(DECEMBER, 1856.)
IT was the beginning of December, and the rainy season at Macassar had
just set in. For nearly three months had beheld the sun rise daily above
the palm-groves, mount to the zenith, and descend like a globe of fire
into the ocean, unobscured for a single moment of his course. Now dark
leaden clouds had gathered over the whole heavens, and seemed to have
rendered him permanently invisible. The strong east winds, warm and dry
and dust-laden, which had hitherto blown as certainly as the sun had
risen, were now replaced by variable gusty breezes and heavy rains,
often continuous for three days and nights together; and the parched
and fissured rice stubbles which during the dry weather had extended in
every direction for miles around the town, were already so flooded as
to be only passable by boats, or by means of a labyrinth of paths on the
top of the narrow banks which divided the separate properties.
Five months of this kind of weather might be expected in Southern
Celebes, and I therefore determined to seek some more favourable climate
for collecting in during that period, and to return in the next dry
season to complete my exploration of the district. Fortunately for me
I was in one of the treat emporiums of the native trade of the
archipelago. Rattans from Borneo, sandal-wood and bees'-was from Flores
and Timor, tripang from the Gulf of Carpentaria, cajputi-oil from Bouru,
wild nutmegs and mussoi-bark from New Guinea, are all to be found in the
stores of the Chinese and Bugis merchants of Macassar, along with the
rice and coffee which are the chief products of the surrounding country.
More important than all these however is the trade to Aru, a group of
islands situated on the south-west coast of New Guinea, and of which
almost the whole produce comes to Macassar in native vessels. These
islands are quite out of the track of all European trade, and are
inhabited only by black mop-headed savages, who yet contribute to the
luxurious tastes of the most civilized races. Pearls, mother-of-pearl,
and tortoiseshell find their way to Europe, while edible birds' nests
and "tripang" or sea-slug are obtained by shiploads for the gastronomic
enjoyment of the Chinese.
The trade to these islands has existed from very early times, and it
is from them that Birds of Paradise, of the two kinds known to Linnaeus
were first brought The native vessels can only make the voyage once a
year, owing to the monsoons. They leave Macassar in December or January
at the beginning of the west monsoon, and return in July or August
with the full strength of the east monsoon. Even by the Macassar people
themselves, the voyage to the Aru Islands is looked upon as a rather
wild and romantic expedition, fall of novel sights and strange
adventures. He who has made it is looked up to as an authority, and it
remains with many the unachieved ambition of their lives. I myself had
hoped rather than expected ever to reach this "Ultima Thule" of the
East: and when I found that I really could do so now, had I but courage
to trust myself for a thousand miles' voyage in a Bugis prau, and for
six or seven months among lawless traders and ferocious savages, I felt
somewhat as I did when, a schoolboy, I was for the first time allowed
to travel outside the stage-coach, to visit that scene of all that is
strange and new and wonderful to young imaginations-London!
By the help of some kind friends I was introduced to the owner of one
of the large praus which was to sail in a few days. He was a Javanese
half-caste, intelligent, mild, and gentlemanly in his manners, and had
a young and pretty Dutch wife, whom he was going to leave behind during
his absence. When we talked about passage money he would fix no sum, but
insisted on leaving it entirely to me to pay on my return exactly what
I liked. "And then," said he, "whether you give me one dollar or a
hundred, I shall be satisfied, and shall ask no more."
The remainder of my stay was fully occupied in laying in stores,
engaging servants, and making every other preparation for an absence of
seven months from even the outskirts of civilization. On the morning of
December 13th, when we went on board at daybreak, it was raining hard.
We set sail and it came on to blow. Our boat was lost astern, our sails
damaged, and the evening found us hack again in Macassar harbour. We
remained there four days longer, owing to its raining all the time, thus
rendering it impossible to dry and repair the huge mat sails. All these
dreary days I remained on board, and during the rare intervals when it
didn't rain, made myself acquainted with our outlandish craft, some of
the peculiarities of which I will now endeavour to describe.
It was a vessel of about seventy tons burthen, and shaped something like
a Chinese junk. The deck sloped considerably downward to the bows, which
are thus the lowest part of the ship. There were two large rudders,
but instead of being planed astern they were hung on the quarters from
strong cross beams, which projected out two or three feet on each side,
and to which extent the deck overhung the sides of the vessel amidships.
