Our uncle introduced us to his house with evident pride. He and his man
Tanda had bestowed a great deal of pains on it. It was constructed
entirely after the Malay fashion--of wood, bamboo, and matting, though
raised higher off the ground than the Malays are accustomed to build
theirs. The floors were of split bamboo, sufficiently strong to bear a
person's weight, and yet giving a pleasant spring as we passed over
them. They were kept in their place by long strips of ratan, passed
transversely between them, much in the way of a cane-bottom chair. Over
these mats were spread--not so neatly made, perhaps, as those employed
by the wealthy Malays, but still very well done. The walls were made of
the palm-leaves which I have before described, fixed in panels, very
neat and pleasing to the eye, and perfectly weather-tight. The roof was
high pitched, and had broad overhanging eaves, giving it very much the
appearance of a Swiss cottage. A broad verandah ran round each side of
the house, the rooms opening into it. They were divided from each other
by thick mats stretched from the ceiling to the floor, and could be
lifted up at pleasure to allow the air to circulate in every direction.
It would have been impossible to build with the materials at hand an
abode better suited to the purpose.
"Here, Frau, you and your young ladies shall occupy these two
apartments," said my uncle to Frau Ursula, who stood smiling from ear to
ear at the polite way in which he addressed her. "You shall have
bedsteads brought in directly; and I must leave you to arrange them,
while Tanda and I get supper ready. The lads here and the sailor will
no doubt assist us."
Roger Trew, who had ascended the ladder with his bundle of bedding,
deposited it in the room my uncle pointed out, and forthwith commenced
unlashing it; and knowing that he would prove a better assistant to the
dame than Oliver and I should, we accompanied my uncle to what he called
his cooking-shed, at the back of the house. Here he had brought water
from a spring in the forest, and had made a drain towards the sea to
carry off the refuse. He had a variety of fish, flesh, and fowl in his
larder, which was in a cool place at the back of the house.
I scarcely know what I shall describe first. The fruit was the most
attractive. There was the delicious mangostin--of a spherical form.
The outer part is a thick rough covering, and it has a white opaque
centre, an inch or more in diameter. Each of the four or five parts
into which it is divided, contains a small seed. The white part is what
is eaten. It has a slightly sweet taste, and a rich yet delicate and
peculiar flavour, which it is impossible to describe. Then there was
the rambutan--a globular fruit, an inch and a half in diameter. The
rind is of a light red, adorned with coarse scattered bristles. Within,
there is a semi-transparent pulp, of a slightly acid taste. Next there
was the elliptical shaped mango, containing a small stone of the same
form. The interior, when the tough outer skin was removed, consisted of
a soft, pulpy, fibrous mass, of a bright yellow. Another fruit
appeared, in the form of long clusters, about the size of a small bird's
egg. It was the duku. The outer coating was thin and leathery, and of
a dull yellow. In the inside were several long seeds, surrounded by a
transparent pulp, of a sweet and pleasantly acid taste. The durian,
however, my uncle told us, was among the most esteemed of all the fruits
in that region. It is spherical in form, six or eight inches in
diameter, and generally covered with many tubercles. The interior is
divided into several parts. On breaking the shell, we found in each
division a seed as large as a chestnut, surrounded by a pale yellow
substance, of the consistency of thick cream; but the odour was enough
at first to make me have no wish to eat it. It seemed to me like putrid
animal matter, and peculiarly strong.
"You do not like the odour, Walter," observed my uncle. "Nor did I at
first, but I have now become so fond of the fruit, that I prefer it to
any other. But, after all, these fruits are not to be compared to those
of a tree growing just outside, at the back of my house--the far-famed
bread-fruit tree. Here, Tanda," and he spoke a few words to him. "Look
there, do you see it?"
It was a tree upwards of forty feet high, with enormous sharply lobed
leaves, some of which were one foot wide and one and a half long. The
fruit which Tanda picked was of the form and size of a melon, and
attached by its stem directly to the trunk.
