Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks/Chapter 15
CHAPTER XV
DESCRIPTION OF SAVU
Mr. Lange's account—Political divisions of the island—Its general appearance—Productions—Buffaloes—Horses—Sheep—Fish—Vegetables—Fan-palm—Liquor—Sugar-making—Fire-holes for cooking—Sustaining qualities of sugar—Description of the natives—Dress—Ornaments—Chewing betel, areca, lime, and tobacco—Construction of their houses—Looms and spinning-machines—Surgery—Religion—Christian converts—Radjas—Slaves—Large stones of honour—Feasts—Military—Weapons—Relations with the Dutch—Mynheer Lange—Language—Neighbouring islands—Wreck of a French ship—Dutch policy with regard to language.
I shall now proceed to give such an account of the island as I could get together during our stay, which, short as it was, was so taken up with procuring refreshments, in which occupation every one was obliged to exert himself, that very little, I confess, is from my own observation. Almost everything is gathered from the conversation of Mr. Lange, who at first and at the end was very free and open, and, I am inclined to believe, did not deceive us in what he told us, how much soever he might conceal; except, perhaps, in the strength and warlike disposition of the islanders, which account seems to contradict itself, as one can hardly imagine these people to be of a warlike disposition who have continued in peace time out of mind. As for the other islands in this neighbourhood, his information was all we had to go upon. I would not, however, neglect to set it down, though in general it was of little more consequence than to confirm the policy of the Dutch in confining their spices to particular isles, which, being full of them, cannot supply themselves with provisions.
The little island of Savu, which, trifling as it is, appears to me to be of no small consequence to the Dutch East India Company, is situate in lat. 10° 35′ S. and long. 122° 30′ E.[1] from the meridian of Greenwich: its length and breadth are nearly the same, viz. about 6 German or 24 English miles. The whole is divided into five principalities, nigries as they are called by the Indians, Laai, Seba, Regeeua, Timo, and Massara, each governed by its respective radja or king. It has three harbours, all good; the best is Timo, situate somewhere round the S.E. point of the isle; the next, Seba, where we anchored, situate round the N.W. point of the third we learnt neither the name nor situation, only guess it to be somewhere on the south side. Off the west end of the island is another called Pulo, with an additional name, which in the hurry of business was forgotten, and never again asked for.
The appearance of the island, especially on the windward side where we first made it, was allowed by us all to equal in beauty, if not excel, anything we had seen, even parched up as it was by a drought, which, Mr. Lange informed us, had continued for seven months without a drop of rain, the last rainy season having entirely failed them. Verdure, indeed, there was at this time no sign of, but the gentle sloping of the hills, which were cleared quite to the top, and planted in every part with thick groves of the fan-palm, besides woods almost of cocoanut trees, arecas which grew near the seaside, filled the eye so completely that it hardly looked for or missed the verdure of the earth, a circumstance seldom seen in any perfection so near the line. How beautiful it must appear when covered with its springing crops of maize, millet, indigo, etc., which cover almost every foot of ground in the cultivated parts of the island, imagination can hardly conceive. The verdure of Europe, set off by those stately pillars of India, palms—I mean especially the fan-palm, which for straightness and proportion, both of the stem itself and of the head to the stem, far excels all the palms that I have seen—requires a poetical imagination to describe, and a mind not unacquainted with such sights to conceive.
The productions of this island are buffaloes, sheep, hogs, fowls, horses, asses, maize, guinea corn, rice, calevances, limes, oranges, mangroves, plantains, water-melons, tamarinds, sweet sops (Annona), blimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi), besides cocoanuts and fan-palms, which last are in sufficient quantity, should all other crops fail, to support the whole island, people, stock, and all, who have at times been obliged to live upon its sugar, syrup, and wines for some months. We saw also a small quantity of European garden herbs, as celery, marjoram, fennel, and garlic, and one single sugarcane. Besides these necessaries, it has for the supply of luxury betel and areca, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and a little cinnamon, only planted for curiosity, said Mr. Lange; indeed, I almost doubt whether or not it was genuine cinnamon, as the Dutch have been always so careful not to trust any spices out of their proper islands. Besides these were probably other things which we had not an opportunity of seeing, and which Mr. Lange forgot or did not choose to mention.
