Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
really more abundant than gold nuggets are in Australia or California. A high reward was
offered to any native who should find a piece and show the exact spot where he obtained it,
but without effect.
The mountaineers of Timor are a people of Papuan type, having rather slender forms,
bushy frizzled hair, and the skin of a dusky brown colour. They have the long nose with
overhanging apex which is so characteristic of the Papuan, and so absolutely unknown
among races of Malayan origin. On the coast there has been much admixture of some of the
Malay races, and perhaps of Hindoo, as well as of Portuguese. The general stature there is
lower, the hair wavy instead of frizzled, and the features less prominent. The houses are
built on the ground, while the mountaineers raise theirs on posts three or four feet high. The
common dress is a long cloth, twisted round the waist and hanging to the knee, as shown in
made of an entire fan-shaped palm leaf, carefully stitched at the fold of each leaflet to pre-
vent splitting. This is opened out, and held sloping over the head and back during a shower.
The small water-bucket is made from an entire unopened leaf of the same palm, and the
covered bamboo probably contains honey for sale. A curious wallet is generally carried,
consisting of a square of strongly woven cloth, the four corners of which are connected by
cords, and often much ornamented with beads and tassels. Leaning against the house behind
the figure on the right are bamboos, used instead of water jars.