"We must cut some, for it is the chief vegetable I have in season," said
my uncle, cutting it in slices, and handing it to Tanda to fry. "We
have some molasses to eat with it, produced from the sap of the
gomuti-palm."
Closely allied to it is the Jack-fruit, which resembles the bread-fruit.
This latter, Mr Sedgwick told us, attains the weight of nearly
seventy-five pounds; so that even an Indian coolie can only carry one at
a time. The part, he showed us, which is generally eaten, is a soft
pulpy substance, enveloping each seed. The bread-fruit was baked
entirely in the hot embers. It tasted, I thought, very much like mashed
potatoes and milk. My uncle said he always compared it to Yorkshire
pudding. It was a little fibrous, perhaps, towards the centre, though
generally smooth, and somewhat of the consistence of yeast dumplings and
batter pudding. Tanda fried part of it in slices, and also made a curry
of another part. We had it also as a vegetable, with a gravy poured
over it, to eat with meat. Another dish was prepared with sugar and
milk, which we were surprised to see, and a treacly substance procured
from some sugar-canes grown in a plantation near the house. It made a
most delicious pudding.
"You see, I have become somewhat of an epicure," observed my uncle; "but
indeed it has been one of my sources of amusement to see what delicious
dishes I could make out of the many bounties which Nature has spread
round me."
We had also, for meat, some pork--part of it fresh and part cured--a
joint of venison, and a piece of beef from an animal with which I was
afterwards to become acquainted.
I can scarcely describe the fish; but I know, among other things, there
was one of the enormous crabs which we saw at Amboyna.
Our dinner was spread on a bamboo table, covered with mats, in what my
uncle called his grand hall! It put me in mind somewhat of an ancient
hall surrounded by trophies of the chase; partly also of a necromancer's
cavern, as from the ceiling hung curious stuffed animals, skulls, bones,
dried plants, and other objects of natural history, in what, I had no
doubt, seemed to the occupant perfect order, but which was somewhat
incomprehensible to us. When dish after dish was put on the table, Frau
Ursula lifted up her hands with astonishment.
"You do live like a prince, Mr Sedgwick," she observed. "What kind
fairy sends you all these good things?"
"I won them with my own arm, with the assistance of my faithful man
Tanda here--or, as these young people seem inclined to call him, Friday;
and I hope you will show your gratitude to the kind Providence which
gives them, by doing justice to them."
As dish after dish was brought up, the astonishment of all the party
increased.
"Surely, uncle, you must have some fairy cook to prepare all these good
things," said Emily.
"I confess without the aid of Tanda they could not be produced," he
answered. "I am greatly helped by him, though occasionally I have given
a hint or a little assistance. And now let us drink each other's health
in this palm-wine," he said, producing a very nice-looking liquid from a
huge shell.
Our plates, I should have said, were flat shells; while our cups were
made of bamboo, as were our knives and forks.
"I must introduce you to my menagerie to-morrow morning," observed my
uncle. "There is not time to-night--indeed, some of my pets have
retired to their lairs or gone to roost. If you hear strange noises at
night, don't be alarmed; as possibly some of them may be inclined to
utter their natural cries during the night."
Our conversation was altogether very lively; as we, of course, had a
great deal to tell our uncle, and were also greatly interested by the
account he gave of his expeditions, and the way in which he had lived on
the island since he had been deserted. Sometimes he had thought of
building a vessel and making his way to some civilised port; but the
want of proper tools for cutting down large timber, and his ignorance of
nautical affairs, deterred him.
"I thought it was as well to leave well alone," he said. "I have here
plenty of provisions; and I thought I could study natural history, which
brought me here; and that, some time or other, some vessel would call
and take me away. Had you, Walter and Emily, not come, however, I
rather think my heart would have failed me even at the last moment, and
I could scarcely have made up my mind to quit my solitary home and the
style of life to which I have become accustomed."