All their produce is in amazing abundance, so we judged at least from the plantations we saw, though this year every crop had failed for want of rain. Most of them are well known to Europeans: I shall, however, spend a little ink in describing such only as are not, or as differ at all in appearance from those commonly known. To begin then with buffaloes, of which they have got good store; these beasts differ from our cattle in Europe in their ears, which are considerably larger, in their skins, which are almost without hair, and in their horns, which, instead of bending forwards as ours do, bend directly backwards, and also in their total want of dewlaps. We saw some of these as big as well-sized European oxen, and some there must be much larger; so at least I was led to believe by a pair of horns which I measured: they were from tip to tip 3 feet 9½ inches, across their widest diameter 4 feet 1½ inch; the whole sweep of their semicircle in front 7 feet 6½ inches. One caution is, however, exceedingly necessary in buying these beasts, which is that one of them of any given size does not weigh half as much as an ox of the same size in England; in this we, who were ignorant of the fact, were very much deceived. The larger animals which we guessed to be 400 lbs. did not weigh more than 250, and the smaller which we guessed to be 250 not more than 160; this vast difference proceeded first from a total want of fat, of which there was not the least sign, but more especially from the thinness of the flanks, and thin pieces which were literally nothing but skin and bone. Their flesh, notwithstanding this, was not bad; it was well tasted and full of gravy: not that I can put it on a footing with the leanest beef in England, yet I should suppose it better than a lean ox would be in this burnt-up climate.
Mr. Lange told us that when the Portuguese first came to this island there were horses upon it, an opinion from which I confess I rather apostatise; but, to waive the dispute, horses are now very plentiful. They are small, generally eleven or twelve hands high, but very brisk and nimble, especially in pacing, which is their common step. The inhabitants appear to be tolerable horsemen, riding always without a saddle, and generally with only a halter instead of a bridle. This is not, however, the only benefit that these islanders receive from them, for they use them as food, and prefer their flesh to that of buffaloes and every other sort but swine's flesh, which holds the highest rank in their opinion.
Their sheep are of the kind that I have seen in England under the name of Bengal sheep; they differ from ours in having hair instead of wool, in their ears being very large and flapping down, their horns almost straight, and in their noses, which are much more arched than those of our European kind. These sheep are, I believe, very frequently called cabritos, from their resemblance to goats, which, though I cannot say it appeared to me at all striking, yet had such an effect on the whole ship's company, officers and seamen, that not one would believe them to be sheep till they heard their voices, which are precisely the same as those of European ones. Their flesh was like that of the buffaloes, lean and void of flavour, to me the worst mutton I have ever eaten.
Their fowls are chiefly of the game breed and large; but the eggs are the smallest I have ever seen.
Besides these animals there are great plenty of dogs, some cats and rats, and a few pigeons, of which I saw three or four pair. Nor are any of these animals exempted from furnishing their part towards the support of polyphagous man, except the rats, which alone they do not eat.
Fish appeared to us to be scarce, indeed it was but little valued by these islanders, none but the very inferior people ever eating it, and these only at the time when their duties or business required them to be down upon the sea beach. In this case every man was provided with a light casting-net, which was girt round him and served as part of his dress; with this he took any small fish which might happen to come in his way. Turtles are scarce; they are esteemed a good food, but are very seldom taken.
Of the vegetables most are well known. The sweet sop is a pleasant fruit well known to the West Indians. Blimbi alone is not mentioned by any voyage-writer I have met with: it is a small oval fruit, thickest in the middle and tapering a little to each end, three or four inches in length, and scarcely as large as a man's finger; the outside is covered with 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, but very clean and pleasant acid. It cannot be eaten raw, but is said to be excellent in pickles; we stewed it and made sour sauce to our stews and bouilli, which was very grateful to the taste, and doubtless possessed no small share of antiscorbutic virtues. But what seems to be the genuine natural production of the island, and which they have in the greatest abundance and take the most care of, is the fan-palm or toddy-tree (Borassus flabellifer). Large groves of these trees are to be seen in all parts of the island, under which other crops, as maize, indigo, etc., are planted, so that in reality they take up no room, though they yield the treble advantage of fruit, liquor, and sugar, all, but especially the two last, in great profusion. The leaves also serve to thatch their houses, and to make baskets, umbrellas (or rather small conical bonnets), caps, tobacco pipes, etc. etc. The fruit, which is least esteemed, is also in the least plenty; it is a nut about as big as a child's head, covered like a cocoanut with a fibrous coat under which are three kernels which must be eaten before they are ripe, otherwise they become too hard to chew. In their proper state they a good deal resemble in taste the kernel of an unripe cocoanut, and like them probably afford but a watery nutriment. The excellence of the palm wine or toddy which is drawn from this tree makes, however, ample amends for the poorness of its fruit. It is got by cutting the buds, which should produce flowers, soon after their appearance, and tying under them a small basket made of the leaves of the same tree; into this the liquor drips, and must be collected by people who climb the trees for that purpose every morning and evening. This is the common drink of every one upon the island, and a very pleasant one it was so to us, even at first, only rather too sweet; its antiscorbutic virtues, as the fresh unfermented juice of a tree, cannot be doubted.
