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This island is equally fertile with the other Moluccas, and produces spices of all kinds, but particularly cloves and nutmegs. There are, happily, more Christians now to be found in Ceram than there were a few years since: nevertheless the majority are still Mohammedans, and barbarous in their habits." MR. BARRAUD. "Yes. Very little improvement has taken place in the manners of the Alfoors.
Hence at a house-warming among the Alfoors of Minahassa in Celebes the priest performs a ceremony for the purpose of restoring their souls to the inmates. He hangs up a bag at the place of sacrifice and then goes through a list of the gods. There are so many of them that this takes him the whole night through without stopping. In the morning he offers the gods an egg and some rice.
Oh! may God, in his mercy, soon enlighten these wretched Alfoors, and write in plain characters on the tables of their hearts 'Thou shalt do no murder." CHARLES. "We now come to Java, one of the finest and most flourishing colonies in the world. It is about 600 miles in length, and 90 miles average breadth; almost entirely volcanic; therefore, metals and precious stones are not to be expected.
Nay, these Alfoors are shy of uttering the names even of children; so when a boy or girl has a nephew or niece, he or she is addressed as "Uncle of So-and-so," or "Aunt of So-and-so." In pure Malay society, we are told, a man is never asked his name, and the custom of naming parents after their children is adopted only as a means of avoiding the use of the parents' own names.
Then they take the fire into the kitchen, where it must burn for three days continuously. The devils are now driven away, and great and general is the joy. The Alfoors of Halmahera attribute epidemics to the devil who comes from other villages to carry them off. So, in order to rid the village of the disease, the sorcerer drives away the devil.
The Alfoors of Poso in Celebes are of opinion that he has three. The natives of Laos suppose that the body is the seat of thirty spirits, which reside in the hands, the feet, the mouth, the eyes, and so on. Hence, from the primitive point of view, it is perfectly possible that a savage should have one soul in his sex totem and another in his clan totem.
And lest the soul of a babe should escape and be lost as soon as it is born, the Alfoors of Celebes, when a birth is about to take place, are careful to close every opening in the house, even the keyhole; and they stop up every chink and cranny in the walls. Also they tie up the mouths of all animals inside and outside the house, for fear one of them might swallow the child's soul.
Martin the situation and disposition of the Alfoors or aboriginal inhabitants, and will see what can be done for them. Do not unnecessarily expose your life, but incessantly contrive some way of giving them the word of life. "9th. I come now to things of inferior importance, but which I hope you will not neglect.
The origin of the practice may be that the Khasis, like the Alfoors, were reluctant to mention their parents by name for fear of attracting the notice of evil spirits. The custom is also believed to have been prevalent to some extent not long ago in some parts of Ireland.
At a festival of the Alfoors of Minahassa, in Northern Celebes, after a pig has been killed, the priest rushes furiously at it, thrusts his head into the carcase, and drinks of the blood. Then he is dragged away from it by force and set on a chair, whereupon he begins to prophesy how the rice-crop will turn out that year.
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