_A particular Description of the Island of Savu, its Produce, and
Inhabitants, with a Specimen of their Language_.
This island is called by the natives _Savu_; the middle of it lies in
about the latitude 10° 35' S., longitude 237° 30' W.; and has in general
been so little known, that I never saw a map or chart in which it is
clearly or accurately laid down. I have seen a very old one, in which it
is called Sou, and confounded with Sandel Bosch. Rumphius mentions an
island by the name of Saow, and he also says that it is the same which
the Dutch call Sandel Bosch: But neither is this island, nor Timor, nor
Rotte, nor indeed any one of the islands that we have seen in these
seas, placed within a reasonable distance of its true situation.[105] It
is about eight leagues long from east to west; but what is its breadth,
I do not know, as I saw only the north side. The harbour in which we lay
is called Seba, from the district in which it lies: It is on the
north-west side of the island, and well sheltered from the south-west
trade-wind, but it lies open to the north-west. We were told that there
were two other bays where ships might anchor; that the best, called
Timo, was on the south-west side of the south-east point: Of the third
we learnt neither the name nor situation. The sea-coast, in general, is
low; but in the middle of the island there are hills of a considerable
height. We were upon the coast at the latter end of the dry season, when
there had been no rain for seven months; and we were told that when the
dry season continues so long, there is no running stream of fresh water
upon the whole island, but only small springs, which are at a
considerable distance from the sea-side; yet nothing can be imagined so
beautiful as the prospect of the country from the ship. The level ground
next to the sea-side was covered with cocoa-nut trees, and a kind of
palm called _arecas_; and beyond them the hills, which rose in a gentle
and regular ascent, were richly clothed, quite to the summit, with
plantations of the fan-palm, forming an almost impenetrable grove. How
much even this prospect must be improved, when every foot of ground
between the trees is covered with verdure, by maize, and millet, and
indigo, can scarcely be conceived but by a powerful imagination, not
unacquainted with the stateliness and beauty of the trees that adorn
this part of the earth. The dry season commences in March or April, and
ends in October or November.
[Footnote 105: These islands are far from being well known to Europeans;
The policy of both Portuguese and Dutch has ever been unfavourable to
the communication, whatever it may have been to the commercial
extension, of geographical science. Pinkerton has laid down (in his map
of East India isles) Sou, as he has chosen to call it, in 10 S. lat.,
and 121° 30' E. long., but on what authority does not appear. He does
not, however, confound it with Sandle-Wood Island.--E.]
The principal trees of this island are the fan-palm, the cocoa-nut,
tamarind, limes, oranges, and mangoes; and other vegetable productions
are maize, Guinea-corn, rice, millet, callevances, and water-melons. We
saw also one sugar-cane, and a few kinds of European garden-stuff,
particularly cellery, marjoram, fennel, and garlic. For the supply of
luxury, it has betel, areca, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and a small
quantity of cinnamon, which seems to be planted here only for curiosity;
and indeed we doubted whether it was the genuine plant, knowing that the
Dutch are very careful not to trust the spices out of their proper
islands. There are, however, several kinds of fruit besides those which
have been already mentioned; particularly the sweet-sop, which is well
known to the West Indians, and a small oval fruit, called the _blimbi_,
both of which grow upon trees. The blimbi is about three or four inches
long, and in the middle about as thick as a man's finger, tapering
towards each end: It is covered with a very thin skin of a light green
colour, and in the inside are a few seeds disposed in the form of a
star: Its flavour is a light, clean, pleasant acid, but it cannot be
eaten raw; it is said to be excellent as a pickle; and stewed, it made a
most agreeable sour sauce to our boiled dishes.
The tame animals are buffaloes, sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, pigeons,
horses, asses, dogs, and cats; and of all these there is great plenty.
The buffaloes differ very considerably from the horned cattle of Europe
in several particulars; their ears are much larger, their skins are
almost without hair, their horns are curved towards each other, but
together bend directly backwards, and they have no dewlaps. We saw
several that were as big as a well-grown European ox, and there must be
some much larger; for Mr Banks saw a pair of horns which measured, from
tip to tip, three feet nine inches and a half, across their widest
diameter, four feet one inch and a half, and in the whole sweep of their
semicircle in front, seven feet six inches and a half. It must, however,
be observed, that a buffalo here of any given size, does not weigh above
half as much as an ox of the same size in England: Those that we guessed
to weigh four hundred weight, did not weigh more than two hundred and
fifty; the reason is, that so late in the dry season the bones are very
thinly covered with flesh: There is not an ounce of fat in a whole
carcase, and the flanks are literally nothing but skin and bone: The
flesh, however, is well tasted and juicy, and I suppose better than the
flesh of an English ox would be if he was to starve in this sun-burnt
country.
The horses are from eleven to twelve hands high, but though they are
small, they are spirited and nimble, especially in pacing, which is
their common step: The inhabitants generally ride them without a saddle,
and with no better bridle than a halter. The sheep are of the kind which
in England are called Bengal sheep, and differ from ours in many
particulars. They are covered with hair instead of wool; their ears are
very large, and hang down under their horns, and their noses are arched;
they are thought to have a general resemblance to a goat, and for that
reason are frequently called _cabritos_: Their flesh we thought the
worst mutton we had ever eaten, being as lean as that of the buffaloes,
and without flavour. The hogs, however, were some of the fattest we had
ever seen, though, as we were told, their principal food is the outside
husks of rice, and a palm syrup dissolved in water.[106] The fowls are
chiefly of the game breed, and large, but the eggs are remarkably small.
