We continue our extracts from this extraordinary work.
_Madagascar_.
"Madagascar is one of the largest and most fertile islands in the world;
nearly nine hundred miles in length, and three hundred and fifty in its
greatest breadth. There is a chain of glorious mountains, winding through
its entire length, of varied height, whence many large and navigable
rivers take their source. The interior of this vast island, and its
inhabitants, are little known; but those parts on the coast which, at that
time and afterwards, I have frequently visited, give abundant indications
that nature has here scattered her riches with no stinting hand. Nothing
seems wanting but knowledge to place this magnificent island in the
foremost rank of great and powerful empires. When I was there, the line,
distinguishing the man from the animal, was hardly visible."
_The Mauritius_.
"It is worthy of remark that, regarding climate, this island has a
peculiarity I never remember to have found in any other in India. Other
islands are comparatively cool and pleasant on the coasts, and close and
unhealthy in the interior, unless on the heights. Here it is reversed: the
entire coast is so scorchingly hot, and the air so bad, that at Port
St. Louis, and other places round, no one dares venture out in the daytime
during six months of the year, as he may be almost certain of having a
sun-stroke, which occasions a brain-fever, the malignant fever, cholera
morbus, or dysentery; while, at the same period, in the interior,
particularly on the windward side, the air is temperate and salubrious.
For six months in the year, from November to April, the town of St. Louis
is insufferably and noxiously hot; scarcely any one but the slaves could
be induced to remain there, the free inhabitants departing for the
interior. Then again, the dry months at Port St. Louis are the rainy ones
in the central parts; and, whilst the fiercest hurricanes are raging on
the coast, a few miles in-land all is calm and sunshine. I have repeatedly
witnessed this; and it is strange in so small an island."
"De Ruyter now came up, and we suddenly stood on the elevated plain,
called Vacois, in the centre of the island. Our ascent had been very
abrupt, winding, and rugged. Before us, in the middle of the plain, on
which we now rode, was the pyramidical mountain, _Piton du Milieu_.
Inclining to our right was the port and town of St. Louis. To the south
were large plains, in rich vegetation, divided by a fine river, with one
solitary hill. To the north were other plains, inclining to the sea, white
as if the briny waters had recently receded from them, and only partially
cultivated with sugar-canes, indigo, and in the marshy spots, with rice.
From south to east it was volcanic and mountainous, with jungle and
ancient forests. The north-east was, for the most part, level. The plain,
where we were, was full of little sheets of deep water, forming themselves
into pretty lakes; which, overflowing during the heavy rains, at times
made the plain swampy, and ever overgrown with canes, reeds, and gigantic
grass. Such was the diversified and beautiful scenery now disclosed, as
the sun, having risen above the mountain in the east, dissipated the
yellow mists, and laid bare the hitherto obscured beauties of this divine
island, like a virgin unrobed for bathing."
"We alighted under the shade of a group of the rose-apple trees, which
seemed to have drawn a charmed circle round a solitary oak, on the brink
of a lake, clear as a diamond, and apparently of amazing depth, the golden
Chinese fish sporting on its surface, and green, yellow, and blue
dragon-flies darting here and there above it. The modest wood-pigeon and
dove, disturbed in their morning ablutions, flew away to the woods. The
gray partridge ran into the vacour, which stood in thick lines on the
brink, impenetrable from its long fibrous leaves, standing out like a
phalanx of lances. The water-hens dived, and the parrots chattered on the
trees, as if they had been peopled with scolding married women; whilst the
sluggish baboon sat, with portly belly, gormandizing with the voracity and
gravity of a monk, regardless of all but the stuffing of his insatiable
maw with bananas."
"We were told that there were, in this lake, prawns as big as lobsters,
and eels of incredible size, from fifteen to twenty feet long. The two
principal rivers took their rise from this plain, augmenting in their
course by the tribute of an infinity of streamlets; till swollen into bulk
and strength, like two rival monarchs, they ran parallel for a awhile,
trying to outvie each other in pomp and velocity, springing over their
rocky beds. After some distance they separated to the right and left, and
passed through their different districts, to pay, in their turn, tribute
to the mightier ocean."
