It Is Situated On The Small Island Of Wamma, Upon A Spit
Of Sand Which Projects Out To The North, And Is Just Wide Enough
To Contain Three Rows Of Houses.
Though at first sight a most
strange and desolate-looking place to build a village on, it has
many advantages.
There is a clear entrance from the west among
the coral reefs that border the land, and there is good anchorage
for vessels, on one side of the village or the other, in both the
east and west monsoons. Being fully exposed to the sea-breezes in
three directions it is healthy, and the soft sandy heath offers
great facilities for hauling up the praus, in order to secure
them from sea-worms and prepare them for the homeward voyage. At
its southern extremity the sand-bank merges in the beach of the
island, and is backed by a luxuriant growth of lofty forest. The
houses are of various sizes, but are all built after one pattern,
being merely large thatched sheds, a small portion of which, next
the entrance, is used as a dwelling, while the rest is parted
oft; and often divided by one or two floors, in order better to
stow away merchandise and native produce.
As we had arrived early in the season, most of the houses were
empty, and the place looked desolate in the extreme - the whole of
the inhabitants who received us on our landing amounting to about
half-a-dozen Bugis and Chinese.
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