[Footnote 106: The reader will please remember this evidence of the
nutritious quality of the palm-syrup. He will find it useful very
shortly, when the value of sugar as an article of diet is mentioned.--E]
Of the fish which the sea produces here, we know but little: Turtles are
sometimes found upon the coast, and are by these people, as well as all
others, considered as a dainty.
The people are rather under than over the middling size; the women
especially are remarkably short and squat built: Their complexion is a
dark brown, and their hair universally black and lank. We saw no
difference in the colour of rich and poor, though in the South-Sea
islands those that were exposed to the weather were almost as brown as
the New Hollanders, and the better sort nearly as fair as the natives of
Europe. The men are in general well-made, vigorous, and active, and have
a greater variety in the make and disposition of their features than
usual: The countenances of the women, on the contrary, are all alike.
The men fasten their hair up to the top of their heads with a comb, the
women tie it behind in a club, which is very far from becoming. Both
sexes eradicate the hair from under the arm, and the men do the same by
their beards, for which purpose, the better sort always carry a pair of
silver pincers hanging by a string round their necks; some, however,
suffer a very little hair to remain upon their upper-lips, but this is
always kept short.
The dress of both sexes consists of cotton cloth, which being dyed blue
in the yarn, and not uniformly of the same shade, is in clouds or waves
of that colour, and even in our eye had not an inelegant appearance.
This cloth they manufacture themselves, and two pieces, each about two
yards long, and a yard and a half wide, make a dress: One of them is
worn round the middle, and the other covers the upper part of the body:
The lower edge of the piece that goes round the middle, the men draw
pretty tight just below the fork, the upper edge of it is left loose, so
as to form a kind of hollow belt, which serves them as a pocket to carry
their knives, and other little implements which it is convenient to have
about them. The other piece of cloth is passed through this girdle
behind, and one end of it being brought over the left shoulder, and the
other over the right, they fall down over the breast, and are tucked
into the girdle before, so that by opening or closing the plaits, they
can cover more or less of their bodies as they please; the arms, legs,
and feet are always naked. The difference between the dress of the two
sexes consists principally in the manner of wearing the waist-piece; for
the women, instead of drawing the lower edge tight, and leaving the
upper edge loose for a pocket, draw the upper edge tight, and let the
lower edge fall as low as the knees, so as to form a petticoat; the
body-piece, instead of being passed through the girdle, is fastened
under the arms, and cross the breast with the utmost decency. I have
already observed that the men fastened the hair upon the top of the
head, and the women tie it in a club behind, but there is another
difference in the head-dress, by which the sexes are distinguished: The
women wear nothing as a succedaneum for a cap, but the men constantly
wrap something round their heads in the manner of a fillet; it is small,
but generally of the finest materials that can be procured: We saw some
who applied silk handkerchiefs to this purpose, and others that wore
fine cotton, or muslin, in the manner of a small turban.
These people bore their testimony that the love of finery is a universal
passion, for their ornaments were very numerous. Some of the better sort
wore chains of gold round their necks, but they were made of plaited
wire, and consequently were light and of little value; others had rings,
which were so much worn that they seemed to have descended through many
generations; and one person had a silver-headed cane, marked with a kind
of cypher, consisting of the Roman letters, V, O, C, and therefore
probably a present from the Dutch East India Company, whose mark it is:
They have also ornaments made of beads, which some wear round their
necks as a solitaire, and others as bracelets, upon their wrists: These
are common to both sexes, but the women have, besides, strings or
girdles of beads, which they wear round their waists, and which serve
to keep up their petticoat. Both sexes had their ears bored, nor was
there a single exception that fell under our notice, yet we never saw an
ornament in any of them; we never, indeed, saw either man or woman in
any thing but what appeared to be their ordinary dress, except the king
and his minister, who in general wore a kind of night-gown of coarse
chintz, and one of whom once received us in a black robe, which appeared
to be made of what is called prince's stuff. We saw some boys, about
twelve or fourteen years old, who had spiral circles of thick brass-wire
passed three or four times round their arms, above the elbow, and some
men wore rings of ivory, two inches in breadth, and above an inch in
thickness, upon the same part of the arm; these, we were told, were the
sons of the rajas, or chiefs, who wore those cumbrous ornaments as
badges of their high birth.
Almost all the men had their names traced upon their arms, in indelible
characters of a black colour, and the women had a square ornament of
flourished lines, impressed in the same manner, just under the bend of
the elbow. We were struck with the similitude between these marks and
those made by tattowing in the South-Sea islands, and upon enquiring
into its origin, we learnt that it had been practised by the natives
long before any Europeans came among them, and that in the neighbouring
islands the inhabitants were marked with circles upon their necks and
breasts. The universality of this practice, which prevails among savages
in all parts of the world, from the remotest limits of North America, to
the islands in the South-Seas, and which probably differs but little
from the method of staining the body that was in use among the ancient
inhabitants of Britain, is a curious subject of speculation.[107]
[Footnote 107: In the account which Mr Bossu has given of some Indians
who inhabit the banks of the Akanza, a river of North America, which
rises in New Mexico, and falls into the Mississippi, he relates the
following incident: "The Akanzas," says he, "have adopted me, and as a
mark of my privilege, have imprinted the figure of a roebuck upon my
thigh, which was done in this manner: An Indian having burnt some straw,
diluted the ashes with water, and with this mixture drew the figure upon
my skin; he then retraced it, by pricking the lines with needles, so as
at every puncture just to draw the blood, and the blood mixing with the
ashes of the straw, forms a figure which can never be effaced." See
Travels through Louisiana, vol. i, p. 107.