The rudders were not hinged but hung with slings of rattan, the friction
of which keeps them in any position in which they are placed, and thus
perhaps facilitates steering. The tillers were not on deck, but entered
the vessel through two square openings into a lower or half deck about
three feet high, in which sit the two steersmen. In the after part of
the vessel was a low poop, about three and a half feet high, which
forms the captain's cabin, its furniture consisting of boxes, mats, and
pillows. In front of the poop and mainmast was a little thatched house
on deck, about four feet high to the ridge; and one compartment of this,
forming a cabin six and a half feet long by five and a half wide, I had
all to myself, and it was the snuggest and most comfortable little place
I ever enjoyed at sea. It was entered by a low sliding door of thatch
on one side, and had a very small window on the other. The floor was of
split bamboo, pleasantly elastic, raised six inches above the deck,
so as to be quite dry. It was covered with fine cane mats, for the
manufacture of which Macassar is celebrated; against the further wall
were arranged my guncase, insect-boxes, clothes, and books; my mattress
occupied the middle, and next the door were my canteen, lamp, and little
store of luxuries for the voyage; while guns, revolver, and hunting
knife hung conveniently from the roof. During these four miserable days
I was quite jolly in this little snuggery more so than I should have
been if confined the same time to the gilded and uncomfortable saloon of
a first-class steamer. Then, how comparatively sweet was everything
on board--no paint, no tar, no new rope, (vilest of smells to the
qualmish!) no grease, or oil, or varnish; but instead of these, bamboo
and rattan, and coir rope and palm thatch; pure vegetable fibres, which
smell pleasantly if they smell at all, and recall quiet scenes in the
green and shady forest.
Our ship had two masts, if masts they can be called c which were great
moveable triangles. If in an ordinary ship you replace the shrouds and
backstay by strong timbers, and take away the mast altogether, you have
the arrangement adopted on board a prau. Above my cabin, and resting on
cross-beams attached to the masts, was a wilderness of yards and spars,
mostly formed of bamboo. The mainyard, an immense affair nearly a
hundred feet long, was formed of many pieces of wood and bamboo bound
together with rattans in an ingenious manner. The sail carried by this
was of an oblong shape, and was hung out of the centre, so that when the
short end was hauled down on deck the long end mounted high in the air,
making up for the lowness of the mast itself. The foresail was of the
same shape, but smaller. Both these were of matting, and, with two jibs
and a fore and aft sail astern of cotton canvas, completed our rig.
The crew consisted of about thirty men, natives of Macassar and the
adjacent coasts and islands. They were mostly young, and were short,
broad-faced, good-humoured looking fellows. Their dress consisted
generally of a pair of trousers only, when at work, and a handkerchief
twisted round the head, to which in the evening they would add a thin
cotton jacket. Four of the elder men were "jurumudis," or steersmen, who
had to squat (two at a time) in the little steerage before described,
changing every six hours. Then there was an old man, the "juragan,"
or captain, but who was really what we should call the first mate; he
occupied the other half of the little house on deck. There were about
ten respectable men, Chinese or Bugis, whom our owner used to call "his
own people." He treated them very well, shared his meals with them, and
spoke to them always with perfect politeness; yet they were most of them
a kind of slave debtors, bound over by the police magistrate to work
for him at mere nominal wages for a term of years till their debts were
liquidated. This is a Dutch institution in this part of the world, and
seems to work well. It is a great boon to traders, who can do nothing
in these thinly-populated regions without trusting goods to agents
and petty dealers, who frequently squander them away in gambling and
debauchery. The lower classes are almost all in a chronic state of debt.
The merchant trusts them again and again, till the amount is something
serious, when he brings them to court and has their services allotted to
him for its liquidation. The debtors seem to think this no disgrace, but
rather enjoy their freedom from responsibility, and the dignity of their
position under a wealthy and well-known merchant. They trade a little on
their own account, and both parties seem to get on very well together.
The plan seems a more sensible one than that which we adopt, of
effectually preventing a man from earning anything towards paying his
debts by shutting him up in a jail.
My own servants were three in number. Ali, the Malay boy whom I had
picked up in Borneo, was my head man. He had already been with me a
year, could turn his hand to anything, and was quite attentive and
trustworthy. He was a good shot, and fond of shooting, and I had taught
him to skin birds very well. The second, named Baderoon, was a Macassar
lad; also a pretty good boy, but a desperate gambler. Under pretence of
buying a house for his mother, and clothes, for himself, he had received
four months' wages about a week before we sailed, and in a day or two
gambled away every dollar of it. He had come on board with no clothes,
no betel, or tobacco, or salt fish, all which necessary articles I was
obliged to send Ali to buy for him. These two lads were about sixteen, I
should suppose; the third was younger, a sharp little rascal named Baso,
who had been with me a month or two, and had learnt to cook tolerably.
