THE RUBY MOUNTAINS
On our second voyage to the South in the "Golden Seahorse" we followed
the route we had originally taken with the "Endraght", avoiding as far
as possible the calms and currents which had then impeded our progress,
as also those islands where we had met with a hostile reception. It
became necessary, however, to call at some of the groups we passed, and
it surprised us to find how diversified are the manners and customs of
the natives who inhabit the numerous islands of the South Seas. Not
only are the people of each group governed by different laws, but
frequently each island is distinct from the others in the language
spoken and the manner of life followed upon it. Hence it would require
a bulky volume to describe in detail the many and varied tribes we met
with on our journey.
We made the coast of New Holland within five months after leaving
Amsterdam (a record voyage), somewhere about the same place where I had
affixed the metal plate at the time of our first visit. But we did not
land here, as the weather was unfavourable, a strong breeze blowing and
a high sea running at the time, making it necessary to keep a good
offing from the shore. As we coasted toward the south, however, the
weather moderated, so that we were able to bring our ship with safety
nearer land.
From an observation we took when the weather was favourable, we
ascertained that we were three hundred miles to the north, with an
unbroken coastline extending before us; so we concluded we had rounded
a promontory, and were now upon the west coast of New Holland. This
encouraged us in the belief that we were following the right course to
the Ruby Mountains, for Marco Polo's parchment informed us that the
giants whom he saw were by far the largest men to be seen "in this
strait," from which it seemed the intrepid Venetian navigator had
sailed through this strait as early as the year 1272, when he made his
famous voyage round the world.
As we proceeded along the coast, the weather being now clear and fine,
we observed great stretches of country, flat and uninviting, upon which
there appeared to be no sign of life. Indeed, the whole of this
southern continent seems to be sparsely populated when compared with
the islands, upon most of which the native inhabitants are very
numerous. In this may be seen the hand of an all-wise Providence. In
the ages to come a white population will, no doubt, emigrate to New
Holland, and if this great continent was found to be densely populated
by a black people, it would be a work of great difficulty to overcome
them. Whereas, the aboriginal population being scant by reason of the
barren nature of the country, the task of colonization by the whites
would be easy. We often sailed for more than a week at a time along
this coast without seeing any sign of human habitation, and those
natives whom we did see were of so poor a description and appeared to
be so frightened of us and of our vessel as hardly to deserve the name
of humans.
And now we approached some cliffs, beyond which appeared a lofty range,
which, from our present position, and the bearings given on Marco
Polo's chart, Hartog declared to be the Ruby Mountains.
As we approached the cliffs, a bold headland, which stood between us
and a view of the coast beyond, assumed the appearance of a lion's
head. The resemblance was so striking that it appeared as if the mighty
hand of Nature had hewn a colossus from the living rock in the shape of
a lion to guard the entrance into this land.
Upon rounding this remarkable promontory, we found ourselves opposite a
beach bordered by a broad line of surf, which indicated that the water
here was very shallow for some distance from the shore. Both the surf
and the beach seemed to be alive with black children, so diminutive
were the forms who disported themselves in the breakers, or ran up and
down upon the sand with the eagerness and agility generally displayed
by boys at the seaside. As to the real ages of these people, however,
we were not left long in doubt. Four canoes put off from the shore and
came alongside. They were manned by twenty-five blacks, who,
notwithstanding their small stature, we could see at a glance were
full-grown men. We made signs to them to come aboard, but they were
evidently in doubt whether or not to accept our invitation. We then
threw out to them some small pieces of iron and strings of beads, at
which they showed great satisfaction. These little men appeared to be
an intelligent race. Their bodies were small, but their heads, in
proportion, were large. They wore no beards, but their hair was curly
like the Kafirs, some of them wearing it tied to the neck in a knot,
and others letting it fall loose down to the waist. All of them had
holes through their noses to carry fish bones, polished white. Some
wore strings of human teeth round their necks.
At length, five, bolder than the rest, ventured aboard. They did not
appear to be afraid, and what astonished us most was that they seemed
ready to take charge of us. They made signs that we should go ashore,
and one of them, who appeared to be a chief, attempted to drive
Janstins into the sea by hitting him with a kind of hammer with a
wooden handle, and at one end a black conch shell. Janstins laughingly
disarmed his small antagonist, which seemed to surprise him as well as
the others, and brought them together in consultation.
Ten of the pygmies now came aboard, to whom we gave nutmegs and cloves,
thinking to please them. They took what we gave them, although they
appeared surprised that we should offer them anything. The little
chief, not more than three feet high, who had so amusingly attempted to
drive Janstins into the sea, again made signs to us to go ashore. So
Hartog ordered the pinnace to be manned, and armed against treachery.
But we had not come within musket shot of the beach when the water
became so shallow that we could not take the boat any farther,
whereupon a number of us stepped out into the shallows, up to our
waists in mud and kelp, and with some difficulty made our way to the
beach, where the pygmies mustered in great force.
On the beach we noticed fresh human footprints that must have been made
by men of great stature. They were twice as long as the footprints we
made, and none of us were noted for small feet. On going a short
distance into the woods we saw a vast number of huts made of dried
grass, so cramped that a man of ordinary size could not creep into them
on all fours, yet many of them contained families of pygmies. We
afterwards tried to penetrate somewhat farther into the wood, in order
to ascertain the nature and situation of the country, when, on coming
to an open place, a number of tall savages, none of them less than
eight feet high; came out from the brushwood as though to attack us. On
the neck of each giant sat one of the pygmies, who directed him in the
same way that a man would guide a charger. The pygmies then began to
let fly their arrows at us with great fury, by which Janstins was
wounded, and one of the men hit in the leg. We were all hard pressed,
so I ordered a volley to be fired, which killed one of the giants, so
that the others dragged the dead man into the wood, from which all
quickly disappeared. Being so far from the beach, and having a very
difficult path to travel, we determined to return to the ship and
report to Hartog what had occurred.
Hartog, upon learning what had befallen us, resolved to make no further
overtures of peace to these treacherous natives, who appeared to be
more like wild beasts than men, and who, by their conduct, had placed
themselves beyond all claim to consideration. It seemed that the
pygmies possessed a greater intelligence than the giants, whom they
used as ordinary men would use horses or beasts of burden. It was for
this reason that the little chief had attempted to drive Janstins into
the sea with his conch-shell hammer, regarding him as some smaller
species of giant whom he could easily frighten into obeying him.
During the afternoon some canoes came off in which were a number of
pygmies, but they made no attempt to come aboard of us, remaining, as
they thought, at a safe distance from the ship. In order to convince
them of the error of this, however, and to punish them for their
treachery of the morning, Hartog ordered our brass bow-chaser to be
loaded with grape, and fired amongst them, which caused great
consternation, and sent them back to their woods howling in terror,
taking their dead and wounded with them.
Hartog was determined to explore the range of mountains which we could
see not far distant from the coast, in order to ascertain the truth, or
otherwise, of the existence of rubies in the valleys as set forth in
Marco Polo's account of this country. Although we had carefully looked
for these gems among the ornaments worn by the pygmies, we had not seen
any, from which we concluded that the men spoken of by Polo as having
procured the rubies must have been of a different race, or possibly his
own sailors. Toward evening we observed a large bird in the sky, which
Hartog, with the aid of his spy-glass, pronounced to be a white eagle.