So far this note is by Dr Hawkesworth. Some observations on the practice
of staining or tattowing the body, have been offered in another part of
this work. It may be worth while to add here the account which
Krustenstern has given of the mode adopted in Nukahiwa, one of the
Washington Islands: "As soon as a Nukahiewer arrives at the age of
puberty, his whole body is tatooed; an art carried to a much greater
perfection in this island than in any other, as they paint, in fact,
their bodies with different figures, rubbing a pleasing colour into the
skin, which is first scratched until it bleeds. Black is the colour
generally used for this purpose, which, after some time, takes a bluish
tinge. The king, his father, and the high-priest, were the only persons
who were coloured quite black, nor was any part of their bodies left
unadorned; the face, eye-lids, and even a part of their heads, from
which the hair had been shaved, being tatooed. Neither in the Society
nor the Friendly Islands is this customary. In the latter, the king
alone is not tatooed; and it is only in New Zealand, and the Sandwich
Islands, as Captain King relates, where the face is tatooed. The New
Zealander and the Nukahiwer have a similar mode of performing this
operation; for instance, they not only mark the body with single upright
figures, or animals, as in the Sandwich Islands, but represent upon it,
in the most perfect symmetry, connected ornaments in concentric rings
and knots, which added greatly to the beauty of its appearance. The
women only tatoo their hands and arms, the ends of their ears, and their
lips. The lower classes are less tatooed, and many of them not at all;
and it is therefore not improbable that this ornament serves to point
out a noble, or, at any rate, a distinguished personage. There are some
among them who have particularly acquired this art; one of whom took up
his residence on board the ship, where he found sufficient employment,
as almost all the sailors underwent the operation." Figures of animals
are favourite decorations for the skin with some people. Hutchinson, in
his History of Massachusets Bay, second edition, tells of the
natives,--"Upon their cheeks, and in many parts of their bodies, some of
them, by incisions, into which they convey a black unchangeable ink,
make the figures of bears, deer, moose, wolves, eagles, hawks, &c, which
were indelible, and generally lasted as long as they lived." Not content
with their own art of embellishment, however, he says, in a note, "Since
they have been furnished with paints from Europe, they daub their faces
with vermillion, and sometimes with blue, green, and other colours."
Colden observes of the five nations of Canada, that their faces were
always painted in a frightful manner when they went out to war, "to make
themselves terrible to their enemies." Neal, speaking of the New
Englanders, says,--"They grease their bodies and hair very often, and
paint themselves all over; their faces and shoulders with a deep red,
and their bodies with a variety of ugly mishapen figures; and he is the
bravest fellow that has the most frightful forms drawn upon him, and
looks most terrible." Again, describing their diversions, "If the
dancers or actors are to shew warlike postures, then they come in
painted for war, some with their faces red, and some black; some black
and red, with streaks of white; under their eyes, as they imagine will
appear most terrible." Captain Carver gives a similar account of the
tribes he saw.--E.]
The houses of Savu are all built upon the same plan, and differ only in
size, being large in proportion to the rank and riches of the
proprietor. Some are four hundred feet long, and some are not more than
twenty: They are all raised upon posts, or piles, about four feet high,
one end of which is driven into the ground, and upon the other end is
laid a substantial floor of wood, so that there is a vacant space of
four feet between the floor of the house and the ground. Upon this floor
are placed other posts or pillars, that Support a roof of sloping sides,
which meet in a ridge at the top, like those of our barns: The eaves of
this roof, which is thatched with palm-leaves, reach within two feet of
the floor, and overhang it as much: The space within is generally
divided lengthwise into three equal parts; the middle part, or centre,
is enclosed by a partition of four sides, reaching about six feet above
the floor, and one or two small rooms are also sometimes taken off from
the sides, the rest of the space under the roof is open, so as freely to
admit the air and the light: The particular uses of these different
apartments, our short stay would not permit us to learn, except that the
close room in the centre was appropriated to the women.
The food of these people consists of every tame animal in the country,
of which the hog holds the first place in their estimation, and the
horse the second; next to the horse is the buffalo, next to the buffalo
their poultry, and they prefer dogs and cats to sheep and goats. They
are not fond of fish, and, I believe, it is never eaten but by the poor
people, nor by them except when their duty or business requires them to
be upon the beach, and then every man is furnished with a light
casting-net, which is girt round him, and makes part of his dress; and
with this he takes any small fish which happen to come in his way.
The esculent vegetables and fruits have been mentioned already, but the
fan-palm requires more particular notice, for at certain times it is a
succedaneum for all other food both to man and beast. A kind of wine,
called toddy, is procured from this tree, by cutting the buds which are
to produce flowers, soon after their appearance, and tying under them
small baskets, made of the leaves, which are so close as to hold liquids
without leaking. The juice which trickles into these vessels is
collected by persons who climb the trees for that purpose, morning and
evening, and is the common drink of every individual upon the island;
yet a much greater quantity is drawn off than is consumed in this use,
and of the surplus they make both a syrup and coarse sugar. The liquor
is called _dua_, or _duac_, and both the syrup and sugar, _gula_. The
syrup is prepared by boiling the liquor down in pots of earthen-ware,
till it is sufficiently inspissated; it is not unlike treacle in
appearance, but is somewhat thicker, and has a much more agreeable
taste: The sugar is of a reddish brown, perhaps the same with the Jugata
sugar upon the continent of India, and it was more agreeable to our
palates than any cane-sugar, unrefined, that we had ever tasted. We were
at first afraid that the syrup, of which some of our people eat very
great quantities, would have brought on fluxes, but its aperient quality
was so very slight, that what effect it produced was rather salutary
than hurtful. I have already observed, that it is given with the husks
of rice to the hogs, and that they grow enormously fat without taking
any other food: We were told also, that this syrup is used to fatten
their dogs and their fowls, and that the inhabitants themselves have
subsisted upon this alone for several months, when other crops have
failed, and animal food has been scarce.[108] The leaves of this tree
are also put to various uses, they thatch houses, and make baskets,
cups, umbrellas, and tobacco-pipes. The fruit is least esteemed, and as
the blossoms are wounded for the tuac or toddy, there is not much of it:
It is about as big as a large turnip, and covered, like the cocoa-nut,
with a fibrous coat, under which are three kernels, that must be eaten
before they are ripe, for afterwards they become so hard that they
cannot be chewed; in their eatable state they taste not unlike a green
cocoa-nut, and, like them, probably they yield a nutriment that is
watery and unsubstantial.
