e inhabitants of the numerous islands which do not agree very
closely with either of these races. The islands of Obi, Batchian, and
the three southern peninsulas of Gilolo, possess no true indigenous
population; but the northern peninsula is inhabited by a native race,
the so-called Alfuros of Sahoe and Galela. These people are quite
distinct from the Malays, and almost equally so from the Papuans. They
are tall and well-made, with Papuan features, and curly hair; they are
bearded and hairy-limbed, but quite as light in colour as the Malays.
They are an industrious and enterprising race, cultivating rice and
vegetables, and indefatigable in their search after game, fish, tripang,
pearls, and tortoiseshell.

In the great island of Ceram there is also an indigenous race very
similar to that of Northern Gilolo. Bourn seems to contain two distinct
races,--a shorter, round-faced people, with a Malay physiognomy, who may
probably have come from Celebes by way of the Sula islands; and a taller
bearded race, resembling that of Ceram.

Far south of the Moluccas lies the island of Timor, inhabited by tribes
much nearer to the true Papuan than those of the Moluccas.

The Timorese of the interior are dusky brown or blackish, with bushy
frizzled hair, and the long Papuan nose. They are of medium height,
and rather slender figures. The universal dress is a long cloth twisted
round the waist, the fringed ends of which hang below the knee. The
people are said to be great thieves, and the tribes are always at war
with each other, but they are not very courageous or bloodthirsty. The
custom of "tabu," called here "pomali," is very general, fruit trees,
houses, crop, and property of all kinds being protected from depredation
by this ceremony, the reverence for which is very great. A palm branch
stuck across an open door, showing that the house is tabooed, is a more
effectual guard against robbery than any amount of locks and bars. The
houses in Timor are different from those of most of the other islands;
they seem all roof, the thatch overhanging the low walls and reaching
the ground, except where it is cut away for an entrance. In some parts
of the west end of Timor, and on the little island of Semau, the houses
more resemble those of the Hottentots, being egg-shaped, very small, and
with a door only about three feet high. These are built on the ground,
while those of the eastern districts art, raised a few feet on posts.
In their exci