Billaton. At two A. M. we weighed, and ten minutes afterwards the ship
struck on a shoal. All our exertions to get her off proved abortive, and
in this uncomfortable position we remained till the following Thursday,
when she again floated, after throwing overboard the guns, and landing
such stores as we could on the island. This accident and light winds
lengthened our passage to Anger (the Dutch settlement in Java) to
twenty-one days; and there we remained five days, to ascertain the rate
of our chronometers. This Dutch settlement at Anger, although slightly
fortified, might be made a place of great consequence: both outward and
homeward bound vessels touch here for water and stock; and were it
properly supported and improved by the Dutch, as it should be, it would
command a great deal of trade, and during war be of great consequence.
It is governed by a Dutch military officer, and is garrisoned with about
fifty soldiers. The country is remarkably fine here, the plains richly
cultivated and covered with cattle. The farmers complain bitterly of the
taxes imposed upon them by the Dutch, taxes so onerous that no native
has a chance of realising any profits of consequence; but this is Dutch
policy, and very unwise policy it is. We now thought that we were about
to proceed to the isle of France direct, but we were mistaken: we
weighed anchor, and proceeded to the Cocoa islands. This is a low group
of islands literally covered with cocoa-nut trees. These islands are
possessed by a Mr. Ross, formerly mate of a merchant vessel. His family
consisted of two sons and two daughters, and are the only Europeans who
reside there. We could not help thinking that the Misses Ross had very
little chance of getting husbands. The remainder of the population,
amounting to about 120 souls, are all black. They extract the oil from
the cocoa-nut, and trade with it to Java, from whence they procure the
necessary supplies. Whalers occasionally call here to obtain fresh
provisions; but the visit of a man-of-war was quite an event.
From the Cocoas we steered for the Cagardos Carahos shoals, where we
remained for more than a fortnight, surveying. There are several islands
close to these shoals, which are in the shape of a crescent. They are
very dangerous, being in the direct track of ships from China and the
Indies.
Indeed, we had ocular proof of their dangerous position, for there were
seven or eight wrecks upon them, and the small islands of sand were
crowded with masts, spars, chests, interspersed with human bones
bleaching in the powerful sun. On one of the islands we discovered the
remains of the British ship Letitia, which was wrecked in September,
1845. At a short distance from the beach was the grave of the captain,
who was drowned in attempting to reach the shore with a bag of dollars.
Had he not held on so tight to the bag, he would in all probability have
been saved, as were all the rest on board of her. It certainly would be
very advisable to build a lighthouse upon these shoals; the expense
would be nothing compared to the loss of property and life which they
occasion every year. From the Cagardos Carahos we proceeded to the
Mauritius. Here we found the President, bearing the flag of Admiral
Dacres, and the Snake brig just arrived from England.
Port Louis has been too often described to be mentioned here. Behind it
rose a range of mountains, the highest of which are about 1400 feet
above the level of the sea, and completely shelter the town from the S.
E. gales, which at this period of the year blow with great violence.
Among these mountains is the famous Peter-Botte, and we looked upon it
with great interest, in consequence of the daring and successful attempt
made a few years since by some Englishmen to attain the summit of it.
Even now, although we know that it has been done, it appears to be
impossible. One of the leaders of this expedition was Lieutenant Thomas
Keppel, the brother of our favourite Captain Henry Keppel, and this
circumstance gave it more interest to us; but T. Keppel has since left
the service, and is now a Reverend, moored in a snug _Creek_, and has
quite given over climbing up Peter-Bottes. During the short time that we
remained at this delightful island, we received every kindness and
attention from the governor and his lady, and the officers of the two
regiments stationed there.
[Illustration: PORT LOUIS.
(MAURITIUS.)
F. M. DELT.
M. N. HANHART LITH. PRINTERS
LONDON; LONGMAN & CO. 1848]
From the Mauritius we proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope. On the morning
of the 24th of September we hove in sight of the Table Mountain, but it
was not until the 26th that we cast anchor in Simon's Bay. Here we
remained for a month, waiting for the arrival of the mail from England.
At last it arrived, but not bringing us, as our captain hoped, the order
for his return to India, on the 24th of October we made sail for
England, and, calling at St. Helena and Ascension _en route_, on the
last day of the year we dropped our anchor at Spithead. We were not,
however, emancipated till the 18th day of January, on which day the ship
was paid off, for which, and all other mercies, may the Lord be
praised!
OBSERVATIONS
UPON
THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO.
It is with diffidence that I take up my pen to offer a few remarks upon
the prospects afforded to our commerce and manufactures by the opening
of the Eastern Archipelago. Hitherto I have done little more than
narrate what I have seen, and have seldom made any attempt to express
what I have thought. However, as my thoughts have been generated from
what I have observed, whether I am correct or not in my opinions, I
shall venture to lay them before my readers.
