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It is a place of great traffic, being the emporium for much of the produce of these Eastern seas, and is the residence of many Bugis and Ceramese traders, and appears to have been chosen on account of its being close to the only deep channel between the extensive shoals of Ceram-laut and those bordering the east end of Ceram.
They told me that some of the tribes kill the old men and women when they can no longer work, but I saw many very old and decrepid people, who seemed pretty well attended to. No doubt all who have much intercourse with the Bugis and Ceramese traders gradually lose many of their native customs, especially as these people often settle in their villages and marry native women.
They are most of them people who have the very worst reputation for honesty as well as every other form of morality, Chinese, Bugis, Ceramese, and half-caste Javanese, with a sprinkling of half-wild Papuans from Timor, Babber, and other islands, yet all goes on as yet very quietly.
The only sea-going vessels in the harbour were two large Macassar proas and a Ceramese junk; which were to sail in a few days. Whilst I was employed, making astronomical observations to determine the position of the point, Mr. Earl obtained considerable information from the traders.
The plumage is rather glossy, and slightly tinged with yellowish and purple, the bill and feet being entirely black. The native Amboynese who reside in the city are a strange half-civilized, half-savage lazy people, who seem to be a mixture of at least three races Portuguese, Malay, and Papuan or Ceramese, with an occasional cross of Chinese or Dutch.
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