Notwithstanding that this liquor is the common drink of both rich and poor, who in the morning and evening drink nothing else, a much larger quantity is drawn off daily than is sufficient for that use. Of this they make a syrup and a coarse sugar, both which are far more agreeable to the taste than they appear to the sight. The liquor is called in the language of the island dua or duac, the syrup and sugar by one and the same name, gula; it is exactly the same as the jagara sugar on the continent of India, and prepared by simply boiling down the liquor in earthenware pots until it is sufficiently thick. In appearance it exactly resembles molasses or treacle, only it is considerably thicker; in taste, however, it much excels it, having, instead of the abominable twang which treacle leaves in the mouth, only a little burnt flavour, which was very agreeable to our palates. The sugar is reddish brown, but more clear tasted than any unrefined cane-sugar, resembling mostly brown sugar candy. The syrup seemed to be very wholesome, for though many of our people ate enormous quantities of it, it hurt nobody.
Firewood is very scarce here; to remedy, therefore, that inconvenience as much as possible, they make use of a contrivance which is not unknown in Europe, though seldom practised but in camps. It is a burrow or pipe dug in the ground as long as convenient, generally about two yards, and open at each end; the one opening of this, into which they put the fire, is large; the other, which serves only to cause a draught, is much smaller. Immediately over this pipe circular holes are dug which reach quite down into it: in these the earthen pots are set (about three to such a fire); they are large in the middle and taper towards the bottom, by which means the fire acts upon a large part of their surface. It is really marvellous to see with how small a quantity of fire they will keep these pots boiling, each of which contains eight or ten gallons; a palm leaf or a dry stalk now and then is sufficient; indeed, it seemed in that part of the island, at least, where we were, that the palms alone supplied sufficient fuel, not only for boiling the sugar, but for dressing all their victuals, besides those which are cooked by this contrivance. How many parts of England are there where this contrivance would be of material assistance to not only the poor, but the better sort of people, who daily complain of the dearness of fuel, a charge which this contrivance alone would doubtless diminish by at least one-third. But it is well known how averse the good people of England, especially of that class that may be supposed to be not above want, are to adopt any new custom which savours of parsimony. I have been told that this very method was proposed in the Gentleman's Magazine many years ago, but have not the book on board. Frézier, in his voyage to the South Sea, describes a contrivance of the Peruvian Indians upon the same principles, plate 31, p. 273, but his drawing and plan are difficult to understand, if not actually very faulty, and his description is nothing; the drawing may serve, however, to give an idea to a man who has never seen a thing of the kind.
The syrup or gula which they make in this manner is so nourishing that Mr. Lange told us that it alone fed and fattened their hogs, dogs, and fowls, and that men themselves could and had sometimes lived upon it alone for a long time, when by bad seasons, or their destructive feasts, which I shall mention by and by, they have been deprived of all other nourishment. We saw some of the swine, whose uncommon fatness surprised us much, which very beasts we saw one evening served with their suppers, consisting of nothing but the outside husks of rice and this syrup dissolved in water. This they told us was their constant and only food; how far it may be found consonant to truth that sugar alone should have such nourishing qualities I shall leave to others to determine; I have only accounts, not experience, to favour that opinion.
The people of this island are rather under than over the middling size, the women especially, most of whom are remarkably short and generally squat built. Their colour is well tinged with brown, and in all ranks and conditions nearly the same, in which particular they differ much from the inhabitants of the South Sea Isles, where the better sort of people are almost universally whiter than their inferiors. The men are rather well made, and seem to be active and nimble; among them we observed a greater variety of features than usual. The women on the other hand are far from handsome, and have a kind of sameness of features among them which might well account for the chastity of the men, for which virtue this island is said to be remarkable. The hair of both sexes is universally black and lank; the men wear it long, and fastened upon the tops of their heads with a comb; the women have theirs also long, and tied behind into a kind of not very becoming club.