He was to fulfil the important office of cook and housekeeper, for
I could not get any regular servants to go to such a terribly remote
country; one might as well ask a chef de cuisine to go to Patagonia.
On the fifth day that I had spent on board (Dec. 15th) the rain ceased,
and final preparations were made for starting. Sails were dried and
furled, boats were constantly coming and going, and stores for the
voyage, fruit, vegetables, fish, and palm sugar, were taken on board.
In the afternoon two women arrived with a large party of friends and
relations, and at parting there was a general noserubbing (the Malay
kiss), and some tears shed. These were promising symptoms for our
getting off the next day; and accordingly, at three in the morning, the
owner came on board, the anchor was immediately weighed, and by four we
set sail. Just as we were fairly off and clear of the other praus, the
old juragan repeated some prayers, all around responding with "Allah il
Allah," and a few strokes on a gong as an accompaniment, concluding with
all wishing each other "Salaamat jalan," a safe and happy journey.
We had a light breeze, a calm sea, and a fine morning, a prosperous
commencement of our voyage of about a thousand miles to the far-famed
Aru Islands.
The wind continued light and variable all day, with a calm in the
evening before the land breeze sprang up, were then passing the island
of "Tanakaki" (foot of the land), at the extreme south of this part of
Celebes. There are some dangerous rocks here, and as I was standing by
the bulwarks, I happened to spit over the side; one of the men begged I
would not do so just now, but spit on deck, as they were much afraid
of this place. Not quite comprehending, I made him repeat his request,
when, seeing he was in earnest, I said, "Very well, I suppose there are
'hantus' (spirits) here." "Yes," said he, "and they don't like anything
to be thrown overboard; many a prau has been lost by doing it." Upon
which I promised to be very careful. At sunset the good Mahometans
on board all repeated a few words of prayer with a general chorus,
reminding me of the pleasing and impressive "Ave. Maria" of Catholic
countries.
Dec. 20th.-At sunrise we were opposite the Bontyne mountain, said to be
one of the highest in Celebes. In the afternoon we passed the Salayer
Straits and had a little squall, which obliged us to lower our huge
mast, sails, and heavy yards. The rest of the evening we had a fine west
wind, which carried us on at near five knots an hour, as much as our
lumbering old tub can possibly go.
Dec. 21st.-A heavy swell from the south-west rolling us about most
uncomfortably. A steady wind was blowing however, and we got on very
well.
Dec. 22d.-The swell had gone down. We passed Boutong, a large island,
high, woody, and populous, the native place of some of our crew. A small
prau returning from Bali to the island of Goram overtook us. The nakoda
(captain) was known to our owner. They had been two years away, but were
full of people, with several black Papuans on board. At 6 P.M. we passed
Wangiwangi, low but not flat, inhabited and subject to Boutong. We had
now fairly entered the Molucca Sea. After dark it was a beautiful
sight to look down on our rudders, from which rushed eddying streams of
phosphoric light gemmed with whirling sparks of fire. It resembled (more
nearly than anything else to which I can compare it) one of the large
irregular nebulous star-clusters seen through a good telescope, with the
additional attraction of ever-changing form and dancing motion.
Dec. 23d.-Fine red sunrise; the island we left last evening barely
visible behind us. The Goram prau about a mile south of us. They have
no compass, yet they have kept a very true course during the night.
Our owner tells me they do it by the swell of the sea, the direction of
which they notice at sunset, and sail by it during the night. In these
seas they are never (in fine weather) more than two days without seeing
land. Of course adverse winds or currents sometimes carry them away,
but they soon fall in with some island, and there are always some old
sailors on board who know it, and thence take a new course. Last night
a shark about five feet long was caught, and this morning it was cut up
and cooked. In the afternoon they got another, and I had a little fried,
and found it firm and dry, but very palatable. In the evening the sun
set in a heavy bank of clouds, which, as darkness came on, assumed a
fearfully black appearance. According to custom, when strong wind or
rain is expected, our large sails-were furled, and with their yards let
down on deck, and a small square foresail alone kept up. The great mat
sails are most awkward things to manage in rough weather. The yards
which support them are seventy feet long, and of course very heavy, and
the only way to furl them being to roll up the sail on the boom, it is
a very dangerous thing to have them standing when overtaken by a squall.