How it is that until lately we have never taken any notice of this
immense archipelago it is difficult to say, unless we are to suppose
that, up to the present, the other portions of the inhabited globe have
been found sufficient to consume our manufactures as fast as they could
be produced. It does appear strange that an assemblage of islands,
which, large and small, amounting to about 12,000 in number, equal in
territory to any continent, and so populous, for the inhabitants,
including the more northern islands, are estimated at fifty millions,
should have hitherto been unnoticed, and, at all events, have not
attracted the attention of our government. Moreover, there are such
facilities of communication, not being compelled, as with the Chinese,
to confine ourselves to five or six ports, at which the whole trade is
centred in the hands of a monopoly, taxed with the expences of
land-carriage, port duties, and other exactions. Here, on the contrary,
from the division of the territory into so many portions, we possess all
the advantages of inland navigation, if I may use such a term, for the
straits and channels between them serve as large rivers do on the
continents to render the communication with the interior easy and
accessible. And yet, although we have had possession of the East Indies
for so many years, this archipelago has been wholly neglected. At all
events, the discovery of it, for it is really such, has come in good
time, and will give a stimulus to our manufactures, most opportune, now
that we have so much increased them, that we are in want of customers.
Still we have, almost unknown to ourselves, been advancing towards it
step by step. The taking possession of the island of Sincapore was the
first and greatest stride towards it. Had it not been that we had
founded that settlement, we probably should not have been nearer to
Borneo now, than we were fifty years ago. Sir T. Raffles conferred a
great boon upon this country, and is entitled to its gratitude for
pointing out the advantages which would accrue from this possession.
Till we had made a settlement there, we knew no more of the eastern
archipelago, than what had been obtained by our circumnavigators, or of
the produce of it, further than that Borneo was the country from which
could be obtained the orang-outang.
Latterly we have been at some trouble and expence in forcing our trade
with China, little aware that almost in the route to China we had an
opening for commerce, which, in a few years, judiciously managed, will
become by far the most lucrative of the two, and what perhaps is still
more important, may be the means of a most extended trade with China, as
we can drive the Chinese from the archipelago, and supply China from
them ourselves; but of that hereafter.
One cause, perhaps, which has prevented us from turning our attention in
this direction has been, an unwillingness to interfere with the Dutch,
who have been supposed to have been in possession of all the valuable
islands in the archipelago, and from long-standing to have a prior right
to this portion of the East; but, although the Dutch have not been idle,
and are gradually adding to their possessions, there is little chance of
our interfering with them, as there is room, and more, for the Dutch,
ourselves, and every other nation which may feel inclined to compete
with us. The possessions of the Dutch are but a mere strip in this
immense field; and, although it is true that they have settlements on
the Spice Islands, so named, yet we now know that every one of these
islands may be made spice islands, if the inhabitants are stimulated by
commerce to produce these articles of trade.
It was the settlement at Sincapore which first gave us a notion of the
trade which might be carried on with this archipelago. Every year large
fleets of prahus have come up to Sincapore laden with commodities for
barter, and have taken in exchange European goods to a certain extent;
but their chief object has been to obtain gunpowder and shot, to carry
on their piratical expeditions. In fact, they are traders when they can
only obtain what they want by exchange; but when they can obtain it by
force, they then change their character, and become pirates. But our
possession of Labuan has brought us about eight hundred miles nearer to
these people, and enables us to take more effectual steps towards the
suppression of piracy than we have hitherto done; for this we may lay
down as an axiom, that we never shall reap the advantages promised to us
by commerce in this archipelago till we have most effectually put an end
to the piracy which has existed in these quarters for centuries. Before
I go on, I cannot help here observing how much this country is indebted
to Mr. Brooke for his unwearied exertions in the cause of humanity, and
his skilful arrangements. It is to be hoped, that our gratitude to him
will be in proportion, and that Her Majesty's ministers will, in their
distribution of honour and emoluments among those who have served them,
not forget to bestow some upon one who has so well served his country.