Both men and women dress in a kind of blue and white clouded cotton cloth, which they manufacture themselves: of this two pieces, each about two yards long, serve for a dress. One of these is worn round the middle; this the men wear pretty tight, but it makes a kind of loose belt, in which they carry their knives, etc., and often many other things, so that it serves entirely the purpose of pockets. The other piece is tucked into this girdle, and reaching over the shoulders, passes down to the girdle on the other side, so that by opening or folding it they can cover more or less of their bodies as they please. The arms, legs, and feet of both sexes are consequently bare, as are the heads of the women, which is their chief distinction by which they are at once known from the men, who always wear something wrapped round theirs, which, though small, is of the finest material they can procure; many we saw had silk handkerchiefs, which seemed to be much in fashion.
The distinction of the women's dress, except only the head, consists merely in the manner of wearing their clothes, which are of the same materials and the same quality as the men's. Their waist-cloths reach down below the knees, and their body-cloths are tied under their arms and over their breasts. Both sexes eradicate the hair from under their armpits, a custom in these hot climates almost essential to cleanliness; the men also pluck out their beards, for which purpose the better sort carry always a pair of silver pincers hanging round their necks: some, however, wear a little hair on their upper lips, but they never suffer it to grow long.
Ornaments they have many; some of the better sort wear gold chains round their necks, but these were chiefly made of plated wire of little value; others had rings which, by their appearance, seemed to have been worn out some generations ago. One had a silver-headed cane, on the top of which was engraved 
, so that it had probably been a present from the East India Company. Besides these, beads were worn, chiefly by the men of distinction, round their necks in the form of a solitaire; others had them round their wrists, etc., but the women had the largest quantity, which they wore round their waists in the form of a girdle, serving to keep up their waist-cloths. Both sexes universally had their ears bored, but we never saw any ornaments in them, indeed, we never saw any one man dressed the whole time we were there in anything more than his ordinary clothes. Some boys of twelve or fourteen years of age wore circles of thick brass wire, passed screw-fashion three or four times round their arms above the elbow: and some men wore convex rings of ivory, two inches in breadth, and above an inch in thickness, in the same manner above the joint of the elbow. These we were told were the sons of Radjas, who alone had the privilege of wearing these cumbersome badges of high birth.
Almost all the men had their names traced upon their arms in indelible characters of black; the women had a square ornament of flourished lines on the inner part of each arm, just under the bend of the elbow; on inquiring into the antiquity of this custom, so consonant with that of tattowing in the South Sea Islands, Mr. Lange told us that it had been among these people long before the Europeans came here, but was less used in this than in most islands in the neighbourhood, in some of which the people marked circles round their necks, breasts, etc.
Both sexes are continually employed in chewing betel and areca; the consequence is that their teeth, as long as they have any, are dyed of that filthy black colour which constantly attends the rottenness of a tooth, for it appears to me that from their first use of this custom, which they begin very young, their teeth are affected and continue by gradual degrees to waste away till they are quite worn to the stumps, which seems to happen before old age. I have seen men, in appearance between twenty and thirty, whose fore teeth were almost entirely gone, no two being of the same length or the same thickness, but every one eaten to unevenness as iron is by rust. This loss of the teeth is attributed by all whose writings on the subject I have read, to the tough and stringy coat of the areca nut, but in my opinion is much more easily accounted for by the well-known corrosive quality of the lime, which is a necessary ingredient in every mouthful, and that too in no very insignificant quantity. This opinion seems to me to be almost put out of dispute by the manner in which their teeth are destroyed; they are not loosened or drawn out as they would be by the too frequent labour of chewing tough substances, but melt away and decay as metals in strong acids; the stumps always remaining firmly adhering to the jaws, just level with the gums. Possibly the ill-effects which sugar is believed by us Europeans to have upon the teeth may proceed from the same cause, as it is well known that refined or loaf-sugar contains in it a large quantity of lime.
To add flavour, I suppose, to the betel and areca, some use with it a small quantity of tobacco, adding the nauseous smell of that herb to the not less disagreeable look of the other, as if they were resolved to make their mouths disgustful to the sense of smell as well as that of sight. They also smoke, rolling up a small quantity of tobacco in one end of a palm leaf, about as thick as a quill and six inches long; of this not above one inch is filled with tobacco, so that the quantity is very small. To make amends for this the women especially often swallow the smoke, which no doubt increases its effects in no small degree.
Their houses are all built upon one and the same plan, differing only in size according to the rank and riches of the proprietors, some being 300 or 400 feet in length, and others not 20. They consist of a well-boarded floor, raised upon posts three or four feet from the ground; over this is raised a roof shelving like ours in Europe, and supported by pillars of its own, independent of the floor. The eaves of this reach within two feet of the floor, but overhang it by as much; this arrangement serves to let in air and light, and makes them very cool and agreeable. The space within is generally divided into two by a partition, which takes off one-third: in front of this partition is a loft, shut up close on all sides, raised about six feet from the ground, and occupying the centre of the house. There are sometimes one or two small rooms on the sides of the house. The use of these different apartments we did not learn, we only were told that the loft was appropriated to the women.
