In accordance with the general wishes of the people, I appointed a certain _Tompatti Paulus_ as the Upper Orang-kaya of the west coast of Baba, and presented him with a silver-knobbed baton, and a large Dutch flag. After this I drew up provisional acts of appointment for the minor chiefs of villages. These solemnities, at which the entire population of Tepa were present, were held in the middle of the village, the audience sitting on benches and mats, those appropriated to the chief individuals being sheltered by an awning of prahus' sails. After the breaking up of these meetings, they usually offered up sacrifices of cattle to their idols, and passed the entire night carousing. At this last meeting they declared that they would commence the proposed voyage to the back of the island the same night, and I promised to delay my departure until their return; but either from fear, or from some reason which I could not discover, they again disappointed me. On the following morning, however, four _Orang Baays_, or large canoes, made their appearance, manned with from thirty to forty men each, and literally crammed full of weapons. After rowing round the brig several times, firing shots occasionally from such of their muskets as were in a serviceable state, they came alongside with a loud shout, when the Upper Orang-kaya, and several other chiefs, came on board, and, as subjects to the Netherlands' Government, offered their vessels for our use, to make a voyage to the back of the island. I expressed my surprise at this extraordinary equipment, and thanking them for the readiness they had shown, informed them that I always wished, in the first instance, to take kind and humane measures for bringing offenders back to their duty, and had no object in resorting to hostilities against their fellow islanders. As I could afford to spend no more time on the island, and the state of the monsoon prevented me from going with the brig to the back of the island, I determined to leave the affair to the decision of the Government. I was the more necessitated to leave the differences between these tribes unsettled, from it being evident that an expedition to and from Aluta could not be performed in less than ten days. I exhorted them, in the mean time, to become reconciled to their neighbours as soon as possible; to inform them of the kindness and good intentions of our Government; and to prevail upon them to go to Banda to ask forgiveness for the offences they had committed, failing which they would assuredly be punished for their neglect.