The house I lived in contained four or five families, and there were generally from six to a dozen visitors besides.

They kept up a continual row from morning till night--talking, laughing, shouting, without intermission--not very pleasant, but interesting as a study of national character.

My boy Ali said to me, "Banyak quot bitchara Orang Aru" (The Aru people are very strong talkers), never having been accustomed to such eloquence either in his own or any other country he had hitherto visited.

Of an evening the men, having got over their first shyness, began to talk to me a little, asking about my country, &c., and in return I questioned them about any traditions they had of their own origin.

I had, however, very little success, for I could not possibly make them understand the simple question of where the Aru people first came from.