The shortness of our stay and the few opportunities we had of going among these people, gave us no opportunity of seeing what arts or manufactures they might have among them. That they spin, weave, and dye their cloth we, however, made shift to learn, for though we never saw them practise any of these arts, yet the instruments accidentally fell in our way; first, a machine for clearing cotton of its seeds, which was in miniature much upon the same principles as ours in Europe. It consisted of two cylinders about as thick as a man's thumb, one of which was turned round by a plain winch handle, and that turned the other round by an endless worm at their extremities; the whole was not above seven inches high and about twice as long. How it answered, I know not, but do know that it had been much worked, and that there were many pieces of cotton hanging on different parts of it, which alone induced me to believe it a real machine, otherwise, from its slightness, I should have taken it for no more than a Dutch toy of the best sort. Their spinning gear I also once saw; it consisted of a bobbin on which a small quantity of thread was wound, and a kind of distaff filled with cotton, from whence I conjecture that they spin by hand, as our women in Europe did before wheels were introduced, and I am told still do in some parts of Europe where that improvement is not received. Their loom I also saw; it had this merit over ours, that the web was not stretched on a frame, but only extended by a piece of wood at each end, round one of which the cloth was rolled as the threads were round the other. I had not an opportunity of seeing it used, so cannot at all describe it; I can say only that it appeared very simple, much more so than ours, and that the shuttle was as long as the breadth of the web, which was about half a yard. From this circumstance, and the unsteadiness of a web fixed to nothing, the work must in all probability go on very slowly. That they dyed their own cloth we first guessed by the indigo which we saw in their plantations, which guess was afterwards confirmed by Mr. Lange. We likewise saw them dye women's girdles of a dirty, reddish colour; their cloth itself was universally dyed in the yarn with blue, which, being unevenly and irregularly done, gave the cloth a clouding or waving of colour, not inelegant even in our eyes.
One chirurgical operation of theirs Mr. Lange mentioned to us with great praise, and indeed it appears sensible. It is a method of curing wounds, which they do by first washing the wound in water in which tamarinds have been steeped, then plugging it up with a pledget of the fat of fresh pork. In this manner the wound is thoroughly cleansed, and the pledget renewed every day. He told us that by this means they had a very little while ago cured a man in three weeks of a wound from a lance which had pierced his arm and half through his body. This is the only part of their medicinal or chirurgical art which came to our knowledge; indeed, they did not seem to outward appearance to have much occasion for either, but on the contrary appeared healthy, and did not show, by scars of old sores or any scurviness upon their bodies, a tendency to disease. Some, indeed, were pitted with the smallpox, which Mr. Lange told us had been now and then among them; in which case all who were seized by the distemper were carried to lonely places, far from habitations, where they were left to the influence of their distemper, meat only being daily reached to them by the assistance of a long pole.
Their religion, according to the account of Mr. Lange, is a most absurd kind of paganism, every man choosing his own god, and also his mode of worshipping him, in which hardly any two agree, notwithstanding which their morals are most excellent, Mr. Lange declaring to us that he did not believe that during his residence of ten years upon the island a single theft had been committed. Polygamy is by no means permitted, each man being allowed no more than one wife, to whom he is to adhere during life; even the Radja himself has no more.
The Dutch boast that they make many converts to Christianity; Mr. Lange said that there were 600 in the township of Seba, where we were. What sort of Christians they are I cannot say, as they have neither clergymen nor church among them; the Company have, however, certainly been at the expense of printing versions of the New Testament, catechisms, etc. etc., in this and several other languages, and actually keep a half-bred Dutchman, whose name is Frederick Craig, in their service, who is paid by them for instructing the youth of the island in reading, writing, and the principles of the Christian religion. Dr. Solander was at his house, and saw not only the Testaments and catechisms before mentioned, but also the copy-books of the scholars.
