"There is an interesting point in the Aru Islands," the gentleman remarked, after a short pause, "known as Dobbo."
GREAT STREET OF DOBBO IN THE TRADING SEASON.
"It is not regularly visited by steamers, as it is out of the routes of travel, and for a part of the year it is almost deserted. In May and June it is filled to overflowing with a mixed lot of people from all parts of the East. There are Chinese in considerable number, who come to buy the articles brought to market by the inhabitants of the islands for a long distance; and there are men from Macassar, Timor, Ceram, and other parts of the Archipelago, as well as the natives of Aru, who belong to the Papuans I have already described. The town consists of a single street of mat-covered huts and sheds, with a lot of straggling buildings in the rear that are set down without any regard to order or regularity.
"I went to Dobbo in a native boat from Macassar. It was very much like a Chinese junk in general appearance, and about seventy tons burden, with a native crew of thirty men and a Javanese captain. Four or five of the men were slave-debtors of the captain, and the rest were hired, like the crew of a ship in Europe or America."
"Excuse me for interrupting," said Fred, "but let me ask what these slave-debtors are."
"Slave indebtedness," replied the gentleman, "is a system introduced by the Dutch, who borrowed it from the Chinese, for the protection of traders in these thinly-peopled regions. Goods must be intrusted to agents and small dealers, who frequently gamble them away, and leave the merchant unpaid. He trusts them again and again, with the same result; and finally, when he can stand it no longer, he brings them before a police court, where he establishes his claim. The magistrate then binds the debtor over to the creditor, and requires him to work out the account. The plan seems to answer very well, as the creditor is secure so long as the debtor lives and has his health; while the debtor does not consider himself disgraced, but rather enjoys his relief from responsibility."
"But it is a system of slavery," Fred answered; "though, after all, it is more sensible than the European practice of locking a debtor up in jail, where he can earn nothing, but is a constant expense to himself and all others concerned."