Our crew; though numerous enough for a vessel of 700 instead of one of
70 tons, have it very much their own way, and there seems to be seldom
more than a dozen at work at a time. When anything important is to
be done, however, all start up willingly enough, but then all think
themselves at liberty to give their opinion, and half a dozen voices are
heard giving orders, and there is such a shrieking and confusion that it
seems wonderful anything gets done at all.
Considering we have fifty men of several tribes and tongues onboard,
wild, half-savage looking fellows, and few of them feeling any of the
restraints of morality or education, we get on wonderfully well. There
is no fighting or quarrelling, as there would certainly be among the
same number of Europeans with as little restraint upon their actions,
and there is scarcely any of that noise and excitement which might be
expected. In fine weather the greater part of them are quietly enjoying
themselves--some are sleeping under the shadow of the sails; others,
in little groups of three or four, are talking or chewing betel; one is
making a new handle to his chopping-knife, another is stitching away
at a new pair of trousers or a shirt, and all are as quiet and
well-conducted as on board the best-ordered English merchantman. Two or
three take it by turns to watch in the bows and see after the braces
and halyards of the great sails; the two steersmen are below in the
steerage; our captain, or the juragan, gives the course, guided partly
by the compass and partly by the direction of the wind, and a watch of
two or three on the poop look after the trimming of the sails and call
out the hours by the water-clock. This is a very ingenious contrivance,
which measures time well in both rough weather and fine. It is simply
a bucket half filled with water, in which floats the half of a
well-scraped cocoa-nut shell. In the bottom of this shell is a very
small hole, so that when placed to float in the bucket a fine thread of
water squirts up into it. This gradually fills the shell, and the size
of the hole is so adjusted to the capacity of the vessel that, exactly
at the end of an hour, plump it goes to the bottom. The watch then cries
out the number of hours from sunrise and sets the shell afloat again
empty. This is a very good measurer of time. I tested it with my watch
and found that it hardly varied a minute from one hour to another, nor
did the motion of the vessel have any effect upon it, as the water in
the bucket of course kept level. It has a great advantage for a rude
people in being easily understood, in being rather bulky and easy
to see, and in the final submergence being accompanied with a little
bubbling and commotion of the water, which calls the attention to it. It
is also quickly replaced if lost while in harbour.
Our captain and owner I find to be a quiet, good-tempered man, who seems
to get on very well with all about him. When at sea he drinks no wine or
spirits, but indulges only in coffee and cakes, morning and afternoon,
in company with his supercargo and assistants. He is a man of some
little education, can read and write well both Dutch and Malay, uses a
compass, and has a chart. He has been a trader to Aru for many years,
and is well known to both Europeans and natives in this part of the
world.
Dec. 24th.-Fine, and little wind. No land in sight for the first time
since we left Macassar. At noon calm, with heavy showers, in which our
crew wash their clothes, anti in the afternoon the prau is covered with
shirts, trousers, and sarongs of various gay colours. I made a discovery
to-day which at first rather alarmed me. The two ports, or openings,
through which the tillers enter from the lateral rudders are not more
than three or four feet above the surface of the water, which thus has
a free entrance into the vessel. I of course had imagined that this
open space from one side to the other was separated from the hold by
a water-tight bulkhead, so that a sea entering might wash out at the
further side, and do no more harm than give the steersmen a drenching.
To my surprise end dismay, however, I find that it is completely open to
the hold, so that half-a-dozen seas rolling in on a stormy night would
nearly, or quite, swamp us. Think of a vessel going to sea for a month
with two holes, each a yard square, into the hold, at three feet above
the water-line,-holes, too, which cannot possibly be closed! But our
captain says all praus are so; and though he acknowledges the danger,
"he does not know how to alter it--the people are used to it; he does
not understand praus so well as they do, and if such a great alteration
were made, he should be sure to have difficulty in getting a crew!" This
proves at all events that praus must be good sea-boats, for the captain
has been continually making voyages in them for the last ten years, and
says he has never known water enough enter to do any harm.
