generally rose to 23° during the greatest heat of the day; the breeze
from N. E. and S. E; blowing in day time, changed in the evenings; it
then came from the shore, and the nights were very cool. We had an
opportunity of seeing the interior parts of the isle; we were allowed to
go out a stag-hunting several times, in which we took a great deal of
pleasure. The country is charmingly interspersed with woods, plains, and
hillocks, between which the vallies are watered by fine rivulets. The
Dutch have brought the first stags hither, which have multiplied
prodigiously, and are delicious eating. Here are likewise wild boars in
great plenty, and some species of wild fowls.
[Sidenote: Particulars concerning the isle of Boero.]
The extent of the isle of Boero or Burro from east to west is reckoned
at eighteen leagues, and from north to south at thirteen. It was
formerly subject to the king of Ternate, who got a tribute from thence.
The principal place in it is Cajeli, situated at the bottom of the gulph
of that name, in a marshy plain, stretching about four miles between the
rivers _Soweill_ and _Abbo_. The latter is the greatest river in the
whole island, and its water is always very muddy. The landing is very
inconvenient here, especially at low water, during which, the boats are
obliged to stop at a good distance from the beach. The Dutch settlement,
and fourteen Indian habitations, formerly dispersed in several parts of
the isle, but now drawn together round the factory, form the village or
town of Cajeli. At first, the Dutch had built a fort of stone here; it
was blown up by accident in 1689, and since that time they have
contented themselves with a simple enclosure of pallisadoes, mounted
with six small cannon, forming a kind of battery; this is called Fort of
Defence, and I took this name for a sort of ironical appellation. The
garrison is commanded by the chief, and consists of a serjeant and
twenty-five men; on the whole island are not above fifty white people.
Some habitations of black people are dispersed on it, and they cultivate
rice. Whilst we were here, the Dutch forces were encreased by three
vessels, of which, the biggest was the Draak, a snow, mounting fourteen
guns, commanded by a Saxon, whose name was Kop-le-Clerc; she was manned
by fifty Europeans, and destined to cruise among the Moluccas, and
especially to act against the people of Papua and Ceram.
[Sidenote: Account of the natives of the country.]
The natives of the country are of two classes, the Moors (_Maures_) and
the Alfourians (_Alfouriens_). The former live together under the
factory, being entirely submitted to the Dutch, who inspire them with a
great fear of all foreign nations. They are zealous observers of the
Mahomedan religion, that is, they make frequent ablutions, eat no pork,
and take as many wives as they can support, being very jealous of them,
and keeping them shut up. Their food is sago, some fruits, and fish. On
holidays they feast upon rice, which the company sells them. Their
chiefs or _orencaies_ are always about the Dutch chief, who seems to
have some regard for them, and by their means keeps the people in order.
The company have had the art of sowing the seeds of a reciprocal
jealousy among these chiefs; this allures them of a general slavery, and
the police which they observe here with regard to the natives, is the
same in all their other factories. If one chief forms a plot, another
discovers it, and immediately informs the Dutch of it.
These moors are, upon the whole, ugly, lazy, and not at all warlike.
They are greatly afraid of the Papous, or inhabitants of Papua; who come
sometimes in numbers of two or three hundred to burn their habitations,
and to carry off all they can, and especially slaves. The remembrance of
their last visit, made about three years ago, was still recent. The
Dutch do not make slaves of the natives of Boero; for the company gets
those, whom they employ that way, either from Celebes, or from Ceram, as
the inhabitants of these two isles sell each other reciprocally.
[Sidenote: Wise people.]
The Alfourians are a free people, without being enemies of the company.
They are satisfied with being independent, and covet not those trifles,
which the Europeans sell or give them in exchange for their liberty.
They live dispersed in the inaccessible mountains, which the interior
parts of this isle contain. There they subsist upon sago, fruits, and
hunting. Their religion is unknown; it is said, that they are not
Mahommedans; for they feed hogs, and likewise eat them. From time to
time the chiefs of the Alfourians come to visit the Dutch chief; they
would do as well to stay at home.
[Sidenote: Productions of the Boero.]