[Footnote 108: Few things are so nutritious to animals as sugar; and
vegetable substances, in general, are nutritious in proportion to the
quantity of it they contain. How it can be pernicious, then, as an
ingredient in diet, it would be very difficult to show, without
disparaging the wisdom and goodness by which the world is supported. But
in fact there is not the least reason for such an opinion; and if the
strongest assertions of most respectable men are at all to be regarded,
a very different one, indeed, must be maintained. A few quotations may
satisfy the reader on the subject, and dispossess him of unfounded
prejudices _reluctantly_ imbibed in the nursery. "So palatable,
salutary, and nourishing is the juice of the cane, that every individual
of the animal creation drinking freely of it, derives health and vigour
from its use. The meagre and sickly among the negroes exhibit a
surprising alteration in a few weeks after the mill is set in action.
The labouring horses, oxen, and mules, though almost constantly at work
during this season, yet being indulged with plenty of the green tops of
this noble plant, and some of the scummings from the boiling-house,
improve more than at any one period of the year. Even the pigs and
poultry fatten on the refuse." So says Mr Edwards. Two physicians quoted
by him speak to the same effect,--take the words of one of them; Dr
Rush, of Philadelphia,--"Sugar affords the greatest quantity of
nourishment in a given quantity of matter, of any substance in nature.
Used alone, it has fattened horses and cattle in St Domingo, for a
period of several months. The plentiful use of sugar in diet is one of
the best preventatives that ever has been discovered, of the diseases
which are produced by worms. The plague has never been known in this
country, where sugar composes a material part of the diet of the
inhabitants." Dr Mosely, in his Treatise on Sugar, speaks equally
confidently of the nutritious and beneficial effects of this substance.
Now, indeed, the concurrent testimony and opinions of medical men are so
decided on the subject, that it seems impossible to entertain any other
sentiment. The principal objection to the use of sugar in diet, is what
applies to certain cases only, when the stomach and bowels are
_particularly_ disordered, or where there is a strong tendency to an
over full state of the blood-vessels, tending to the production of palsy
or apoplexy, which this article, from its very nutritious properties,
and because also it perhaps undergoes a sort of fermentation in the
stomach, by which something of the nature of wine may be produced, would
be apt rather to augment.--E.]
The common method of dressing food here is by boiling, and as fire-wood
is very scarce, and the inhabitants have no other fuel, they make use of
a contrivance to save it, that is not wholly unknown in Europe, but is
seldom practised, except in camps. They dig a hollow under ground, in a
horizontal direction, like a rabbit-burrow, about two yards long, and
opening into a hole at each end, one of which is large, and the other
small: By the large hole the fire is put in, and the small one serves
for a draught. The earth over this burrow is perforated by circular
holes, which communicate with the cavity below; and in these holes are
set earthen pots, generally about three to each fire, which are large in
the middle, and taper towards the bottom, so that the fire acts upon a
large part of their surface. Each of these pots generally contains about
eight or ten gallons, and it is surprising to see with how small a
quantity of fire they may be kept boiling; a palm-leaf, or a dry stalk
thrust in now and then, is sufficient: In this manner they boil all
their victuals, and make all their syrup and sugar. It appears by
Frazier's account of his voyage to the South-Sea, that the Peruvian
Indians have a contrivance of the same kind, and perhaps it might be
adopted with advantage by the poor people even of this country, where
fuel is very dear.
