Sailing from Dobbo, a number of our mop-headed friends accompanied us to
sea in their long canoes--curious, savage-looking boats, the bow and
stern rising up six or seven feet high, decorated with shells and waving
plumes of cassowary's feathers. They were all talking, laughing, and
shouting at once, and when they at length, after receiving a few
farewell presents, bid us good-bye, we felt as if we had passed out of a
tempest of noise into a calm, so apparently deep was the silence which
reigned round us. In two days, passing the Key Islands, the inhabitants
of which are very much like those of Aru, we arrived in sight of a lofty
volcano, from the summit of which wreaths of white smoke were even then
ascending. On approaching more closely, we saw that there were two
other mountains near it, clothed with vegetation to their very summits.
A fair breeze enabled us to enter the land-locked harbour of Banda. The
water below our keel was so transparent, that we could see, at a depth
of seven or eight fathoms, the smallest objects on the sand, and watch
the living corals at work. We sailed on through narrow channels, having
on one side lofty cliffs rising out of the sea.
Besides three large islands, there are several others, which form what
are known as the Banda group. The largest is Lontar, or Great Banda--a
crescent-shaped island, about six miles long and a mile and a half wide.
Within the circle of which this island and two others joined to it form
an arc, lie three more, the highest and most remarkable of which is the
Grunong Api, or the Burning Mountain. It is an ever active volcano,
about two thousand three hundred feet in height. We passed close under
its base, and looking up, saw cloud-like masses of steam and sulphureous
acid gas rising from its summit. On the Lontar shore rose up
perpendicular crags from two to three hundred feet high, but everywhere
covered with the most luxuriant vegetation, the trees and shrubs having
their roots in the crevices, and hanging down in broad sheets of the
brightest green. As we sailed on we perceived lofty palms rising amid
the matted mass of vegetation, and from their crests hung long feathered
leaves, silently and gracefully oscillating in the light air which
filled our sails.
On the top of one of the heights appeared the dazzling white walls of
Fort Belgica, with another fort below it; and along the shore on every
hand extended the chief village, called Neira, with rows of
wide-spreading trees shading the streets and bordering the bay.
Opposite the village were a number of prows from Ceram--strange-looking
vessels, high at the stem and low at the bow, having, instead of a
single mast, a tall tripod, which can be raised and lowered at pleasure.
There was a number of other craft--Bugis traders, mostly square topsail
schooners, but ill-fitted apparently to contend with the storms which
occasionally rage in those seas. Among the most beautiful trees was the
_lontar_ or _palmyra_ palm--_Borassus flabelliformis_. Mr Hooker told
us that its leaves were formerly used as parchment all over the
archipelago before the Chinese introduced paper. In some places, even
at the present time, it is used for that purpose. In every direction we
could see spreading out over the island a continuous forest of
nutmeg-trees, shaded by the lofty kanary-trees. The nutmeg-tree is from
twenty to five-and-twenty feet high, though sometimes its lofty sprays
are fifty feet high. A foot above the ground the trunk is from eight to
ten inches in diameter. The fruit before it is quite ripe greatly
resembles a peach. This, however, is only a fleshy outer rind--
epicarp--which, as it ripens, opens into two equal parts, when within is
seen a spherical polished nut, surrounding an aril, the mace, which is
of a bright yellow colour. No fruit can then surpass it in beauty. The
people who pick it use a small basket at the end of a long bamboo, into
which it drops as they hook it off. The outer part, which we should
call the fruit, being removed, the mace is carefully taken off, and
dried on large shallow bamboo baskets in the sun. Its bright colour now
changes to a dark yellow. The black part seen within the vermilion mace
is a shell, and inside this is the nutmeg. When the mace is removed,
the nuts are spread out on shallow trays of open basket-work in a
drying-room. A slow fire is made beneath the floor, where the nuts
remain for three months. By this time the nutmeg has shrunk so much
that it rattles in its shell. The shell is then broken, and the nutmegs
are sorted and packed in casks for shipment.
We took a stroll with Mr Hooker through the beautiful groves of
nutmeg-trees, which were heavily laden with fruit. It is picked twice
in the year, though some is obtained throughout the whole year. A
beautiful carpet of green grass is spread out beneath the trees, while
high above them tower the lofty kanary-trees, which stretch out their
gnarled arms as if to defend their more tender sisters committed to
their charge. At a distance, indeed, the nutmeg-trees are completely
hidden from view by the kanary-trees. The roots of these latter are
very curious, looking like enormous snakes with their heads caught in
the trunk of the tree. As we strolled through the forest, sheltered
from the direct rays of the sun by the thick foliage, we caught distant
views of the blue ocean sparkling in the sunlight, the white surf
breaking in masses of foam on the rocks beneath us, while at a distance
appeared the varied forms of the other islands.