I do not know whether there were formerly any spice plantations on this
isle; but be this as it will, it is certain that there are none at
present. The company get from this station nothing but black and white
ebony, and some other species of wood, which are much in request with
joiners. There is likewise a fine pepper plantation; the sight of which
has convinced us, that pepper is common on New Britain, as we
conjectured before. Fruits are but scarce here; there are cocoa-nuts,
bananas, shaddocks, some lemons, citrons, bitter-oranges, and a few
pine-apples. There grows a very good sort of barley, called _ottong_,
and the _sago-borneo_, of which they make soups, which seemed abominable
to us. The woods are inhabited by a vast number of birds of various
species, and beautiful plumage; and among them are parrots of the
greatest beauty. Here is likewise that species of wild cat[123], which
carries its young in a bag under its belly; the kind of bat, whose wings
are of a monstrous extent[124]; enormous serpents, which can swallow a
whole sheep at once, and another species of snakes, which is much more
dangerous; because it keeps upon trees, and darts into the eyes of those
who look into the air as they pass by. No remedy is as yet found against
the bite of this last kind; we killed two of them in one of our
stag-hunts.
The river Abbo, of which the banks are almost every where covered with
trees of a thick foliage, is infested by enormous crocodiles, which
devour men and beasts. They go out at night; and there are instances of
their taking men out of their periaguas. The people keep them from
coming near, by carrying lighted torches. The shores of Boero do not
furnish many fine shells. Those precious shells, which are an article of
commerce with the Dutch, are found on the coast of Ceram, at Amblaw, and
at Banda, from whence they are sent to Batavia. At Amblaw they likewise
find the most beautiful kind of cockatoes.
[Sidenote: Good proceedings of the resident on our account.]
Henry Ouman, the chief at Boero, lives there like a sovereign. He has a
hundred slaves for the service of his house, and all the necessaries and
conveniencies of life in abundance. He is an Under-Merchant[125]; and
this degree is the third in the company’s service. This man was born at
Batavia, and has married a Creole from Amboina. I cannot sufficiently
praise his good behaviour towards us. I make no doubt, but the moment
when we entered this port, was a critical one for him; but he behaved
like a man of sense. After he had done what his duty to his superiors
required, he did what he could not be exempted from, with a good grace,
and with the good manners of a frank and generous man. His house was
ours; we found something to eat and drink there at all times; and I
think this kind of civility was as good as any other, especially to
people who still felt the consequences of famine. He gave us two repasts
of ceremony; the good order, elegance, and plenty of which, quite
surprised us in so inconsiderable a place. The house of this honest
Dutchman was very pretty, elegantly furnished, and built entirely in the
Chinese taste. Every thing is so disposed about it as to make it cool;
it is surrounded by a garden, and a river runs across it. You come to it
from the sea-shore, through an avenue of very great trees. His wife and
daughter were dressed after the Chinese fashion, and performed the
honours of the house very well. They pass their time in preparing
flowers for distillation, in making nosegays, and getting some betel
ready. The air which you breathe in this agreeable house is most
deliciously perfumed, and we should all very willingly have made a long
stay there: how great was the contrast between this sweet and peaceful
situation, and the unnatural life we had now led for these ten months
past?
[Sidenote: Conduct of
Aotourou at Boero.]
I must mention what impression the sight of this European settlement
made upon Aotourou. It will easily be conceived that his surprise must
have been great at seeing men dressed like ourselves, houses, gardens,
and various domestick animals in abundance, and great variety. He could
not be tired with looking at these objects, which were new to him. He
valued above all that hospitality, which was here exercised with an air
of sincerity and of acquaintance. As he did not see us make any
exchanges, he apprehended that the people gave us every thing without
being paid for it. Upon the whole, he behaved very sensibly towards the
Dutch. He began with giving them to understand, that in his country he
was a chief, and that he had undertaken this voyage with his friends for
his own pleasure. In the visits, at table, and in our walks, he
endeavoured to imitate us exactly. As I had not taken him with me on the
first visit which we made, he imagined it was because his knees are
distorted, and absolutely wanted some sailors to get upon them, to set
them to rights. He often asked us, whether Paris was as fine as this
factory?