Both sexes are enslaved by the hateful and pernicious habit of chewing
betel and areca, which they contract even while they are children, and
practise incessantly from morning till night. With these they always mix
a kind of white lime, made of coral stone and shells, and frequently a
small quantity of tobacco, so that their mouths are disgustful in the
highest degree both to the smell and the sight: The tobacco taints their
breath, and the betel and lime make the teeth not only as black as
charcoal, but as rotten too. I have seen men between twenty and thirty,
whose fore-teeth have been consumed almost down to the gums, though no
two of them were exactly of the same length or thickness, but
irregularly corroded, like iron by rust. The loss of teeth is, I think,
by all who have written upon the subject, imputed to the tough and
stringy coat of the areca-nut; but I impute it wholly to the lime: They
are not loosened, or broken, or forced out, as might be expected if they
were injured by the continual chewing of hard and rough substances, but
they are gradually wasted like metals that are exposed to the action of
powerful acids; the stumps always adhering firmly to the socket in the
jaw, when there is no part of the tooth above the gums: And possibly
those who suppose that sugar has a bad effect upon the teeth of
Europeans, may not be mistaken, for it is well known that refined
loaf-sugar contains a considerable quantity of lime; and he that doubts
whether lime will destroy bone of any kind, may easily ascertain the
fact by experiment.[109]
[Footnote 109: The injurious effect of sugar on the teeth, it is
believed, is not now seriously contended for by any persons who think
and make observations on the matter, though, undoubtedly, the assertion
respecting it holds its place as strongly as ever, among the economical
maxims of prudent matrons. A word or two as to lime. When this is spoken
of, let it be understood always what is meant; whether pure lime, that
is what is called burnt lime, or the same substance in combination with
fixed air, or carbonic acid, of which the process of burning deprives
it. The effects of these two preparations are exceedingly different on
animal bodies; the former causing rapid decomposition and consumption;
the latter being, on the contrary, quite inert. Loaf-sugar, though
prepared by means of lime, ought never to contain a particle of it, and
scarcely ever does. So that, on the whole, the remarks in the text are
totally incorrect. As a matter of fact, again, the writer, from his own
experience, and as what he has often occasion to recommend to others,
takes the liberty of prescribing a tooth-powder, equal in comfort,
efficacy, and safety, to any sold in the shops under such pompous and
imposing titles. It consists of equal parts of lump-sugar, (the finer
the better) Spanish or French chalk, (which is in fact lime) rose-pink,
(for the purpose of colouring, and also as an absorbent) and oris-root,
(remarkable for its pleasant smell, and to be had in the perfumers' or
druggists' shops, ready powdered) all in very fine powder, and properly
mixed together. A box of this never-to-be-excelled dentifrice, may cost
two-pence, or so, for which, however, or for something else not a whit
better, if as good, they who choose may give half-a-crown. When the
teeth are already tolerably clean, and not encrusted with what is called
tartar, a soft brush is always to be preferred, as risking the enamel
less. Hard brushes and gritty powders ruin more teeth than all the sugar
and lime in the world. Charcoal is undoubtedly a good substitute for a
_tooth-powder_; but it is to be objected to as leaving black furrows in
the gums, which even much washing fails to remove in any reasonable
time. This is a good deal obviated when it forms but a part of the
article used. It may be mixed with the powder recommended.--E.]
If the people here are at any time without this odious mouthful, they
are smoking. This operation they perform by rolling up a small quantity
of tobacco, and putting it into one end of a tube about six inches long,
and as thick as a goose-quill, which they make of a palm leaf. As the
quantity of tobacco in these pipes is very small, the effect of it is
increased, especially among the women, by swallowing the smoke.
When the natives of this island were first formed into civil society, is
not certainly known, but at present it is divided into five
principalities or nigrees: _Laai_, _Seba_, _Regeeua_, _Timo_, and
_Massara_, each of which is governed by its respective raja or king. The
raja of Seba, the principality in which we were ashore, seemed to have
great authority, without much external parade or show, or much
appearance of personal respect. He was about five-and-thirty years of
age, and the fattest man we saw upon the whole island; he appeared to
be of a dull phlegmatic disposition, and to be directed almost
implicitly by the old man who, upon my presenting him with a sword, had
procured us a fair market, in spite of the craft and avarice of the
Dutch-factors. The name of this person was _Mannu Djarme_, and it may
reasonably be supposed that he was a man of uncommon integrity and
abilities, as, notwithstanding his possession of power in the character
of a favourite, he was beloved by the whole principality. If any
difference arises among the people, it is settled by the raja and his
counsellors, without delay or appeal, and, as we were told, with the
most solemn deliberation and impartial justice.
We were informed by Mr Lange, that the chiefs who had successively
presided over the five principalities of this island, had lived for time
immemorial in the strictest alliance and most cordial friendship with
each other; yet he said the people were of a warlike disposition, and
had always courageously defended themselves against foreign invaders. We
were told also that the island was able to raise, upon very short
notice, 7300 fighting men, armed with muskets, spears, lances, and
targets. Of this force, Laai was said to furnish 2600; Seba, 2000;
Regeeua, 1500; Timo, 800; and Massara, 400. Besides the arms that have
been already mentioned, each man is furnished with a large pole-ax,
resembling a wood-bill, except that it has a straight edge, and is much
heavier: This, in the hands of people who have courage to come to close
quarters with an enemy, must be a dreadful weapon; and we were told that
they were so dexterous with their lances, that at the distance of sixty
feet they would throw them with such exactness as to pierce a man's
heart, and such force as to go quite through his body.
How far this account of the martial prowess of the inhabitants of Savu
may be true, we cannot take upon us to determine; but during our stay,
we saw no appearance of it. We saw indeed in the town-house, or house of
assembly, about one hundred spears and targets, which served to arm the
people who were sent down to intimidate us at the trading place; but
they seemed to be the refuse of old armories, no two being of the same
make or length, for some were six, and some sixteen feet long: We saw no
lance among them, and as to the muskets, though they were clean on the
outside, they were eaten into holes by the rust within; and the people
themselves appeared to be so little acquainted with military discipline,
that they marched like a disorderly rabble, every one having, instead of
his target, a cock, some tobacco, or other merchandise of the like
kind, which he took that opportunity to bring down to sell, and few or
none of their cartridge-boxes were furnished with either powder or ball,
though a piece of paper was thrust into the hole to save appearances. We
saw a few swivel guns and pateraros at the town-house, and a great gun
before it; but the swivels and pateraros lay out of their carriages, and
the great gun lay upon a heap of stones, almost consumed with rust, with
the touch-hole downwards, possibly to conceal its size, which might
perhaps be little less than that of the bore.