These groves of nutmegs are divided into what are called parks,
belonging to different proprietors, who are known as perkeniers. By far
the greater proportion of nutmegs used throughout the world are grown on
these small islands, though wild nutmegs are found in New Guinea and in
a few other places. As the nutmeg is among the most beautiful of
fruits, so are the trees superior to almost any other cultivated plant.
They are well-shaped, and have glossy leaves, bearing small yellowish
flowers. On examining the fruit, we compared it in size and colour to a
peach, only rather more oval. It is of a tough fleshy consistency till
it becomes ripe, when, as I have before said, it splits open and shows a
dark brown nut within covered with the crimson mace. We saw a most
beautiful bird flying among the trees; it was the Banda pigeon, which
feeds upon the nutmeg fruit. It digests the mace, but casts up the nut
with its seed uninjured. By this means it has undoubtedly carried the
seed to all parts of the group, and perhaps to other islands in the
neighbourhood. In one part of Lontar we heard that the mace, instead of
being red, is white--probably owing to some peculiarity of the soil.
The deer and pig are found in the islands, and also a species of cuscus.
A proprietor, to whom Mr Hooker had an introduction, invited us to
climb the burning mountain; but after considering the matter, our friend
declined the honour, from hearing that the ascent was very difficult and
dangerous, and that we should gain very little more knowledge about it
than we should by gazing up at it from the base.
While sleeping on shore, the house we occupied was one night so shaken
that we thought it would fall about our heads; but the inhabitants
seemed to take it as a thing of course, and we heard that nearly every
month an earthquake occurs. Several most disastrous eruptions of the
mountain have taken place, causing great destruction of life and havoc
among the plantations.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans who took possession of the
Bandas. They were driven out by the Dutch, who exterminated the
aboriginal inhabitants, and then had to import slaves to cultivate the
plantations. Since slavery was abolished by Holland, convicts have been
sent there for the purpose; and now, people from various neighbouring
regions have been collected to perform the part of labourers. The
Bandas are not properly included in the Moluccas. The cultivation of
the clove-tree is now chiefly confined to Amboyna, and the surrounding
islands, to which we were now bound.
A day's sail took us off Amboyna, the capital of the Moluccas. It is
one of the oldest European settlements in the East. The island is
divided into two parts by the sea, a narrow sandy isthmus alone joining
them. We sailed up the western inlet, the shores of which were lined by
groves of cocoa-nut palm-trees, furnishing food and shade to the natives
who dwell in the rude huts beneath them. We came to an anchor off the
town of Amboyna. In few places we visited was the forest vegetation
more luxuriant or beautiful than on this island. Ferns and palms of
graceful forms were seen everywhere; climbing ratans formed entangled
festoons pendent from every forest tree; while fine crimson lories and
brush-tongued turkeys, also of a bright crimson colour, flew in and out
amidst the foliage, forming a magnificent sight, especially when a flock
of the former settled down on some flowering tree, the nectar from which
the lories delight to suck. Amboyna is a large city for the East,
containing 14,000 people, about 8000 of whom are Europeans, with half
that number, perhaps, of Chinese and Arabs. Our great wish was to see a
clove plantation in full bearing. We found, however, that the
proprietors had discovered that there were more profitable means of
employing their ground and labour, and that cacao plantations were
superseding them.
The two young ladies, with Frau Ursula, were able to accompany us. Our
road lay through a grove of palm-trees, and wound up a hill, till we
reached the plantations of young cacao-trees. They were covered with
long red cucumber-like fruit. The plants had been brought here from
Madagascar, where it was first discovered by the Spaniards. They are
great consumers of it in various forms. Chocolate comes from the
Spanish chocolate, which is composed of cacao pounded with Indian corn,
to which honey is sometimes added. The sugar-cane was also introduced,
as sugar assists in neutralising the bitter qualities of the cacao. I
need scarcely point out the difference between the cacao--often written
cocoa--plant and fruit, from which the now much used beverage is made,
and the lofty cocoa-nut palms with their well-known nuts full of juice.
In the woods we saw numbers of green parrots, which uttered their shrill
deafening screams as they darted to and fro through the thick foliage.
Proceeding again along the beach, my sister and Grace, feeling thirsty,
asked for a draught of water, but neither stream nor fountain was in
sight. When one of our attendants heard what was inquired for, "Stop,"
he said, "you shall have it." Directly afterwards, we saw him climb up
a cocoa-nut palm above our heads, whence he cut off some of the clusters
of large green fruit. Immediately descending, he struck off the end
with a hatchet, and presented each of us with a goblet of the freshest
and most sparkling water I ever tasted. We had before only found the
more mature fruit, after the liquid has assumed a milk-like appearance.
A short way on, we saw the hill-side covered with myrtle-like trees, and
found that they were plantations of clove-trees. The clove-tree belongs
to the order of myrtles. The trunks of the full-grown trees were about
twelve inches in diameter. Their topmost branches were from forty to
fifty feet from the ground. However, we found some very small ones,
fully loaded with fruit. The clove is the flower bud, and it grows in
clusters at the end of the twigs. Our guide told us that the annual
yield of a good tree is about four pounds and a half. When the buds are
young, they are nearly white; when more mature, they change to a light
green, and ultimately to a bright red. They are then picked by the
hand, or beaten off with bamboos, on cloths spread under the trees.