The largest, and perhaps the most important of the islands in this
archipelago, although at present the most barbarous, and the most
hostile to us, is that of Papua, or New Guinea. The inhabitants are as
well inclined to commerce as the other natives of the archipelago, and
do at present carry on a considerable trade with the Chinese, who repair
there every year in their junks, which they fill with valuable cargoes
adapted for the Chinese market. The Chinese have found the trade with
New Guinea so lucrative, that they are doing all that they can to secure
the monopoly of it, and with this view take every occasion, and do all
that they possibly can, to blacken the character of the Europeans in the
minds of the inhabitants. It is to this cause that the Papuan's
hostility to Europeans, and especially to the English, is to be
ascribed; and before we have any chance of commerce with this people, it
is necessary that the Chinese should be driven away from the island,
that they may no longer injure us by their malicious fabrications. This
will be but a just retribution for the falsehoods and lies which they
have circulated to our disadvantage. And there is another reason why we
should be little scrupulous in taking this measure, which is, that one
of their principal articles of commerce with the Papuans consists in
slaves, which are taken on board by the Chinese, and sold at Borneo, and
the adjacent islands of the archipelago, at a great profit. To obtain
these slaves, the Chinese stimulate the Papuan tribes to war with each
other, as is done for the same purpose in Africa. As this traffic is
very considerable, and we are as much bound to put down the slave trade
in the east as in the west, we have full warrant for driving their junks
away, and, by so doing, there is little doubt but that in a few years we
shall secure all the valuable trade of this island to ourselves.
Borneo is, however, the island (or continent) to which our first
attention will be particularly devoted. Up to the present we know little
of it except its coasts and a portion of its rivers; but it is here that
our principal attention must be given, as in its rivers and the island
of Sooloo the chief piratical hordes exist. We have already had some
sharp conflicts with them, and have given them some severe lessons; but
although we have given them a momentary check, and some idea of our
immense superiority, we must not imagine that two or three successful
conflicts are sufficient to put an end to a system which has been
carried on for centuries, and which is so universal, that the whole of
the present generation may be said to have been "born pirates." In fact,
we shall be compelled to subdue them wholly, to destroy them in all
their fastnesses, to leave them without a prahu in their possession, to
depose or confine their chiefs, to destroy their forts, and to carry on
a war of extermination for some years, before we shall put down the
piratical system which at present exists. It is not quite so easy a task
as may be imagined to reform so many millions of people: for it must be
remembered that it is not only at Borneo that we shall have to act, but
that we must destroy the power of the sultan of Sooloo, and other tribes
who frequent other islands, and who follow the same profession. It must
not be forgotten that one of the principal objects of these piratical
excursions is to procure slaves for sale at other ports; and perhaps
this is by far the most profitable part of the speculation. As long as
there is no security for the person, commerce must languish, and be
proportionably checked. In putting down these marauders, we are,
therefore, putting down the slave trade as with the Chinese at New
Guinea. The sooner that this is effected the better; and to do it
effectually we should have a large force at Labuan, ready to act with
decision. Let it be remembered that, with people so crafty and so cruel
as the Malays and descendants of the Arabs, lenity is misplaced, and is
ascribed to cowardice. No half measures will succeed with them. Indeed,
I have my doubts whether it will not be necessary to destroy almost
every prahu in the archipelago, and compel the natives to remain on
their territory, to cultivate or collect articles for barter, before we
shall effect our purpose; for the prahu that sails as a trader is
changed into a pirate as soon as temptation rises on her way. Indeed, if
Labuan becomes, as it will probably be, an emporium and dépôt for
European commerce, without such stringent measures a great stimulus
would be given to piracy. The peaceable trading parties, on their
return, would be laid in wait for by the piratical prahus, and the
English manufactures on board would be so tempting, and such a source of
wealth, that they would be irresistible. Neither should we be able to
afford any protection to the traders, as they would be laid in wait for
at the mouths or up the rivers, and would be captured without our
knowledge; with this difference, perhaps, that the fear of detection
would induce them to murder all the prisoners, instead of selling them
as slaves, as they do at present. Unless, therefore, the most stringent
measures are resorted to on our parts, an increase of commerce with this
archipelago would only occasion in a reciprocal ratio an increase of
piracy.
The occupation of Labuan and Sarawak will, I should imagine, prove
hardly sufficient to effect the important change to be desired, _i. e._
that of the total suppression of piracy. Stations, with forts, must be
established at the mouths of the principal rivers, that we may have a
constant watch upon the movements of the occupants. In so doing we
should be only encroaching upon those who have encroached upon others:
these rivers have been taken forcible possession of by the Malays and
Arabs, who have driven away the proprietors of the soil, which are the
Dyaks, the aborigines of the island; and they have no more right to the
possessions which they hold, than their chiefs have to the high-sounding
titles which they have assumed. That in taking this step we shall
interfere with no vested rights is certain: we shall merely be
dispossessing these piratical marauders of their strongholds; and the
cause of humanity will sufficiently warrant such interference on our
parts.