We could not discover that among these people there was any rank of
distinction between the raja and the landowners: The land-owners were
respectable in proportion to their possessions; the inferior ranks
consist of manufacturers, labouring poor, and slaves. The slaves, like
the peasants in some parts of Europe, are connected with the estate, and
both descend together: But though the landowner can sell his slave, he
has no other power over his person, not even to correct him, without the
privity and approbation of the raja. Some have five hundred of these
slaves, and some not half a dozen: The common price of them is a fat
hog. When a great man goes out, he is constantly attended by two or more
of them: One of them carries a sword or hanger, the hilt of which is
commonly of silver, and adorned with large tassels of horse hair; and
another carries a bag which contains betel, areca, lime, and tobacco. In
these attendants consists all their magnificence, for the raja himself
has no other mark of distinction.
The chief object of pride among these people, like that of a Welchman,
is a long pedigree of respectable ancestors, and indeed a veneration for
antiquity seems to be carried farther here than in any other country:
Even a house that has been well inhabited for many generations, becomes
almost sacred, and few articles either of use or luxury bear so high a
price as stones, which having been long sat upon, are become even and
smooth: Those who can purchase such stones, or are possessed of them by
inheritance, place them round their houses, where they serve as seats
for their dependants.[110]
[Footnote 110: The specification of the Welch here is very vulgar, and
the more so, as obviously sarcastic. Deeper or more scientific
observation would have led Dr Hawkesworth to some general principle
which produces a love of ancestry in all our species. Mr Gibbon has very
expressively described it, in the beginning of the memoirs of his own
life, to which the reader is referred. Nothing is less becoming a
philosopher, than wittily pointing out national peculiarities, without
taking the least pains to discover the foundations on which they are
built, or connecting them with circumstances and principles common to
mankind. Every thing, in fact, will seem anomalous and insulated in the
history of different nations, if it is not distinctly recollected that
human nature is the same throughout the globe which it inhabits, and is
merely modified by external causes.--E.]
Every Raja sets up in the principal town of his province, or nigree, a
large stone, which serves as a memorial of his reign. In the principal
town of Seba, where we lay, there are thirteen such stones, besides many
fragments of others, which had been set up in earlier times, and are now
mouldering away: These monuments seem to prove that some kind of civil
establishment here is of considerable antiquity. The last thirteen
reigns in England make something more than 276 years.
Many of these stones are so large, that it is difficult to conceive by
what means they were brought to their present station, especially as it
is the summit of a hill; but the world is full of memorials of human
strength, in which the mechanical powers that have been since added by
mathematical science, seem to be surpassed; and of such monuments there
are not a few among the remains of barbarous antiquity in our own
country, besides those upon Salisbury plain.
These stones not only record the reigns of successive princes, but serve
for a purpose much more extraordinary, and probably altogether peculiar
to this country. When a raja dies, a general feast is proclaimed
throughout his dominions, and all his subjects assemble round these
stones: Almost every living creature that can be caught is then killed,
and the feast lasts for a less or greater number of weeks or months, as
the kingdom happens to be more or lets furnished with live stock at the
time; the stones serve for tables. When this madness is over, a fast
must necessarily ensue, and the whole kingdom is obliged to subsist upon
syrup and water, if it happens in the dry season, when no vegetables can
be procured, till a new stock of animals can be raised from the few that
have escaped by chance, or been preserved by policy from the general
massacre, or can be procured from the neighbouring kingdoms. Such,
however, is the account that we received from Mr Lange.
We had no opportunity to examine any of their manufactures, except that
of their cloth, which they spin, weave, and dye; we did not indeed see
them employed, but many of the instruments which they use fell in our
way. We saw their machine for clearing cotton of its seeds, which is
made upon the same principles as those in Europe, but is so small that
it might be taken for a model, or a toy: It consists of two cylinders,
like our round rulers, somewhat less than an inch in diameter, one of
which, being turned round by a plain winch, turns the other by means of
an endless worm; and the whole machine is not more than fourteen inches
long, and seven high: That which we saw had been much used, and many
pieces of cotton were hanging about it, so that there is no reason to
doubt its being a fair specimen of the rest. We also once saw their
apparatus for spinning; it consisted of a bobbin, on which was wound a
small quantity of thread, and a kind of distaff filled with cotton; we
conjectured therefore that they spin by hand, as the women of Europe did
before the introduction of wheels; and I am told that they have not yet
found their way into some parts of it. Their loom seemed to be in one
respect preferable to ours, for the web was not stretched upon a frame,
but extended by a piece of wood at each end, round one of which the
cloth was rolled, and round the other the threads: The web was about
half a yard broad, and the length of the shuttle was equal to the
breadth of the web, so that probably their work goes on but slowly. That
they dyed this cloth we first guessed from its colour, and from the
indigo which we saw in their plantations; and our conjecture was
afterwards confirmed by Mr Lange's account. I have already observed,
that it is dyed in the yarn, and we once saw them dying what was said to
be girdles for the women, of a dirty red, but with what drug we did not
think it worth while to enquire.
The religion of these people, according to Mr Lange's information, is an
absurd kind of paganism, every man chusing his own god, and determining
for himself how he should be worshipped; so that there are almost as
many gods and modes of worship as people. In their morals, however, they
are said to be irreproachable, even upon the principles of Christianity:
No man is allowed more than one wife; yet an illicit commerce between
the sexes is in a manner unknown among them: Instances of theft are very
rare; and they are so far from revenging a supposed injury by murder,
that if any difference arises between them, they will not so much as
make it the subject of debate, lest they should be provoked to
resentment and ill-will, but immediately and implicitly refer it to the
determination of their king.