The island is divided into five principalities, each of which has its respective radja or king; what his power may be we had no opportunity of learning. In outward appearance he had but little recognition shown to him, yet every kind of business seemed to centre in him and his chief councillor, so that in reality he seemed to be more regarded in essentials than in showy useless ceremonies. The reigning Radja, while we were there, was called Madocho Lomi Djara, he was about thirty-five, the fattest man we saw upon the whole island, and the only one upon whose body grew any quantity of hair, a circumstance very unusual among Indians. He appeared of a heavy, dull disposition, and I believe was governed almost entirely by a very sensible old man called Mannudjame, who was beloved by the whole principality. Both these were distinguished from the rest of the natives by their dress, which was always a night-gown, generally of coarse chintz; once, indeed, the Radja received us in form in one of Black Prince's stuff, which I suppose may be looked upon as more grave and proper to inspire respect. If any differences arise between the people, they are settled by the Radja and his councillors without the least delay or appeal, and, says Mr. Lange, always with the strictest justice. So excellent is the disposition of these people that if any dispute arise between any two of them, they never, if it is of consequence, more than barely mention it to each other, never allowing themselves to reason upon it lest heat should beget ill-blood, but refer it immediately to this court.
After the Radja we could hear of no ranks of people but landowners, respectable according to the quantity of their land; and slaves, the property of the former, over whom, however, they have no other power than that of selling them for what they will fetch, when convenient; no man being able to punish his slave without the concurrence and approbation of the Radja. Of these slaves some men have 500, others only two or three; what was their price in general we did not learn, only heard by accident that a very fat hog was of the value of a slave, and often bought and sold at that price. When any great man stirs out he is constantly attended by two or more of these slaves, one of whom carries a sword or hanger, commonly with a silver hilt, and ornamented with large tassels of horse hair; the other carries a bag containing betel, areca, lime, tobacco, etc. In these attendants all their idea of show and grandeur seems to be centred, for we never saw the Radja himself with any more.
The pride of descent, particularly of being sprung from a family which has for many generations been respected, is by no means unknown here; even living in a house which has been for generations well attended is no small honour. It is a consequence of this that few articles, either of use or luxury, bear so high a price as those stones which by having been very much sat upon by men have contracted a bright polish on their uneven surfaces; those who can purchase such stones, or who have them by inheritance from their ancestors, place them round their houses, where they serve as benches for their dependents, I suppose to be still more and more polished.
Every Radja during his lifetime sets up in his capital town, or nigrie, a large stone, which serves futurity as a testimony of his reign. In the nigrie Seba, where we lay, were thirteen such stones, besides many fragments, the seeming remains of those which had been devoured by time. Many of these were very large, so much so that it would be difficult to conceive how the strength of man alone, unassisted by engines, had been able to transport them to the top of the hill where they now stand, were there not in Europe so many far grander instances of the perseverance as well as the strength of our own forefathers. These stones serve for a very peculiar use; upon the death of a Radja a general feast is proclaimed throughout his dominions, and in consequence all his subjects meet about the stones. Every living creature that can be caught is now killed, and the feast lasts a longer or shorter number of weeks or months according to the stock of provisions the kingdom happens to be furnished with at the time. The stones serve for tables, on which whole buffaloes are served up. After this madness is over, the whole kingdom is obliged to fast and live upon syrup and water till the next crop; nor are they able to eat any flesh till some years after, when the few animals which have escaped the general slaughter and been preserved by policy, or which they have acquired from neighbouring kingdoms, have sufficiently increased their species.
The five kingdoms, says Mr. Lange, of which this island consists, have been from time immemorial not only at peace, but in strict alliance with each other; notwithstanding which they are of a warlike disposition,—constant friends but implacable enemies,—and have always courageously defended themselves against foreign invaders. They are able to raise on a very short notice 7300 men, armed with muskets, lances, spears, and targets: of these the different kingdoms bear their different proportions—Laai 2600, Seba 2000, Regeeua 1500, Timo 800, and Massara 400. Besides the arms before mentioned, every man is furnished with a large chopping-knife, like a straightened wood-bill, but much heavier, which must be a terrible weapon, if these people should have spirit enough to come to close quarters. Mr. Lange upon another occasion took an opportunity of telling us that they heave their lances with surprising dexterity, being able at the distance of sixty feet to strike a man's heart and pierce him through. How far these dreadful accounts of their martial prowess might be true I dare not take upon myself to determine; all I shall say is that during our stay we saw no signs either of a warlike disposition or such formidable arms. Of spears and targets, indeed, there were about a hundred in the Dutch house, the largest of which spears served to arm the people who came down to intimidate us; but so little did these doughty heroes think of fighting, or indeed keeping up appearances, that instead of a target each was furnished with a cock, some tobacco, or something of that kind, which he took this opportunity of bringing down to sell. Their spears seem all to have been brought to them by Europeans, the refuse of old armouries, no two being anything near the same length, varying in that particular from six feet to sixteen. As for their lances, not one of us saw one. Their muskets, though clean on the outside, were honeycombed with rust on the inside. Few or none of their cartridge-boxes had either powder or ball in them. To complete all, the swivels and patereroes at the Dutch house were all lying out of their carriages; and the one great gun which lay before it on a heap of stones was not only more honeycombed with rust than any piece of artillery I have ever seen, but had the touch-hole turned downwards, probably to conceal its size, which might not be in all probability much less than the bore of the gun itself. The Dutch, however, use these islanders as auxiliaries in their wars against the inhabitants of Timor, where they do good service; their lives at all events not being nearly so valuable as those of the Dutchmen.