[Sidenote: Goodness of the provisions there.]
On the 6th, in the afternoon, we had taken on board our rice, cattle,
and all other refreshments. The good chief’s bill was of a considerable
amount; but we were assured, that all the prices were fixed by the
company, and that he could not depart from their tariff. The provisions
were indeed excellent; the beef and mutton are better by a great deal,
than in any other hot country I know; and the fowls are most delicious
there. The butter of Boero has a reputation in this country, which our
sailors from Bretany found it had not lawfully acquired.
The 7th, in the morning, I took on board the sick people, and we made
every thing ready, in order to set sail in the evening with the
land-breeze. The fresh provisions, and the salubrious air of Boero, had
done our sick much good. This stay on shore, though it lasted only six
days, brought them so far, that they could be cured on board, or at
least prevented from growing worse, by means of the refreshments which
we could now give them.
[Sidenote: Observations on the monsoons and currents.]
It would doubtless have been very desirable for them, and even for the
healthy men, to have made a longer stay here; but the end of the eastern
monsoon being at hand, pressed us to set sail for Batavia. If the other
monsoon was once set in, it became impossible for us to go there;
because at that time, besides having the winds contrary to us, we had
likewise the currents against us, which follow the direction of the
reigning monsoon. It is true, they keep the direction of the preceding
monsoon for near a month after it; but the changing of the monsoon,
which commonly happens in October, may come a month sooner, as well as a
month later. In September there is little wind: in October and November
still less; that being the season of calms. The governor of Amboina
chooses at this season to go his rounds to all the isles which depend
upon his government. June, July, and August, are very rainy. The eastern
monsoon generally blows S. S. E. and S. S. W. to the north of Ceram and
Boero; in the isles of Amboina and Bandas it blows E. and S. E. The
western monsoon blows from W. S. W. and N. W. The month of April is the
term when the western winds cease blowing; this is the stormy monsoon,
as the easterly one is the rainy monsoon. Captain Clerk told us, that he
had in vain cruized before Amboina, in order to enter it, during the
whole month of July: he had there suffered continual rains, which had
made all his people sick. It was at the same time that we were so well
soaked in Port Praslin.
[Sidenote: Remarks on the earthquakes.]
There had been three earthquakes this year at Boero, almost close after
each other, on the 7th of June, the 12th and on the 17th of July. It was
the 22d of the same month that we felt one on New Britain. These
earthquakes have terrible consequences for navigation in this part of
the world. Sometimes they sink known isles and sand-banks, and sometimes
they raise some, where there were none before; and we gain nothing by
such accidents. Navigation would be much safer, if every thing remained
as it is.
[Sidenote: We leave Boero.]
On the 7th after noon, all our people were on board, and we only waited
for the land-breeze, in order to set sail. It was not felt till eight
o’clock at night. I immediately sent a boat with a light to anchor at
the point of the bank, which lies on the S. E. side, and we began to
make every thing ready for setting sail. We had not been misled, when we
were informed that the bottom was very good in this anchorage. We made
fruitless efforts at the capstan for a long time; at last the voyal
broke, and we could only by the help of our winding-tackle get our
anchor out of this strong ooze, in which it was buried. We did not get
under sail before eleven o’clock. Having doubled the point of the bank,
we hoisted in our boats, as the Etoile did hers, and we steered
successively N. E. N. E. by N. and N. N. E. in order to go out of the
gulph of Cajeli.
[Sidenote: Astronomical observations.]
During our stay here, M. Verron had made several observations of
distances on board; the mean result of which enabled him to determine
the longitude of this gulph; and places it 2° 53′ more to the westward
than our reckoning, which we had followed after determining the
longitude on New Britain. Upon the whole, though we found the true
European date current in the Moluccas, from which it was very natural,
we had lost a day by going round the world with the sun’s course, yet I
shall continue the date of our journals, only mentioning, that instead
of Wednesday the 7th, they reckoned Thursday the 8th in India. I shall
not correct my date, till I come to the isle of France.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
_CHART_ _CHART_
_of the Straits of_ _shewing the Track of the_
_BOUTON._ French Ships
_through the_ MOLUCCAS,
_to_ Batavia, _in_
1768.