They appeared to be a healthy and long-lived people; yet some of them
were marked with the small-pox, which Mr Lange told us had several times
made its appearance among them, and was treated with the same precaution
as the plague. As soon as a person was seized with the distemper, he
was removed to some solitary place, very remote from any habitation,
where the disease was left to take its course, and the patient supplied
with daily food by reaching it to him at the end of a long pole.
Of their domestic economy we could learn but little: In one instance,
however, their delicacy and cleanliness are very remarkable. Many of us
were ashore here three successive days, from a very early hour in the
morning till it was dark; yet we never saw the least trace of an
offering to Cloacina, nor could we so much as guess where they were
made. In a country so populous this is very difficult to be accounted
for, and perhaps there is no other country in the world where the secret
is so effectually kept.
The boats in use here are a kind of proa.
This island was settled by the Portugueze almost as soon as they first
found their way into this part of the ocean; but they were in a short
time supplanted by the Dutch. The Dutch however did not take possession
of it, but only sent sloops to trade with the natives, probably for
provisions to support the inhabitants of their spice islands, who,
applying themselves wholly to the cultivation of that important article
of trade, and laying out all their ground in plantations, can breed few
animals: Possibly their supplies by this occasional traffic were
precarious; possibly they were jealous of being supplanted in their
turn; but however that be, their East India Company, about ten years
before, entered into a treaty with the rajas, by which the Company
stipulated to furnish each of them with a certain quantity of silk, fine
linen, cutlery ware, arrack, and other articles, every year; and the
rajas engaged that neither they nor their subjects should trade with any
person except the Company, without having first obtained their consent,
and that they would admit a resident on behalf of the Company, to reside
upon the island, and see that their part of the treaty was fulfilled:
They also engaged to supply annually a certain quantity of rice, maize,
and calevances. The maize and calevances are sent to Timor in sloops,
which are kept there for that purpose, each of which is navigated by ten
Indians; and the rice is fetched away annually by a ship which brings
the Company's returns, and anchors alternately in each of the three
bays. These returns are delivered to the rajas in the form of a
present, and the cask of arrack they and their principal people never
cease to drink, as long as a drop of it remains. In consequence of this
treaty, the Dutch placed three persons upon the island: Mr Lange, his
colleague, the native of Timor, the son of an Indian woman by a
Portuguese, and one Frederick Craig, the son of an Indian woman by a
Dutchman. Lange visited each of the rajas once in two months, when he
made the tour of the island, attended by fifty slaves on horseback. He
exhorted these chiefs to plant, if it appeared that they had been
remiss, and observed where the crops were got in, that he might order
sloops to fetch it; so that it passed immediately from the ground to the
Dutch store-houses at Timor. In these excursions he always carried with
him some bottles of arrack, which he found of great use in opening the
hearts of the rajas, with whom he had to deal.
During the ten years that he had resided upon this island he had never
seen a European besides ourselves, except at the arrival of the Dutch
ship, which had sailed about two months before we arrived; and he was to
be distinguished from the natives only by his colour and his dress, for
he sate upon the ground, chewed his betel, and in every respect adopted
their character and manners: He had married an Indian woman of the
island of Timor, who kept his house after the fashion of her country;
and he gave that as a reason for not inviting us to visit him, saying,
that he could entertain us in no other manner than the Indians had done,
and he spoke no language readily but that of the country.
The office of Mr Frederick Craig was to instruct the youth of the
country in reading and writing, and the principles of the Christian
religion; the Dutch having printed versions of the New Testament, a
catechism, and several other tracts, in the language of this and the
neighbouring islands. Dr Solander, who was at his house, saw the books,
and the copy-books also, of his scholars, many of whom wrote a very fair
hand. He boasted that there were no less than six hundred Christians in
the township of Seba; but what the Dutch Christianity of these Indians
may be, it is not perhaps very easy to guess, for there was not a
church, nor even a priest, in the whole island.
While we were at this place, we made several enquiries concerning the
neighbouring islands, and the intelligence which we received is to the
following effect:--
A small island to the westward of Savu, the name of which we did not
learn, produces nothing of any consequence but areca-nuts, of which the
Dutch receive annually the freight of two sloops, in return for presents
that they make to the islanders.
Timor is the chief, and the Dutch residents on the other islands go
thither once a-year to pass their accounts. The place was nearly in the
same state as in Dampier's time, the Dutch having there a fort and
storehouses; and by Lange's account we might there have been supplied
with every necessary that we expected to procure at Batavia, salt
provisions and arrack not excepted. But the Portuguese were still in
possession of several towns on the north side of the island,
particularly Laphao and Sesial.
About two years before our arrival, a French ship was wrecked upon the
east coast of Timor; and after she had lain some days upon the shoal, a
sudden gale broke her up at once, and drowned the captain, with the
greatest part of the crew: Those who got ashore, among whom was one of
the lieutenants, made the best of their way to Concordia; they were four
days upon the road, where they were obliged to leave part of their
company through fatigue, and the rest, to the number of about eighty,
arrived at the town. They were supplied with every necessary, and sent
back to the wreck, with proper assistance, for recovering what could be
fished up: They fortunately got up all their bullion, which was in
chests, and several of their guns, which were very large. They then
returned to the town, but their companions who had been left upon the
road were missing, having, as it was supposed, been kept among the
Indians, either by persuasion or force; for they are very desirous of
having Europeans among them, to instruct them in the art of war. After a
stay of more than two months at Concordia, their number was diminished
nearly one half by sickness, in consequence of the fatigue and hardship
which they had suffered by the shipwreck, and the survivors were sent in
a small vessel to Europe.
