Thinking it very unlikely that two snakes had got on board at the
same time, I turned in and went to sleep; but having all the time
a vague dreamy idea that I might put my hand on another one, I
lay wonderfully still, not turning over once all night, quite the
reverse of my usual habits. The next day we reached Ternate, and
I ensconced myself in my comfortable house, to examine all my
treasures, and pack them securely for the voyage home.

CHAPTER XXV.

CERAM, GORAM, AND THE MATABELLO ISLANDS.

(OCTOBER 1859 To JUNE 1860.)

I LEFT Amboyna for my first visit to Ceram at three o'clock in
the morning of October 29th, after having been delayed several
days by the boat's crew, who could not be got together. Captain
Van der Beck, who gave me a passage in his boat, had been running
after them all day, and at midnight we had to search for two of
my men who had disappeared at the last moment. One we found at
supper in his own house, and rather tipsy with his parting
libations of arrack, but the other was gone across the bay, and
we were obliged to leave without him. We stayed some hours at two
villages near the east end of Amboyna, at one of which we had to
discharge some wood for the missionaries' house, and on the third
afternoon reached Captain Van der Beck's plantation, situated at
Hatosua, in that part of Ceram opposite to the island of Amboyna.
This was a clearing in flat and rather swampy forest, about
twenty acres in extent, and mostly planted with cacao and