Despite his initial trepidation when first contemplating this voyage, Wallace
declared that he had never, either before or since, made a twenty-day voyage so
pleasantly, or with so little discomfort:
I was much delighted with the trip, and was inclined to rate the luxuries of the semi-
barbarous prahu as surpassing those of the most magnificent screw-steamer, that highest
result of our civilization.At the end of their long voyage they reached the trading settlement of Dobbo which
is just off the coast of the main island of Aru. It consisted of three rows of thatched
houses or large sheds for the Bugis and Chinese traders who come there and built
out on a sand spit with a sheltered anchorage on either side. Wallace quickly found a
house, installed a bamboo bench for a bed, a cane chair and table, some shelves for
his supplies, and declared himself as contented as if he had found a well-furnished
mansion.
The main population of the Aru Islands are dark, frizzy-haired Melanesians and
even darker frizzy-haired Papuans, or their derivatives. However, during the trading
Dobbo during the trading season, from The Malay Archipelago(^150) Where Australia Collides with Asia
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