Dec.25th.-Christmas-day dawned upon us with gusts of wind, driving rain,
thunder and lightning, added to which a short confused sea made our
queer vessel pitch and roll very uncomfortably. About nine o'clock,
however, it cleared up, and we then saw ahead of us the fine island of
Bouru, perhaps forty or fifty miles distant, its mountains wreathed with
clouds, while its lower lands were still invisible. The afternoon was
fine, and the wind got round again to the west; but although this is
really the west monsoon, there is no regularity or steadiness about it,
calms and breezes from every point of the compass continually occurring.
The captain, though nominally a Protestant, seemed to have no idea of
Christmas-day as a festival. Our dinner was of rice and curry as usual,
and an extra glass of wine was all I could do to celebrate it.
Dec. 26th.--Fine view of the mountains of Bouru, which we have now
approached considerably. Our crew seem rather a clumsy lot. They do not
walk the deck with the easy swing of English sailors, but hesitate
and stagger like landsmen. In the night the lower boom of our mainsail
broke, and they were all the morning repairing it. It consisted of two
bamboos lashed together, thick end to thin, and was about seventy feet
long. The rigging and arrangement of these praus contrasts strangely
with that of European vessels, in which the various ropes and spars,
though much more numerous, are placed so as not to interfere with each
other's action. Here the case is quite different; for though there are
no shrouds or stays to complicate the matter, yet scarcely anything can
be done without first clearing something else out of the way. The large
sails cannot be shifted round to go on the other tack without first
hauling down the jibs, and the booms of the fore and aft sails have to
be lowered and completely detached to perform the same operation. Then
there are always a lot of ropes foul of each other, and all the sails
can never be set (though they are so few) without a good part of their
surface having the wind kept out of them by others. Yet praus are much
liked even by those who have had European vessels, because of their
cheapness both in first cost and in keeping up; almost all repairs can
be done by the crew, and very few European stores are required.
Dec. 28th.--This day we saw the Banda group, the volcano first
appearing,--a perfect cone, having very much the outline of the Egyptian
pyramids, and looking almost as regular. In the evening the smoke rested
over its summit like a small stationary cloud. This was my first view
of an active volcano, but pictures and panoramas have so impressed
such things on one's mind, that when we at length behold them they seem
nothing extraordinary.
Dec. 30th.--Passed the island of Teor, and a group near it, which are
very incorrectly marked on the charts. Flying-fish were numerous to-day.
It is a smaller species than that of the Atlantic, and more active and
elegant in its motions. As they skim along the surface they turn on
their sides, so as fully to display their beautiful fins, taking a
flight of about a hundred yards, rising and falling in a most graceful
manner. At a little distance they exactly resemble swallows, and no one
who sees them can doubt that they really do fly, not merely descend in
an oblique direction from the height they gain by their first spring. In
the evening an aquatic bird, a species of booby (Sula fiber.) rested on
our hen-coop, and was caught by the neck by one of my boys.
Dec. 31st--At daybreak the Ke Islands (pronounced Kay) were in sight,
where we are to stay a few days. About noon we rounded the northern
point, and endeavoured to coast along to the anchorage; but being now
on the leeward side of the island, the wind came in violent irregular
gusts, and then leaving us altogether, we were carried back by a strong
current. Just then two boats-load of natives appeared, and our owner
having agreed with them to tow us into harbour, they tried to do so,
assisted by our own boat, but could make no way. We were therefore
obliged to anchor in a very dangerous place on a rocky bottom, and we
were engaged till nearly dark getting hawsers secured to some rocks
under water. The coast of Ke along which we had passed was very
picturesque. Light coloured limestone rocks rose abruptly from the water
to the height of several hundred feet, everywhere broken into jutting
peaks and pinnacles, weather-worn into sharp points and honeycombed
surfaces, and clothed throughout with a most varied and luxuriant
vegetation. The cliffs above the sea offered to our view screw-pines
and arborescent Liliaceae of strange forms, mingled with shrubs and
creepers; while the higher slopes supported a dense growth of forest
trees. Here and there little bays and inlets presented beaches of
dazzling whiteness. The water was transparent as crystal, and tinged
the rock-strewn slope which plunged steeply into its unfathomable depths
with colours varying from emerald to lapis-lazuli. The sea was calm as a
lake, and the glorious sun of the tropics threw a flood of golden light
over all. The scene was to me inexpressibly delightful. I was in a new
world, and could dream of the wonderful productions hid in those rocky
forests, and in those azure abysses. But few European feet had ever
trodden the shores I gazed upon its plants, and animals, and men were
alike almost unknown, and I could not help speculating on what my
wanderings there for a few days might bring to light.