number of hard globular palm-fruits in its crop, each more than an inch in
diameter.
A little further the path divided into two, one leading along the beach, and
across mangrove and sago swamps the other rising to cultivated grounds. We
therefore returned, and taking a fresh departure from the village, endeavoured to
ascend the hills and penetrate into the interior. The path, however, was a most
trying one. Where there was earth, it was a deposit of reddish clay overlying the
rock, and was worn so smooth by the attrition of naked feet that my shoes could
obtain no hold on the sloping surface. A little farther we came to the bare rock,
and this was worse, for it was so rugged and broken, and so honeycombed and
weatherworn into sharp points and angles, that my boys, who had gone
barefooted all their lives, could not stand it. Their feet began to bleed, and I saw
that if I did not want them completely lamed it would be wise to turn lack. My
own shoes, which were rather thin, were but a poor protection, and would soon
have been cut to pieces; yet our little naked guides tripped along with the
greatest ease and unconcern, and seemed much astonished at our effeminacy in
not being able to take a walk which to them was a perfectly agreeable one.
During the rest of our stay in the island we were obliged to confine ourselves to
the vicinity of the shore and the cultivated grounds, and those more level
portions of the forest where a little soil had accumulated and the rock had been
less exposed to atmospheric action.
The island of Ke (pronounced exactly as the letter K, but erroneously spelt in
our maps Key or Ki) is long and narrow, running in a north and south direction,
and consists almost entirely of rock and mountain. It is everywhere covered with
luxuriant forests, and in its bays and inlets the sand is of dazzling whiteness,
resulting from the decomposition of the coralline limestone of which it is
entirely composed. In all the little swampy inlets and valleys sago trees abound,
and these supply the main subsistence of the natives, who grow no rice, and have
scarcely any other cultivated products but cocoa-nuts, plantains, and yams. From
the cocoa-nuts, which surround every hut, and which thrive exceedingly on the
porous limestone soil and under the influence of salt breezes, oil is made which
is sold at a good price to the Aru traders, who all touch here to lay in their stuck
of this article, as well as to purchase boats and native crockery. Wooden bowls,
pans, and trays are also largely made here, hewn out of solid blocks of wood
with knife and adze; and these are carried to all parts of the Moluccas. But the
art in which the natives of Ke pre-eminently excel is that of boat building. Their
forests supply abundance of fine timber, though, probably not more so than
many other islands, and from some unknown causes these remote savages have