder, gongs, and elephants' tusks. They not only buy
muskets, but small brass guns, on which they set a high value. They
also prize tobacco for chewing. We always slept on board, and the sound
of the Malays' songs came across the water to a late hour of the night.
The musical instruments we heard were tom-toms, Jews'-harps, and
frequently fiddles. The Malays are a merry, vivacious people, and fond
of several games. The most interesting was a game at football, which
was generally played in the evening. The ball is small, made of ratan,
hollow, elastic, and light. One of the players dances it for a short
time on his foot, sometimes on his arm or thigh, and then striking it
with the hollow of his foot, sends it flying high into the air. A
player from the opposite side rushes forward, catche