My escort--By steamer to Telok Anson--The other bank of the
Perak--Towards the forest--First news--Blood-letting in the
swamp--Robbed and forsaken--Revenge in due time--The Malay's
instigation--My little Sam Sam's fidelity--Philosophical
reflections under a heavy weight.
The kind reader who peruses these poor pages of notes and memories,
accustomed to hear speak of expeditions organised for the purpose of
penetrating into inhospitable lands or into regions encompassed by all
the terrors of the unknown, will perhaps think that I was jesting when I
gave the inventory of my luggage in the last chapter and that from sheer
vaunt I did not mention the support of some Geographical or Commercial
Society and neither the tons of goods which would follow in my wake, nor
the numerous waggons and armed battalion that had to escort me.
No, nothing of all this, for to tell the truth I have always found more
harm than good done by these etceteras to an explorer's equipment, and
for this reason, even in my most arduous travels, I always set out, as
it were, alone, confiding only in my own forces. And let me explain why.
From the very beginning of my wanderings in countries populated by
savages, to some of whom is attributed the most sanguinary instincts, I
reassured myself by a logical conclusion which experience has shown me
to be quite right.
If the fierceness of wild beasts, I reasoned to myself, is nothing else
but a paroxysm of fear why should we consider the fierceness of the
savages caused by other motives? Man, however wild may be his state, has
been endowed with intelligence although in some cases this intellectual
faculty is possessed in the smallest possible degree. Let us then make
him understand that he has nothing to fear from us and little by little,
if our patience does not fail, he will grow more gentle and become a
friend instead of an enemy.
Therefore to-day, as well as in the past, I carefully avoid warlike
preparations, brigandish masquerades or any escort of a prepotent or
menacing appearance. I go ahead like a simple wayfarer, with a smiling
face and friendly gestures, leaving my gun (which is indispensable in
defending oneself from the attacks of wild beasts) slung over my
shoulder.
The first welcome, I admit, is far from being cordial, and there is
always the risk of falling into a trap dexterously laid for big game and
strangers or of being ably struck by a poisoned dart, but once a meeting
has been obtained without any serious consequences accruing, it is not
so difficult as it might be supposed to follow it up with a parley, for
the feared (and fearing) individual is dumbfounded at the extraordinary
double event of either not having killed you or of not having been
killed himself, according to the law of reciprocity which for him is
inviolable.
Under the impression of this very strange fact he will not oppose
resistance to a peaceable understanding and afterwards in order to
ensure his friendship there only needs a quick intuition of the poor
creature's superstitions, beliefs and susceptibilities and a spirit of
precaution against offending his puerile vanity or of in any way
provoking jealousy or mistrust.
When he is persuaded that the presence of his undesired guest brings him
no evil he will give you his full confidence and spontaneously accept
you as a benevolent and powerful protector.
The perils, I grant, are many and great, but greater still are those
that lie in wait for an armed traveller. The savage may be terrified and
overpowered by the massacres with which civilization asserts its
tyrannical superiority but the venom of hatred has entered his soul and
he meditates and prepares an ambush which sooner or later, without fail,
will give him his revenge.
The use of brutal force (that for me is a political error) is an
enormous damage to the study of the customs, beliefs, and psychological
peculiarities of the people with whom we are in contact, for they will
back out of every enquiry or investigation, will either refuse to
respond or will tell you lies, and this accounts for the contradictory
reports that different travellers give about the same tribe or race.
This, kind reader, is my modest conviction as, from their method of
proceeding, it is also of the English, who are Masters in everything
that concerns colonization.
* * * * *
My baggage being ready it only remained for me to find some carriers who
would be useful to me, if not as guides to the country of the Sakais, at
least as interpreters between me and its inhabitants.
Penang is populated chiefly by Malays but numerous other races are
represented there, especially Chinese and Indians. Without much trouble
I succeeded in engaging the services of five porters: a Malay, an
Indian, a Chinese, a Siamese and a Sam-Sam, quite a lad. Together they
formed a little Babel which I congratulated myself would prove of great
help in making overtures with the Sakais.
All my followers, with the exception of the Sam-Sam, had faces which
would have graced the gallows and I am sure that Lombroso[2] would have
classified them without hesitation as born-criminals. But their
forbidding countenances did not alarm me as it is well known that the
basest villain becomes timid and servile when confronted by unexpected
danger, and I was well aware that the dread of tigers, snakes, traps and
poisoned arrows, the thousand mysteries of Death which the wonderful
forest encloses amidst its countless trees, amongst the confusion of its
thick interlaced creepers and under its soft moss and long grass would
have converted these ugly-faced, crooked-souled individuals into docile
lambs. I knew that once they had entered a land, to them not known, they
would not forsake me, for the Oriental has faith in the European and
will follow whither the latter leads, attributing to him rare qualities
of courage and energy as well as a marvellous ability in overcoming
obstacles and getting out of difficult positions.
