Insulinde: Experiences of a Naturalist's Wife in the Eastern Archipelago |
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Common terms and phrases
Amboina amused Arabs archipelago Aru Islands bamboo Banda BANDA SEA Batavia beautiful birds boat breeze bright Buitenzorg Chinese civilised cloth coast cocoa-nut colour cook cool crowd Cupang curious dance deck Dilly dress durian Dutch Dutch Indies dwelling enjoy European eyes feast fever fish flowers foliage forest fowls França family fresh friends gardens garments hair island Java Javanese language kabia Kaleobar Kobez ladies Larat looked Macassar Malay Malay Archipelago mangosteen Matross ment months morning native never night nutmegs Papuan Paso passed pleasant Portuguese Portuguese Timor post-holder post-holder's prahu pretty Rajah ready Ritabel round sail sarong savage scene seemed shade ship shore skin slopes soon steamer strong SURABAYA Tenimber Timor Timor-laut town trassi trees tropical verandah vessel village voyage Waai walk wear wind
Popular passages
Page 70 - Medusae floated along near the surface. It was a sight to gaze at for hours, and no description can do justice to its surpassing beauty and interest. For once, the reality exceeded the most glowing accounts I had ever read of the wonders of a coral sea.
Page 117 - Therefore, in a short time, they turn all to a mash in the vessel; and when they have lain thus a good while, so that the fish is reduced to a pap, they then draw off the liquor into fresh jars, and preserve it for use. The mashed fish that remains behind is called balachaun, and the liquor poured off is called nuke-mum.
Page 38 - The abundant moisture and tropical heat of the climate causes these mountains to be cjothed with luxuriant vegetation, often to their very summits, while forests and plantations cover their lower slopes. The animal productions, especially the birds and insects, are beautiful and varied, and present many peculiar forms found nowhere else upon the globe. The soil throughout the island is exceedingly fertile, and all the productions of the tropics, together with many of the temperate zones, can be easily...
Page 127 - Ke men came up singing and shouting, dipping their paddles deep in the water and throwing up clouds of spray | as they approached nearer they stood up in their canoes and increased their noise and gesticulations; and on coming alongside, without asking leave, and without a moment's hesitation, the greater part of them scrambled up on our deck just as if they were come to take possession of a captured vessel. Then commenced a scene of mdescribable confusion.
Page 58 - Banda is a lovely little spot, its three islands inclosing a secure harbour, from which no outlet is visible, and with waters so transparent that living corals, and even the minutest objects, are plainly seen on the volcanic sand at a depth of seven or eight fathoms.
Page 114 - ... fishes are captured in immense numbers. Fried in fresh oil they form an excellent dish, and are the staple flesh-food of the natives. A vile odour which permeates the whole air within a wide area of the market-place is apt to be attributed to these piles of fish ; but it really proceeds from another compound, sold in round black balls, called trassi. My acquaintance with it was among my earliest experiences of housekeeping at Genteng. Having got up rather late one Sunday morning — an opportunity...
Page 43 - Carpentaria, cajeput-oil from Bouru, wild nutmegs and mussoi-bark from New Guinea, are all to be found in the stores of the Chinese and Bugis merchants of Macassar, along with the rice and coffee which are the chief products of the surrounding country. More important than all these, however, is the trade to Aru, a group of islands situated on the south-west coast of New Guinea, and of which almost the whole produce comes to Macassar in nalive vessels.