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
Footnote 122:
M. de B. it seems can never sufficiently elevate the courage and
perseverance of his countrymen; on all occasions he praises their
disinterestedness, and endeavours to depreciate the merits of the
British sailors, by balancing their sufferings with the rewards which
an equitable government distributed to them. I have already said
something on this subject in a note to our author’s Introduction
(placed at the head of this work) and shall only add, that I should be
apt to suspect M. de B. to envy the British circumnavigators those
very rewards which he seems so much to despise, if I could combine
such base sentiments with his otherwise generous way of thinking. F.
Footnote 123:
M. de Buffon has denied the existence of the _Opossum_ or _Didelphis_,
Linn. in East India, though Piso, Valentyn, and Le Brun have seen it
in the Moluccas and in Java: M. de Buffon’s own countryman, M. de
Bougainville, now likewise asserts their being upon Boero, in a manner
so little equivocal, that there can be no doubt of the Opossum genus
inhabiting the East Indies, though the particular species is unknown.
F.
Footnote 124:
This is the great _Bat of Ternate_, Penn. Syn. Quad. p. 359. and
Linnæus’s _Vespertilio Vampyrus_. F.
Footnote 125:
_Sous-Marchand._
-----
_CHAP. VII._
_Run from Boero to Batavia._
[Sidenote: 1768. September.]
Although I was convinced that the Dutch represent the navigation between
the Moluccas as much more dangerous than it really is, yet I well knew
that it was full of shoals and difficulties. [Sidenote: Difficulties of
the navigation in the Moluccas.] The greatest difficulty for us was to
have no accurate chart of these parts of India, the French charts of
them being more proper to cause the loss of ships than to guide them. I
could get nothing but vague information, and imperfect instructions from
the Dutch at Boero. When we arrived there, the Draak was going to leave
the port in a few days, in order to bring an engineer to Macassar, and I
intended to follow her to that place; but the resident gave orders to
the commander of this snow to stay at Cajeli till we were gone.
Accordingly we set sail alone, and I directed my course so as to pass to
the northward of Boero, and to go in search of the straits of Button,
which the Dutch call Button-straat.
[Sidenote: Course which we take.]
We ranged the coast of Boero at the distance of about a league and a
half, and the currents did not seem to make any sensible difference till
noon. On the 8th in the morning we perceived the isles of Kilang and
Manipa. From the low land which you find after going out of the gulph of
Cajeli, the coast is very high, and runs W. N. W. and W. by N. On the
9th in the morning we got sight of the isle of Xullabessie; it is a very
inconsiderable one, and the Dutch have a factory there, in a redoubt,
called _Cleverblad_, or the Clover-leaf. The garrison consists of a
serjeant and twenty-five men, under the command of M. Arnoldus Holtman,
who is only book-keeper. This isle formerly was one of the dependences
of the government of Amboina, at present it belongs to that of Ternate.
Whilst we ran along Boero we had little wind, and the settled breezes
almost the same as in the bay. The currents during these two days set us
near eight leagues to the westward. We determined this difference with
precision enough, on account of the frequent bearings which we took. On
the last day they likewise set us a little to the southward, which was
verified by the meridian altitude observed on the 10th.
We had seen the last lands of Boero on the 9th, at sun-setting; we found
pretty fresh S. and S. S. E. winds out at sea, and we passed several
very strong races of a tide. We steered S. W. whenever the winds
permitted, in order to fall in with the land between Wawoni and Button,
as I intended to pass through the straits of that name. [Sidenote:
Nautical advice.] It is pretended that during this season it is
dangerous to keep to the eastward of Button, that one runs the risk of
being thrown upon the coast by the winds and currents, and that then it
is necessary, in order to lay it again, to wait for the western
monsoon’s being perfectly set in. This I have been told by a Dutch
mariner, but I will not answer for the truth of it. I will however
positively assert that the passage of the straits is infinitely
preferable to the other course, either to the northward or to the
southward of the shoal called Toukanbessie: this latter being full of
visible and hidden dangers, which are dreaded even by those who know the
coast.