Rotte was in much the same situation as Savu; a Dutch factor resided
upon it to manage the natives, and look after its produce, which
consists, among other articles, of sugar. Formerly it was made only by
bruising the canes, and boiling the juice to a syrup, in the same manner
as toddy; but great improvements have lately been made in preparing this
valuable commodity. The three little islands called the Solars were also
under the influence of the Dutch settlement at Concordia: They are flat
and low, but abound with provisions of every kind, and the middlemost
is said to have a good harbour for shipping. Ende, another little
island to the westward of the Solars, was still in the hands of the
Portuguese, who had a good town and harbour on the north-east corner of
it called Larntuca: They had formerly an harbour on the south side of
it, but that, being much inferior to Larntuca, had for some time been
altogether neglected.
The inhabitants of each of these little islands speak a language
peculiar to themselves, and it is an object of Dutch policy to prevent,
as much as possible, their learning the language of each other. If they
spoke a common language, they would learn, by a mutual intercourse with
each other, to plant such things as would be of more value to themselves
than their present produce, though of less advantage to the Dutch; but
their languages being different, they can communicate no such knowledge
to each other, and the Dutch secure to themselves the benefit of
supplying their several necessities upon their own terms, which it is
reasonable to suppose are not very moderate. It is probably with a view
to this advantage that the Dutch never teach their own language to the
natives of these islands, and have been at the expence of translating
the Testament and catechisms into the different languages of each; for
in proportion as Dutch had become the language of their religion, it
would have become the common language of them all.[111]
[Footnote 111: The Dutch in all their transactions abroad seem to have
invariably minded the _main chance, the one thing needful_; and to this
consideration, as a fundamental principle in their character, they never
scrupled to sacrifice every and any matter of religion, policy or
humanity,--as if the love of money was (to reverse the language of an
apostle) the root of all virtue, and alone worthy of cultivation in the
breasts of mankind. Whether their contempt of other people were greater
than their indifference to the real interests which necessary connexion
with them recommended, it is impossible to ascertain in some cases. It
is on either supposition, to their indelible disgrace, that not the
least pains were almost at any time bestowed by them, to acquire a
knowledge of the languages of the people whom they had subdued. The
Javanese, a language venerable from its antiquity, as certainly
connected with the Sanscrit or sacred dialect of the Hindus, and
important from its own excellence, as well as because spoken by some
millions of people with whom the Dutch had very long intercourse, was so
completely neglected, that till very lately not a single individual
among them could write or converse in it. Of the Malayan tongue, which
is quite distinct, though it has borrowed much from it, in consequence
of certain commercial and even religious intercourse, a little knowledge
had been acquired, and plainly for this reason, that without it no
communication could have been carried on with the people inhabiting the
sea-coasts and islands of the eastern parts of India. But even this
knowledge, it is probable, extended no farther than to the names of
substances imperatively alluring to the cupidity of Dutch merchants.
What, alas! could be expected of intellectual energy or enterprize, from
men who had surrendered their souls to _mammon_, and whose only
remaining care it was, to guzzle gin and devour enough of victuals?--E.]
To this account of Savu, I shall only add a small specimen of its
language, by which it will appear to have some affinity with that of the
South-Sea islands, many of the words being exactly the same, and the
numbers manifestly derived from the same source.
_A man_, Momonne. _A sheep_, Doomba.
_A woman_, Mobunne. _A goat_, Kesavoo.
_The head_, Catoo. _A dog_, Guaca.
_The hair_, Row catoo. _A cat_, Maio.
_The eyes_, Matta. _A fowl_, Mannu.
_The eye_ } Rowna matta. _The tail_, Carow.
_lashes_, } _The beak_, Pangoutoo.
_The nose_, Swanga. _A fish_, Ica.
_The cheeks_, Cavaranga. _A turtle_, Unjoo.
_The ears_, Wodeeloo. _A cocoa-nut_, Nieu.
_The tongue_, Vaio. _Fan-palm_, Boaceree.
_The neck_, Lacoco. _Areca_, Calella.
_The breasts_, Soosoo. _Betele_, Canana.
_The nipples_, Caboo soosoo. _Lime_, Aou.
_The belly_, Dulloo. _A fish-hook_, Maänadoo.
_The navel_, Assoo. _Tattow, the_} Tata.
_The thighs_, Tooga. _marks on_ }
_The knees_, Rootoo. _the skin_, }
_The legs_, Baibo. _The sun_, Lodo.
_The feet_, Dunceala. _The moon_, Wurroo.
_The toes_, Kissovei yilla. _The sea_, Aidassee.
_The arms_, Camacoo. _Water_, Ailea.
_The hand_, Wulaba. _Fire_, Aee.
_A buffalo_, Cabaou. _To die_, Maate.
_A horse_, Djara. _To sleep_, Tabudge.
_A hog_, Vavee. _To rise_, Tateetoo.
One, Usse.
Two, Lhua.
Three, Tullu.
Four, Uppah.
Five, Lumme.
Six, Unna.
Seven, Pedu.
Eight, Arru.
Nine, Saou.
Ten, Singooroo.
Eleven Singurung usse.
20, Lhuangooroo.
100, Sing assu.
1000, Setuppah.
10,000, Selacussa.
100,000, Serata.
1,000,000, Sereboo.
In this account of the island of Savu it must be remembered, that,
except the facts in which we were parties, and the account of the
objects which we had an opportunity to examine, the whole is founded
merely upon the report of Mr Lange, upon whose authority alone therefore
it most rest.