* * * * *
We left Penang on a coasting steamer and after going up the River Perak
for about 60 miles we reached the little town of Telok Anson where we
landed.
It was too early in the morning, when, we arrived for me to present
myself to the British Authority and as the local officials did not in
the slightest way interfere with my free passage nor subject me to any
sort of inquisitorial interrogations (which in other colonies and under
other Protectorates I had been obliged to undergo) I gave orders for our
immediate departure as I was anxious to commence our march as soon as
possible.
Having divided our load of provisions in equal parts we crossed the
Perak on a pontoon and with a "_slamat gialat_" (pleasant journey) from
the man on board we found ourselves upon the shores where my adventures
had to begin.
I was there, then, with my face turned towards a new land, and a thrill
of joyous emotion pervaded me. What surprises were reserved for me up on
the wooded mountains towards which we were bending our steps? What
things, what habits would be revealed to me when I reached my goal?
I was leaving behind me civilized company. I was isolating myself from
educated society but I was not perturbed at the thought of the hardship,
the sufferings, the dangers that lay before me. Vague and pleasant hopes
smiled upon me from the Future. Of what nature were they? I could not
tell.
"Forward!" I said to myself and my carriers. And the march began.
* * * * *
The first day passed very well, in spite of the intense heat, and
nothing occurred worth mentioning. It was growing dark and we had
already done about 20 miles when we came in sight of a hut erected
amongst some cocoanut and banana trees. We soon found that it was
occupied by a Malay, with his wife and children, who had come there for
the cultivation of rice.
My request for hospitality, until the morning, was received with evident
distrust, but the hope of coveted gifts in the end, got the better of
Islamatic superstition in the soul of the Malay, and a covered corner of
his humble residence was accorded me and my men.
During the night I tried to make the Malay talk about the Sakais but I
could not ask him any direct questions as it would have been a serious
affair if my companions came to suspect that our way through the forest
was entirely new to me and that I was ignorant of the place where our
journey would end.
I managed, however, to find out that quite recently some Sakais had
ventured as far as there to exchange _rattan_ (Malacca cane) and rubber,
for tobacco and rice. They had then departed, but the Malay did not know
from whence they had come or whither they had gone. He believed that
they could not be very far off as a few days before he had distinctly
heard their call-whistles.
For various causes I felt obliged to doubt the truth of what the man
related, not the least of which being his ill-disguised desire to rid
himself of our company as soon as possible.
* * * * *
At day-break we started off again, following an almost untracked path
which led us over miasmatic marshes swarming with insects. Our poor legs
were attacked by a perfect army of leeches and subjected to a most
inopportune and undesirable bleeding. From time to time we were
compelled to stop and free ourselves from their tenacious hold. They
seemed to prefer European blood to Asiatic and made me suffer more than
my escort, perhaps because my skin being more tender they could better
succeed in their sanguinary intent, but although my flesh smarted and my
strength failed it was necessary to keep cheerful and pretend, every
now and then, to recognize our whereabouts just as if I had passed the
same way other times. I even assured my five companions that when we
reached the Sakais there would be no more difficulties, and so urged
them on the faster.
I hoped that the farther we penetrated into the vast wilds around us the
more I might depend upon the fidelity of my carriers as they would have
to rely upon my supposed knowledge of the country we were entering and
so would be less likely to beat a retreat. As we went along, however, I
leading the way which. I did not know myself, I could not help noticing
that they paid particular attention to every characteristic point we
passed, cutting notches in the trees with their _parang_, or knives,
after we had waded through a brook or taken a sudden turn in our course,
but my mind was too much occupied with the duties of my self-assumed
pilotage for me to attach any importance to the fact.
The weather was fine all day so that we were able to go a long way
before night fell. Not having come across any sort of refuge we were
obliged to improvise one for ourselves and in about an hour we were
resting from our fatigues whilst the little Sam-Sam served us with
boiled rice, dried fish and certain capsicums which would have made
cayenne pepper seem sugar in comparison! There being nothing better to
eat I too had to take my share of the frugal repast.
Sleep soon stole over us all, but I was somehow uneasy, for certain
strange demands my companions made me had reminded me of the marks I had
seen them making on the trees a while before, and my suspicions were
aroused without my knowing exactly how to define them; therefore, with
the excuse of writing, I determined to keep watch. Until about four
o'clock in the morning I was able to resist the somnolence which
weighed down my eyelids but at last, exhausted with so many hours'
march, with the high tension to which my nerves had been pitched and
weakened by the abundant blood-letting in the swamp, my body triumphed
over my will and I also slept.
At dawn the little wild bird, the _cep plót_, broke the silent air with
its characteristic and shrill _ci ti rià_. To him the smaller and tamer
_cep riò_ replied with a sweetly modulated solfeggio of extraordinary
precision, and I awoke. At the same time I felt myself being roughly
shaken and the voice of my little Sam-Sam cried into my ear:
"Tuan lakas bangun samoa Orang suda lari" (Wake up quickly, sir; the men
have all run away)!
