a foot above water, and from the great top and side weight, and
general clumsiness, these boats are dangerous in heavy weather,
and are not unfrequently lost. A triangle mast and mat sail
carried us on when the wind was favourable,--which (as usual) it
never was, although, according to the monsoon, it ought to have
been. Our water, carried in bamboos, would only last two days,
and as the voyage occupied seven, we had to touch at a great many
places. The captain was not very energetic, and the men rowed as
little as they pleased, or we might have reached Ternate in three
days, having had fine weather and little wind all the way.

There were several passengers besides myself: three or four
Javanese soldiers, two convicts whose time had expired (one,
curiously enough, being the man who had stolen my cash-box and
keys), the schoolmaster's wife and a servant going on a visit to
Ternate, and a Chinese trader going to buy goods. We had to sleep
all together in the cabin, packed pretty close; but they very
civilly allowed me plenty of room for my mattrass, and we got on
very well together. There was a little cookhouse in the bows,
where we could boil our rice and make our coffee, every one of
course bringing his own provisions, and arranging his meal-times
as he found most convenient. The passage would have been
agreeable enough but for the dreadful "tom-toms," or wooden
drums, which are beaten incessantly while the men are rowing. Two
men were engaged constantly at them, making a fearful din the
whole voyage. The rowers are men sent by the Sultan of Ternate.
They get about threepence a day, and find their own provisions.
Each man had a strong wooden "betel" box, on which he generally
sat, a sleeping-mat, and a change of clothes--rowing naked, with
only a sarong or a waistcloth. They sleep in their places,