This island was settled by the Portuguese almost as soon as they went into these seas. When the Dutch first came here the Portuguese, however, were very soon wormed out by the machinations of the artful new-comers, who not only attempted to settle themselves in the island, but also sent sloops occasionally to trade with the natives, by whom they were often cut off; as often, I suppose, as they cheated them in too great a degree. This, however, and the probably increasing value of the island, at last tempted them to try some other way of securing it, and running less risk. This took place about ten years ago, when a treaty of alliance was signed between the five Radjas and the Dutch Company; in consequence of which the Company is yearly to furnish each of these kings with a certain quantity of fine linen and silk, cutlery ware, etc., in short, of any kind of goods which he wants, all which is delivered in the form of a present accompanied with a certain cask of arrack, which the Radja and his principal people never cease to drink as long as a drop of it remains. In return for this, each Radja agrees that neither he nor his subjects shall trade with any person except the Company, unless they have the permission of their resident, that they shall yearly supply so many sloop-loads of rice, maize, and calevances, the maize and calevances being sent off to Timor in sloops, which are kept on the island for that purpose. Each sloop is navigated by ten Indians. The rice is taken away by a ship, which at the time of the harvest comes to the island annually, bringing the Company’s presents, and anchoring by turns in each of the three bays.
In consequence of this treaty, Mr. Lange, a Portuguese Indian, who seems to be his second, and a Dutch Indian, who serves for schoolmaster, are permitted to live among them.
Mr. Lange himself is attended by fifty slaves on horseback, with whom he every two months makes the tour of the island, visiting all the Radjas, exhorting those to plant who seem idle; and, observing where the crops are got in, he immediately sends sloops for them, navigated by these same slaves, so that the crop proceeds immediately from the ground to the Dutch storehouses at Timor. In these excursions he always carries certain bottles of arrack, which he finds of great use in opening the hearts of the Radjas with whom he has to deal. Notwithstanding the boasted honesty of these people, it requires his utmost diligence to keep the arrack from his slaves, who, in spite of all his care, often ease him of a great part of it. During the ten years that he has resided on this island no European but himself has ever been here, except at the time of the arrival of the Dutch ship which had sailed about two months before we came. He is indeed distinguishable from the Indians only by his colour; like them he sits upon the ground and chews his betel, etc. He has been for some years married to an Indian woman of the island of Timor, who keeps his house in the Indian fashion, and he excused himself to us for not asking us to his house, telling us he was not able to entertain us in any other way than the rest of the Indians whom we saw. He speaks neither German, his native language, nor Dutch, without frequent hesitations and mistakes; on the other hand, the Indian language seems to flow from him with the utmost facility. As I forgot to mention this language in its proper place, I shall take this opportunity to write down the few observations I had an opportunity of making during our short stay. The genius of it seems much to resemble that of the South Sea Isles; in several instances the words are exactly the same, and the numbers are undoubtedly derived from the same source. I give here a list of words:—
| Momonne | a man |
| Mobunnea | a woman |
| Catoo | the head |
| Row Catoo | the hair |
| Matta | the eyes |
| Rowna Matta | the eyelashes |
| Swanga | the nose |
| Cavaranga | the cheeks |
| Wodecloo | the ears |
| Vaio | the tongue |
| Lacoco | the neck |
| Soosoo | the breasts |
| Caboo Soosoo | the nipples |
| Dulloo | the belly |
| Assoo | the navel |
| Carow | the tail |
| Pangoutoo | the beak |
| Ica | the fish |
| Unjoo | a turtle |
| Nicu | cocoanut |
| Braceree | fan-palm |
| Calella | areca |
| Canana | betel |
| Aou | lime |
| Maanadoo | a fish-hook |
| Tata | tattoo |
| Lodo | the sun |
| Wurroo | the moon |
| Aidassec | the sea |
| Ailei | water |
| Aee | fire |
| Maate | to dye |
| Tabudje | to sleep |
| Ta teetoo | to rise |
| Tooga | the thighs |
| Rootoo | the knees |
| Baibo | the legs |
| Dunceala | the feet |
| Kissovei yilla | the toes |
| Camacoo | the arms |
| Wulaba | the hand |
| Cabaou | a buffalo |
| Djara | a horse |
| Vavee | a hog |
| Doomba | a sheep |
| Kesavoo | a goat |
| Guaca | a dog |
| Maio | a cat |
| Mannu | a fowl |
| Usse | 1 |
| Lhua | 2 |
| Tullu | 3 |
| Uppah | 4 |
| Lumme | 5 |
| Unna | 6 |
| Pedu | 7 |
| Arru | 8 |
| Saou | 9 |
| Siugooroo | 10 |
| Singooring Usse, etc. | 11 |
| Lhuangooroo, etc. | 20 |
| Sing Assu, etc. | 100 |
| Setuppah, etc. | 1000 |
| Selacussa, etc. | 10,000 |
| Serata, etc. | 100,000 |
| Sereboo, etc. | 1,000,000 |
In the course of conversation Mr. Lange gave us little accounts of the neighbouring islands; these I shall set down just as he gave them, merely upon his authority.