Ah, then, my misgivings had not been unfounded and it was Slumber that
had betrayed me. I jumped up and looked around. There was nobody to be
seen and nothing to be heard. I turned anxiously towards our heap of
provisions and discovered instantly that the four rascals had made off
with a large booty of my rice, tobacco, and matches, things that were
very precious to me at that moment.
What was to be done? Follow them? And if we did not find them? It would
be loss of time as well as goods. The only thing to do was to treat the
incident with philosophy, comforting myself with the remote hope of some
day meeting with the scoundrels and of making them pay dear for their
knavish trick. This hope, I may say in parenthesis, was not a vain one,
for a year later I met my Chinese culprit at Telok Anson and not long
after, his Malay confederate at Penang, on both of which occasions I had
the satisfaction--without troubling the legal authority to intercede for
or against me--of giving them a lesson in honesty that I dare warrant
will have made them lose the gust of treating others as they had treated
me.
I was glad to find that the Sam-Sam boy had not deserted me for I had
taken a kind of liking to him. He told me that the Malay who had
accorded us hospitality had narrated to his countryman most terrible
things about the Sakais, describing so many perils, and such ferocious
treatment, which awaited those who risked getting into their midst, that
even a man of dauntless courage would have shuddered. Nothing was said
to me of this, but the man had informed the other three, who understood
the Malay language, and between the four it was quickly decided to
escape.
The boy had heard it all but did not give me any hint, never thinking
that the wicked project of robbing and abandoning me would have been so
speedily carried into effect.
I asked the only companion left me if he was disposed to be faithful to
his engagement and to me, no matter where we went, or whom we met with,
and he expressed his readiness to accompany me. The answer put me into
better spirits and I made arrangements for continuing our journey.
* * * * *
We boiled enough rice and broiled enough fish to last us for two meals
and then divided both in two parts. We each took our own share and
wrapped it up in some leaves ready to eat when we made a brief halt on
the banks of the many streams flowing through the forest.
With the remaining provisions we made two bundles, as bulky as seemed
possible to carry, but their weight surpassed our strength so we were
compelled to sacrifice a large quantity of our victuals which we put
into a sack and left in the hut, hoping that there it would not be
damaged by the rain, and afterwards, still well-laden, we once more set
off.
Under the scorching rays of the sun and the weight of my burden I
plodded on, philosophizing to myself--like a Boetius lost in the
jungle--in order to draw some comforting conclusion out of this, my
first, unpleasant adventure. But my philosophy soon took the form of
certain meditations and comparisons that were not all serene. My
thoughts flew to the heroes of the Bar-room and the Club to whom Sport
means fatigue, boldness, development of the muscles, and sacrifice
provided.... that every athletic exercise, however slight, be followed
up by a tepid or shower bath, massage, or the rest prescribed by the
hygienist or trainer. I thought of those so-called explorers who
enlighten the civilized part of the world upon the habits and customs of
the uncivilized part; those literary swindlers who travel in a Pullman's
car or some other vehicle, equally convenient and comfortable, to a safe
place, near the land to be explored, there to make notes of the vague
reports and yet more vague "they says" that circulate about the
Aborigines in question, and afterwards with the help of their fertile
imagination turn these mere voices into startling facts, add a few
extraordinary occurrences in the Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver style (in
which they themselves always play the principal part) and then present
their interesting writings to the public as a scientific and instructive
volume. I was inclined to envy them their ability and to admire the
ineffable good-nature of Society that pays the expenses for these
triumphs of Humbug.
[Illustration: At our approach the Sakais fled terrified from the hut.
_p._ 25.]
"Ah!" I went on grumbling to myself, and it seemed to relieve me to thus
apostrophize them in their absence, "if you were only here now, you
gentlemen of sportive tastes and you, illustrious explorers of wonderful
lands and mysterious islands, how I should like to see your virtue put
to the test: here in the forest from whose black depths a poisoned dart
may at any moment fly towards you as a Messenger of Death or from
whence a huge wild beast may, unexpectedly, rush furiously forth: here
where one's steps may be suddenly arrested by the up-rising of a
venomous snake. Who knows what an assistance to your fervid fantasy it
would be to hear in the freedom of Nature's own menagerie the sinister
hissing of the serpent, the bellowing of the elephant, the lowing of the
_sladan_, the roar of the tiger, the grunt of the wild-boar, the squeal
of the monkey, and the peevish notes of the cockatoo all blended into a
formidable concert, the accompaniment being the rustling of reeds and
climbing plants, moved more by animal life than by the air; the
fluttering of leaves; the humming and buzzing of myriads of insects: the
murmuring of the brooks: voices and sounds that announce to the
traveller a continual increase of danger".
But I must apologize to my readers for this digression. The jungle and
its concerts often make one commit the sin of philosophy, and, in thus
sinning, I had involuntarily forgotten you.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 2: An Italian celebrated for his psychological
studies.--Translator's note.]