Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A prevalent custom is the 'pomali', exactly equivalent to the 'taboo' of the Pacific is-
landers, and equally respected. It is used on the commonest occasions, and a few palm
leaves stuck outside a garden as a sign of the 'pomali' will preserve its produce from thieves
as effectually as the threatening notice of man-traps, spring guns, or a savage dog, would do
with us. The dead are placed on a stage, raised six or eight feet above the ground, sometimes
open and sometimes covered with a roof. Here the body remains till the relatives can afford
to make a feast, when it is buried. The Timorese are generally great thieves, but are not
bloodthirsty. They fight continually among themselves, and take every opportunity of kid-
napping unprotected people of other tribes for slaves; but Europeans may pass anywhere
through the country in safety. Except a few half-breeds in the town, there are no native
Christians in the island of Timor. The people retain their independence in a great measure,
and both dislike and despise their would-be rulers, whether Portuguese or Dutch.
The Portuguese government in Timor is a most miserable one. Nobody seems to care the
least about the improvement of the country, and at this time, after three hundred years of oc-
cupation, there has not been a mile of road made beyond the town, and there is not a solitary
European resident anywhere in the interior. All the Government officials oppress and rob the
natives as much as they can, and yet there is no care taken to render the town defensible
should the Timorese attempt to attack it. So ignorant are the military officers, that having re-
ceived a small mortar and some shells, no one could be found who knew how to use them;
and during an insurrection of the natives (while I was at Delli) the officer who expected to
be sent against the insurgents was instantly taken ill! and they were allowed to get posses-
sion of an important pass within three miles of the town, where they could defend them-
selves against ten times the force. The result was that no provisions were brought down
from the hills; a famine was imminent, and the Governor had to send off to beg for supplies
from the Dutch Governor of Amboyna.
In its present state Timor is more trouble than profit to its Dutch and Portuguese rulers,
and it will continue to be so unless a different system is pursued. A few good roads into the
elevated districts of the interior; a conciliatory policy and strict justice towards the natives,
and the introduction of a good system of cultivation as in Java and Northern Celebes, might
yet make Timor a productive and valuable island. Rice grows well on the marshy flats
which often fringe the coast, and maize thrives in all the lowlands, and is the common food
of the natives as it was when Dampier visited the island in 1699. The small quantity of cof-
fee now grown is of very superior quality, and it might be increased to any extent. Sheep
thrive, and would always be valuable as fresh food for whalers and to supply the adjacent is-
lands with mutton, if not for their wool; although it is probable that on the mountains this