On the 10th in the morning, one Julian Launai, taylor, died of the
scurvy. He began already to grow better, but two excesses in drinking
brandy carried him off.
[Sidenote: Sight of the straits of Button.]
The 11th, at eight o’clock in the morning, we saw the land, bearing from
W. by S. to S. S. W. ½ W. At nine o’clock, we found that it was the isle
of Wawoni, which is high, especially in its middle: at eleven o’clock we
discovered the northern part of Button. At noon we observed in 4° 6′ of
south lat. The northermost point of the isle of Wawoni then bore W. ½ N.
its southermost point S. W. by W. 4° W. eight or nine leagues distant,
and the N. E. point of Button, S. W. ½ W. about nine leagues distant. In
the afternoon we stood within two leagues of Wawoni, then stood out into
the offing, and kept plying all night, in order to keep to windward of
the straits of Button, and be ready to enter them at day-break. The
12th, at six o’clock in the morning, it bore between N. W. by W. and W.
N. W. and we stood in for the north point of Button. At the same time we
hoisted out our boats, and kept them in tow. At nine o’clock we opened
the straits, with a fine breeze, which lasted till half past ten
o’clock, and freshened again a little before noon.
[Sidenote: Description of the entrance.]
When you enter these straits, it is necessary to range the land of
Button, of which the north point is of a middling height, and divided
into several hummocks. The cape on the larboard side of the entrance is
steep and bold-to. Several white rocks ly before it, pretty high above
the water, and to the eastward is a fine bay, in which we saw a small
vessel under sail. The opposite point of Wawoni is low, tolerably level,
and projects to the westward. The land of Celebes then appears before
you, and a passage opens to the north, between this great isle and
Wawoni; this is a false passage: the southern one indeed appears almost
entirely shut up; there you see at a great distance a low land, divided
as it were into little isles or keys. As you advance in the straits, you
discover upon the coast of Button, great round capes, and fine creeks.
Off one of these capes are two rocks, which one must absolutely take at
a distance for two ships under sail; the one pretty large, and the other
a small one. About a league to the eastward of them, and a quarter of a
league off the coast, we sounded in forty-five fathoms, sand and ooze.
The straits from the entrance run successively S. W. and south.
At noon we observed in 4° 29′ south lat. and were then somewhat beyond
the rocks. They ly off a little isle, behind which there appears to be a
fine inlet. There we saw a kind of vessel in form of a square chest,
having a periagua in tow. She made way both by sailing and rowing, and
ranged the shore. A French sailor, whom we took in at Boero, and who for
these four years past had sailed with the Dutch in the Moluccas, told us
that it was a boat of piratical Indians, who endeavour to make prisoners
in order to sell them. They seemed to be rather troubled at meeting with
us. They furled their sail, and set their vessel with setting poles
close under the shore, behind the little isle.
[Sidenote: Aspect of the country.]
We continued our course in the straits, the winds turning round with the
channel, and permitting us to come by degrees from S. W. to south.
Towards two o’clock in the afternoon we thought the tide began to set
against us; the sea then washed the lower parts of the trees upon the
coast, which seems to prove that the flood-tide comes here from the
northward, at least during this season. At half an hour after two
o’clock we passed a very fine port upon the coast of Celebes. This land
offers a charming prospect, on account of the variety of low lands,
hills, and mountains. The landscape is adorned with a fine verdure, and
every thing announces a rich country. Soon after, the isle of Pangasani,
and the keys to the northward of it, appear separated, and we
distinguished the several channels which they form. The high mountains
of Celebes appeared above, and to the northward of these lands. The
straits are afterwards formed by this long isle of Pangasani, and by
that of Button. At half past five o’clock we were locked in so that we
could not see either the entrance or the out-let, and we sounded in
twenty-seven fathoms of water, and an excellent oozy bottom.
[Sidenote: First anchorage.]