A naturalist in north Celebes : a narrative of travels in Minahassa, the Sangir and Talaut Islands, with notices of the fauna, flora and ethnology of the districts visited . g been used in former years as theburying place of the pirates. Not being an authority inany sense of the word upon the languages and dialects ofthe Eastern races, I simply record this saying without at-tempting to refer it to any language or to vouch for thetruth of the assertion. The word Talisse is, I fancy, derived from the Buginese word y>^ ^;;^ C~Zy Talisey, which signifies, according to Matthes (45), the Katapang
A naturalist in north Celebes : a narrative of travels in Minahassa, the Sangir and Talaut Islands, with notices of the fauna, flora and ethnology of the districts visited . g been used in former years as theburying place of the pirates. Not being an authority inany sense of the word upon the languages and dialects ofthe Eastern races, I simply record this saying without at-tempting to refer it to any language or to vouch for thetruth of the assertion. The word Talisse is, I fancy, derived from the Buginese word y>^ ^;;^ C~Zy Talisey, which signifies, according to Matthes (45), the Katapang {Ter-minalia Catappa), a tree which is common in the to Filet (17), however, the word Talisseij (Mak.)refers to {Barringtonia speciosa), a tall tree common on thecoast of most of the islands of the Indian Archipelago. Whatever may be the etymological derivation of theword Kinabohutan, there seems to be no doubt that it wasoriginally used by the pirates as a burying-ground. Scarcelytwenty years ago the Straits of Banka were literally hauntedwith pirates from the Sulu Archipelago, and, it is said,from the Gulf of Tomini. It was commonly reported to be. CH. rv TALISSE ISLAND 75 one of the most dangerous passages in that part of theeastern seas. The island Banka was their chief resting-place, whilst Limbe, Cape Coffin, Ganga, and Talisse offeredconvenient places for concealment and retreat. It mustindeed have been an ideal place for the Malay pirate-kingand his dauntless followers. The coral reefs and shaUows,the racing tides and currents must have been of great ad-vantage to those possessing local knowledge and resom-ce,and the wide extent of primitive forest, reaching from thehill tops to the sea-shore, must have afforded them endlessopportunities for complete concealment and escape on theapproach of men-of-war. Thanks, however, to the vigorous conduct of the Dutchnavy, piracy in these seas is now practically extinct. Wehear no more of those bloody but exciting
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectethnology, booksubjectnaturalhistory