They are simply dried in the sun for use, when their colour changes from
red to black. The leaves, the bark, and young twigs, have also a
peculiar aroma. It grows best on the high hillsides, on a volcanic
soil, or a loose sandy loam. Curiously enough, although cloves are used
in all parts of the world, the inhabitants of these islands do not eat
them. They employ them in making models of their prows and bamboo huts,
by running a small wire through them before they are dried. I remember
seeing a number of these models in the Great Exhibition in England, many
of them of very elaborate construction. When cloves were first
introduced into England, thirty shillings per pound was paid for them.
They are now cultivated in several other places, and consequently their
value in the Spice Islands has greatly fallen.
As we returned home in the evening, we passed along a pathway lined by
rows of pine-apples, which had, like the cocoa-nut trees, been brought
from Tropical America. We also saw creatures leaping from branch to
branch. The servants caught some, when we found them to be flying
dragons; not such as Saint George fought with, but small lizards known
as the _Draco volans_. They were provided with broad folds in the skin,
along each side of the body, which enabled them not really to fly, but,
as a parachute would do, to sustain them in the air while they leap from
branch to branch.
I was ahead of our party when I heard a loud hammering or tapping, and
creeping near, I saw a cocoa-nut, which had just fallen from a tree, and
an enormous crab working away at it. I stopped to watch him. He had
torn off the dry husk which covered the latter with his powerful claws,
just at the point where the three black scars are found marked. He was
now breaking the shell by hammering with one of his heavy claws. As
soon as this was done, he began to pick out the rich food, by means of
his pincer-like claws. Our servants as they came up chased and caught
him, tying up his claws, and saying that we should find it, when cooked,
one of the greatest delicacies in the place.
We stopped for the night at the house of Mr Hooker's friend, a little
outside the town. Our beds were placed in a verandah, merely covered
with mats at night; our heads only guarded by mosquito curtains, though
we could hear the venomous insects buzzing outside. As I put my head on
the pillow before going to sleep, the sound of the low cooing of doves
came up out of the forest, while the tree frogs piped out their shrill
notes.
Next day, when pulling along the narrow channel of the beautiful harbour
on our return to the brig, we gazed down over the side with astonishment
at the lovely spectacle the bottom of the sea afforded. It was thickly
covered with a mass of corals, actiniae, and other productions of the
ocean, of vast dimensions, of every possible form, and of the most
brilliant colours. In some places the depth, Mr Hooker said, was fifty
feet, and in others twenty, for the bottom was very uneven. Here
appeared some deep chasm, here a hill rose up, there a valley was seen,
here rocks of every possible shape, the whole covered with a forest of
living vegetables, as I may call them.
"See, see!" cried Emily; "there swims a beautiful fish; there, another;
and there, another. Some are red; there is a yellow one; there is one
spotted and banded; there is another striped in the most curious manner.
See how leisurely they swim, as if admiring the beauty of their
country!"
"Look there! What is that floating by us?" exclaimed Grace; "what a
lovely orange mass!"
"See, there is another, of a beautiful rose colour!" said Emily.
The creatures the girls were admiring were medusae, beautifully
transparent, which were floating along near the surface. We entreated
that the crew might stop rowing, that we might admire them at our
leisure; indeed, we could have gazed at the scene all day long, but I am
very sure, were I to make the attempt, I could not do justice to its
surpassing beauty and interest. There may be coral beds of equal
beauty, but in few places is the water so transparent as in the harbour
of Amboyna; while, from being sheltered from the violence of storms,
there are probably a larger number of marine productions, shells, and
fishes collected in it, than in almost any other spot. While we were
still gazing down into the ocean depths, a strange rumbling noise came
over the land. The trees seemed to rock from side to side, the
buildings shook, the frightened birds flew off from the shore, the land
seemed to rise and fall, and people were seen flying from their houses,
and rushing to their boats; others hurried away into the open country.
"An earthquake!" exclaimed Mr Hooker. "They are pretty well accustomed
to it, though, and I trust no real damage may be done. However, should
it be more severe than usual, we will be ready to take off any poor
people who may wish to find refuge at sea."
In a few seconds, however, all was quite quiet. The people returned on
shore, and some were seen hurrying back to buildings which had been the
most shaken, either to rescue friends who had been left behind, or to
carry off their household furniture, in case another shock should occur,
and bring their houses to the ground.
Leaving this beautiful, though unstable island, we stood away to the
south-west, Mr Hooker purposing to visit a number of islands on our
passage to Macassar, after which he intended standing across to Java, or
perhaps visiting the south of Borneo before proceeding on to Singapore.