ethnological traveller unable to obtain information as to their
origin, first there are the Batchian Malays, probably the
earliest colonists, differing very little from those of Ternate.
Their language, however, seems to have more of the Papuan
element, with a mixture of pure Malay, showing that the
settlement is one of stragglers of various races, although now
sufficiently homogeneous. Then there are the "Orang Sirani," as
at Ternate and Amboyna. Many of these have the Portuguese
physiognomy strikingly preserved, but combined with a skin
generally darker than the Malays. Some national customs are
retained, and the Malay, which is their only language, contains a
large number of Portuguese words and idioms. The third race
consists of the Galela men from the north of Gilolo, a singular
people, whom I have already described; and the fourth is a colony
from Tomóre, in the eastern peninsula of Celebes. These people
were brought here at their own request a few years ago, to avoid
extermination by another tribe. They have a very light
complexion, open Tartar physiognomy, low stature, and a language
of the Bugis type. They are an industrious agricultural people,
and supply the town with vegetables. They make a good deal of
bark cloth, similar to the tapa of the Polynesians, by cutting
down the proper trees and taping off large cylinders of bark,
which is beaten with mallets till it separates from the wood. It
is then soaked, and so continuously and regularly beaten out that
it becomes as thin and as tough as parchment. In this foam it is
much used for wrappers for clothes; and they also make jackets of
it, sewn neatly together and stained with the juice of another
kind of bark, which gives it a dark red colour and renders it
nearly waterproof.