"We left the lake on our right, skirted the base of _Piton du Milieu_,
over a volcanic soil of pulverized cinders, and, by gentle descents,
proceeded towards the south. Again we were among mountains, passing green
lawns, and marshes overgrown with vitti-vert, (which is used for
thatching,) fern, marsh mallows, waving bamboos, and wild tobacco. We saw
plantations of the manioc, (bread-fruit,) maize, sweet potatoes, the
cotton-tree, the sugar-cane, coffee, and cloves. Then we crossed rocky
channels of clear rippling water, hedged by dwarf oaks and the
dusky-coloured olive, underneath which flourished the dark-green fig-tree,
with its strawberry-red marrowy fruit, bared by the bursting of its
emerald-green rind. Here the majestic palmiste towered grandly alone,
crowned with its first, tardy, and only fruit; and when deprived of that
diadem, like earthly monarchs, it perishes. We penetrated the wild native
woods, where grew the iron-wood tree, the oak, the black cinnamon, the
apple, the acacia, the tamarind, and the nutmeg. Our path was arched by
wild vines, jessamine, and a multitude of deep scarlet-blossomed creepers,
so thickly interlaced in their living cordage, that neither sun nor storm
could penetrate them; or if a wandering beam found entrance through the
thick natural trellice-work, it was only enough to cover some little tuft
of violets or strawberries, its own offspring, growing up in its genial
warmth with a strength and vigour pre-eminent amidst the pale and sickly
brood of the neglected children of the shade. Nothing I had ever imagined
of the loveliness of nature equalled the reality of these scenes."
_Coffee in the East_.
"On entering the zennanah, the old governante, Kamalia, having counted us
on her four skinny fingers, proceeded to fulfil that sacred rite, never
omitted in the east, of presenting refreshments; without the heartless and
niggardly-ceremony of appealing to the guests, as is wont in Europe, to
learn whether they will take them or not, looking on those who receive
them with an evil eye. I followed Kamalia to know how the genuine oriental
coffee is made. Good mussulmans can alone make good coffee; for, being
interdicted from the use of ardent spirits, their palate is more exquisite
and their relish greater."
"Thus it is:--A bright charcoal fire was burning in a small stove. She
first took, for four persons, four handsful of the small, pale, mocha
berry, little bigger than barley. These had been carefully picked and
cleaned. She put them into an iron vessel, where, with admirable quickness
and dexterity, they were roasted till their colour was somewhat darkened,
and the moisture not exhaled. The over-roasted ones were picked out, and
the remainder, while very hot, put into a large wooden mortar, where they
were instantly pounded by another woman. This done, Kamalia passed the
powder through a camel's-hair cloth; and then repassed it through a finer
cloth. Meanwhile a coffee-pot, containing exactly four cups of water, was
boiling. This was taken off, one cup of water poured out, and three cups
full of the powder, after she had ascertained its impalpability between
her finger and thumb, were stirred in with a stick of cinnamon. When
replaced on the fire on the point of over-boiling, it was taken off, the
heel of the pot struck against the hob, and again put on the fire. This
was repeated five or six times. I forgot to mention she added a very
minute piece of mace, not enough to make its flavour distinguishable; and
that the coffee-pot must be of tin, and uncovered, or it cannot form a
thick cream on the surface, which it ought to do. After it was taken, for
the last time, from the fire, the cup of water, which had been poured from
it, was returned. It was then carried into the room, without being
disturbed, and instantly poured into the cups, where it retained its rich
cream at the top."
"Thus made, its fragrance filled the room, and nothing could be more
delicious to the palate. So far from its being a long and tedious process,
as it may appear in narrating, old Kamalia allowed herself only two
minutes for each person; so that from the time of her leaving the room to
her return, no more than eight minutes had elapsed."