The small island to the westward of Savu, he said, produces nothing of consequence except areca nuts, of which the Dutch annually receive two sloop-loads in return for their presents to the islanders.
Timor is the chief island in these parts belonging to the Dutch, all the others in the neighbourhood being subject to it in so far as that the residents on them go there once a year to pass their accounts. It is now nearly in the same state that it was in Dampier's time. The Dutch have their fort of Concordia, where are storehouses, which, according to Mr. Lange's account, would have supplied our ship with every article we could have got at Batavia, even salt provisions and arrack. The Dutch, however, are very frequently at war with the natives, even of Copang,[2] their next neighbours, in which case they are themselves obliged to send to the neighbouring isles for provisions. The Portuguese still possess their towns of Laphao and Sesial on the north side of the island.
About two years ago a French ship was wrecked upon the east coast of Timor. She lay some days upon the shoal, when a sudden gale of wind coming on broke her up at once and drowned most of the crew, among whom was the captain. Those who got ashore, among whom was one of the lieutenants, made the best of their ways towards Concordia, where they arrived in four days, having left several of their party upon the road. Their number was above eighty; they were supplied with every necessary, and had assistance given them in order to go back to the wreck and fish up what they could. This they did, and recovered all their bullion, which was in chests, and several of their guns, which were large. Their companions which they had left upon the road were all missing; the Indians it was supposed had either by force or persuasion kept them among them, as they are very desirous of having Europeans among them to instruct them in the art of war. After a stay of two months at Concordia, their company was diminished more than half by sickness, chiefly in consequence of the great fatigues they had endured in the days when they got ashore, and travelled to that place. These were then furnished with a small ship, in which they sailed for Europe.
We inquired much for the island of Anabao or Anambao, mentioned by Dampier; he assured us that he knew of no island of that name anywhere in these seas. I since have observed that it is laid down in several charts by the name of Selam,[3] which is probably the real name of it. Rotte is upon much the same footing as Savu: a Dutchman resides upon it to manage the natives; its produce is also much like that of Savu. It has also some sugar, which was formerly made by simply bruising the canes and boiling the juice to a syrup, as they do the palm wine; lately, however, they have made great improvements in that manufacture. There are three islands of the name of Solar lying to the eastward of Ende or Flores: they are flat and low, abounding with vast quantity of provisions and stock: they are also managed in the same manner as Savu. On the middlemost of them is a good harbour, the other two are without shelter. Ende is still in the hands of the Portuguese, who have a town and good harbour called Larntuca on the northeast corner of it: the old harbour of Ende, situated on the south side of it, is not nearly so good, and therefore now entirely neglected.
The inhabitants of each of these different islands speak different languages, and the chief policy of the Dutch is to prevent them from learning each other's language, as by this means the Dutch keep them to their respective islands, preventing them from entering into traffic with each other, or learning from mutual intercourse to plant such things as would be of greater value to themselves than their present produce, though less beneficial to the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch at the same time secure to themselves the benefit of supplying all their necessities at their own rates, no doubt not very moderate. This may possibly sufficiently account for the expense they must have been at in printing prayer-books, catechisms, etc., and teaching them to each island in its own language rather than in Dutch, which in all probability they might have as easily done, but at the risk of Dutch becoming the common language of the islands, and consequently of the natives by its means gaining an intercourse with each other.