Our conversation was at length interrupted by a loud rattling peal of
thunder, which crashed over our heads as if the whole heavens above them
were rent in two. A blast swept over the forest, and we could hear the
trees cracking as they bent before the wind. The house shook to its
very foundation, and Emily and Grace trembled with alarm.
"No, no, my dears; don't fear," exclaimed Frau Ursula. "This is nothing
to what I have heard in Ternate. There, one night, all the houses
tumbled down, and the mountain sent up stones and cinders, which came
rattling down on our heads."
"There is another, though!" exclaimed Grace, clinging to the old lady's
arm.
Scarcely had the second crash of thunder passed away, than down came the
rain, pattering on the roof and floor of the verandah. It seemed as if
a waterspout had broken over us.
"I am thankful that you, my friends, are on shore," observed my uncle;
"but the brig--I feel anxious about her." He got up, and put on a thick
reed-made coat. "And here are some more," he observed, giving Oliver
and me one. "But no, Oliver, you stay with the ladies; and you too,
Walter."
I entreated that I might accompany him. He gave Roger Trew a similar
covering, which completely sheltered us from the rain; and leaving Tanda
and Oliver in charge of the house, we hurried away towards the shore.
Although the gale had been blowing but a few minutes, already heavy seas
came rolling in and breaking in masses of foam upon the rocks. We could
see the brig, through the thickening gloom, at her anchors.
"I trust she may hold her ground," said my uncle, as we watched her,
already rising and falling with quick jerks, as the seas rapidly passed
under her. "What say you?" he said, turning to Roger Trew. "Do you
think, if she made sail, she could beat out of this bay, for I fear
greatly that with the sea that rolls in here, when there is wind like
this, she will be unable to remain at anchor?"
"I am very sure Mr Thudicumb will do his best to beat out of the bay,"
answered Roger Trew. "I know that no seaman would like to be caught on
a lee-shore like this in such a gale; and if it lasts long, even though
the anchors do hold, it is likely enough to tear the stem out of her.
The brig is not a bad craft for fine weather sailing, but she is lightly
put together, and I wish that she was under weigh clear of the land, and
then I would not fear for her."
"Oh, my friend, my friend," exclaimed my uncle, "would that you had been
safe on shore!"
Scarcely had he spoken, when a flash of lightning, in a thick zig-zag
stream, darted from the clouds overhead, running along the ground close
to us, followed by the most deafening crash of thunder I ever heard.
For an instant our eyes were blinded. We could scarcely see each other,
much less observe any object out at sea. It was a minute or more before
we recovered our sight.
"She is driving--she is driving!" exclaimed Roger Trew. "They are
trying to make sail on her, but it is too late! The sea struck her bows
just as she was paying off, and now here she comes bodily in towards the
shore."
We were able, by shading our eyes, once more to look in the direction of
the brig. Too true were Roger's words, and we saw her helplessly
driving in towards the wild rocks near which we stood.
"Is the water deep, sir?" asked Roger. "If so, she may drive in close
enough to get the people on shore before she goes to pieces."
"I fear not," answered Mr Sedgwick. "Reefs run out in all directions,
and though, having no boat, I have been unable to sound round the
island, yet, from the way I have seen the water breaking, I fear that
there are reefs between us and her."
"If we had a boat we might go off and get aboard her before she
strikes," exclaimed Roger. "Have not you a boat, sir? You would go,
would you not? Mr Walter here, I know, would."
"Unhappily I have no boat," answered my uncle, in a tone almost of
despair. "The crew may, perchance, reach the shore; but my poor friend,
made weak from illness, will have but little chance of escaping with
life."
"We will do our best, sir--we will do our best," answered Roger. "I
will try and swim off to her when she strikes, and before the sea
scatters her timbers; but it will be a tough job. I will not hide that
from myself or you, sir."
"Here, Walter," said my uncle, "go and call Tanda, and tell him to bring
as much ratan as he and you can carry. He is a clever fellow, in some
respects, and his wits may help us."