To interesting sketches we can only add a scene of sea sport off Fort
Rotterdam, at Macassar, an island between Java and Borneo; shaped like a
huge tarantula, a small body, with four disproportionately long legs,
which stretch into the sea in narrow and lengthened peninsulas. The locale
is
_Shark's Bay_.
"My hawk-eyed Arab now pointed out to me a line of dark spots, moving
rapidly in the water, rounding the arm of the sea, and entering the great
bay. At first I thought they were canoes capsized, coming in keel
uppermost; but the Arab declared they were sharks, and said, 'The bay is
called Shark's Bay; and their coming in from the sea is an infallible sign
of bad weather.' A small pocket-telescope convinced me they were large
blue sharks. I counted eight; their fins and sharp backs were out of the
water. After sailing majestically up the great bay till they came opposite
the mouth of a smaller one, they turned towards it in a regular line; one
the largest I had seen any where, taking the lead, like an admiral. He had
attained the entrance, with the other seven following, when some monsters
arose from the bottom, near the shore, where he had been lurking, opposed
his further progress, and a conflict instantly ensued. The daring
assailant I distinguished to be a sword-fish, or sea-unicorn, the
knight-errant of the sea, attacking every thing in its domain; his head is
as hard and as rough as a rock, out of the centre of which grows
horizontally an ivory spear, longer and far tougher than any warrior's
lance; with this weapon he fights. The shark, with a jaw larger and
stronger than a crocodile's, with a mouth deeper and more capacious,
strikes also with his tail, in tremendous force and rapidity, enabling him
to repel any sudden attack by confusing or stunning his foe, till he can
turn on his back, which he is obliged to do ere he can use his mouth. This
wily and experienced shark, not daring to turn and expose his more
vulnerable parts to the formidable sword of his enemy, lashed at him with
his heavy tail, as a man uses a flail, working the water into a syllabub.
Meanwhile, in honour, I suppose, or in the love of fair play, his seven
compatriot sharks stood aloof, lying to with their fins, in no degree
interfering in the fray. Frequently I could observe, by the water's
eddying in concentric ripples, that the great shark had sunk to the bottom,
to seek refuge there, or elude his enemy by beating up the sand; or, what
is more probable, by this manoeuvre to lure the sword-fish downwards,
which, when enraged, will blindly plunge its armed head against a rock, in
which case its horn is broken; or, if the bottom is soft, it becomes
transfixed, and then would fall an easy prey. De Ruyter, while in a
country vessel, had her struck by one of these fish, (perhaps mistaking
her for a whale, which, though of the same species, it often attacks,)
with such velocity and force, that its sword passed completely through the
bow of the vessel: and, having been broken by the shock, it was with great
difficulty extracted. It measured seven feet; about one foot of it, the
part attached to the head, was hollow, and the size of my wrist; the
remainder was solid, and very heavy, being indeed the exquisite ivory of
which the eastern people manufacture their beautiful chess-men. But to
return to our sea-combat, which continued a long time, the shark evidently
getting worsted. Possibly the bottom, which was clear, was favourable for
his enemy; whose blow, if he succeeds in striking while the shark is
descending, is fatal. I think he had struck him, for the blue shark is
seldom seen in shoal or discoloured water; yet now he floundered on
towards the bottom of the bay, madly lashing the water into foam, and
rolling and pitching like a vessel dismasted. For a few minutes his
conqueror pursued him, then wheeled round and disappeared; while the shark
grounded himself on the sand, where he lay writhing and lashing the shore
feebly with his tail. His six companions, with seeming unconcern, wore
round, and slowly moving down the bay, returned by the outlet at which
they had entered. Hastening down to the scene of action, I saw no more of
them. My boat's crew were assembled at the bottom of the bay, firing
muskets at the huge monster as he lay aground; before I could join them,
he was despatched, and his dead carcass laid on the beach like a stranded
vessel. Leaving him and them, I ran along the beach for half a mile to
regain Zela's tent."
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