In our first attempts to establish, a peaceful and secure commerce with
this archipelago, it appears to me that it would be advisable for the
Government to take some share in the venture. Ten or twelve schooners,
well manned, confided to intelligent officers, and armed with one heavy
gun, and swivels in the gunwales, should sail for Labuan, with assorted
cargoes, with the view of both trading and checking piracy. Much depends
upon the way in which the barter is first commenced, and it would be as
well that it should not be left in the hands of adventurers, whose
mercenary feelings might induce them to excite doubt or irritation in
the minds of the natives, and, by such means, do great mischief, and
impede the trade. The constant appearance of these vessels in the
archipelago, the knowledge that they were sent, not only to barter, but
also to protect the well-disposed against violence and rapine, would
soon produce most beneficial effects, and would impose confidence.
Merchant vessels which entered the trade should be empowered, by letters
of marque, to put down piracy, and should be armed in a similar way.
Although there is little doubt but that in a short time vessels would
sail from Labuan with full cargoes for Europe, still it is more than
probable that the most important part of the trade, and which would
employ most vessels, would be the colonial trade, or rather, country
trade, to the several marts in the Indus and China. There are many
productions of the archipelago which are only valued in the East, such
as bêche-de-mer, or trepang; edible birds' nests, &c. This trade we
might very soon monopolise to ourselves, and a most lucrative one it
would prove. The following are the articles to be found in more or less
quantities over the whole of the Indian archipelago:--Antimony, tin,
gold, diamonds, pearls, sapphires, ivory, gums, camphor, sago, pepper,
tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl, skins, wax, honey, cocoa-nut oil,
coffee, rice, and coal, edible birds' nests and trepang; all the
varieties of spices, as cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, can be grown as soon
as there is a market for them; the cotton tree nourishes; and, although
not yet worked, it is proved that there is abundance of copper and lead.
An archipelago containing such rich productions, and which we may, with
some little trouble, receive in exchange for our manufactures, becomes a
national concern, and it is the paramount duty of the Government to take
every measure to facilitate the communication with it.
The expedition of Mr. Murray to the river Coti, on the south side of
Borneo, although, from imprudence, it ended not only unsuccessfully but
tragically, fully establishes that an opening for commerce is to be
established. In this expedition Mr. Murray, by his imprudence and
unguarded conduct, brought upon himself the attack of the natives, in
which he lost his own life, and the vessels with great difficulty
escaped. Since that failure, no English vessels have attempted to trade
to the south of Borneo; but we discovered that the Macassar boats paid
the coast an occasional visit, under Dutch colours, exchanging beads and
other trumpery for rich cargoes of ivory and skins. We also discovered
that commercial negotiations with this country would not be attended
with any risk, provided that the vessels employed were well armed, and
the arrangements were so made as not to excite the jealousy and
suspicion of the natives.
European manufactures would be eagerly purchased by the natives, and
would be paid for in ivory, rough ores, or dollars. Mr. Wyndham, who has
settled at Sooloo, has already sent a vessel to trade on the south-east
side of the island, near Gonong Tabor.
So much for the southern portion of this immense archipelago. We have
still to examine the more northern. Indeed, when we look upon the map,
and see the quantity of territory with which we may eventually find the
means of trading,--the millions who, but for the jealousy of the
governments, would be glad to receive our manufactures,--we are lost in
conjecture as to what extent it might eventually be driven. In the north
we should certainly have more difficulties to contend with; and it will
require that the whole of the naval force in India should be, for a
time, devoted to this object. I believe it is as much from their utter
ignorance of our power, as from any other cause, that we have hitherto
been so unsuccessful at Japan; but the object we have in view may be
effected, provided that a certain degree of the _fortiter in re_ be
combined with the _suaviter in modo_. The Japanese now carry on a large
trade with China, and also a confined trade with the Dutch, to whom they
have allowed a factory upon a small island; but they treat the Dutch
with the greatest indignity, and the Dutch submit to it, and, in so
doing, have rendered the Europeans vile in the estimation of the
Japanese. This is the error which must be destroyed by some means or
other, even if it should be necessary to pick a quarrel with them, as we
have already done with the Chinese. At the same time that I admit the
expediency of so doing, I by no means assert that we shall be altogether
justified.
There is another point worthy of consideration, which is, that a whale
fishery dépôt might be made with great success in this archipelago, any
where to the southward and eastward; and we might recover a large
portion of that lucrative employment, which, by the means of British
seamen employed in American vessels, has been wrested from us; for
although, at the commencement, the whale fishery from the States was
carried on by Americans only, since it has so enormously increased, at
least two-thirds of the people employed in the vessels are English
seamen, who have become expert in the profession. It is much to be
lamented that the laudable exertions of Mr. Enderby and others to revive
this lucrative employment for our vessels and seamen has hitherto
failed, and that some part of our surplus capital has not been devoted
to an object so important to us as a maritime country.