Voyage in Search of La Pérouse/Volume 2/Chapter 15
CHAP. XV.
During our stay at Waygiou we were frequently visited by the natives, who brought us turtles, several of which weighed from 200 to 240 pounds. They had mostly been taken on the islands of Aiou. The soup which we made of them afforded great relief to our scorbutic patients. When the natives perceived that we were in need of them, they made us pay for them at ten times their value. These animals continued to crawl about several hours after their heads had been cut off. The natives sold us likewise, turtle eggs roasted and dried; broiled turtle flesh, pullets, hogs, of which they told us there was great abundance in their woods; oranges, cocoa-nuts, papayas, gourds of different kinds, rice, purslain (portulaca quadrifida), sugar canes, pimento, unripe ears of Turkey corn roasted, and the fresh sprouts of the papaya tree. They told us that the sprouts and unripe fruit of this tree were very good eating when boiled. They brought us also sago, made into a sort of flat cakes, three inches broad and six long, which they ate without any farther preparation. Some of them brought us sago made into a sourish tasted paste, after having undergone fermentation.
Most of these islanders were naked all but their natural parts, which they cover with a coarse stuff, apparently made of the bark of the fig tree. The heat of the climate renders all other cloathing unnecessary. Only their chiefs wear very wide trowsers and jackets, made of stuffs which they buy from the Chinese, who, as they told us, came from time to time to anchor where we were. Some of them wore also bracelets of silver, which they had likewise bought of the Chinese. Almost all the chiefs of these savages had been at the Molucca Islands, and spoke the Malay language. Some wore hats made of the leaves of vacoua, of a conical form, and very like to those of the Chinese. Others had their heads bound round with a sort of turban. They have all curled hair, which grows very thick, and to a considerable length. The colour of their skins is not very black. Some suffer the beard on the upper lip to grow, and have their ears and the division of the nose bored. Several of them shewed us their dexterity in shooting with the bow at a mark placed at the distance of more than forty paces; and their arrows always came very near their aim. Others were armed with very long lances, pointed with iron or bone. These islanders undoubtedly know how to forge the iron, as they set great value upon some bars of this metal, which we gave them. Tin was likewise in great request with them. But of all our commodities they gave a decided preference to cloth, particularly such as was of a red colour.
The island Waygiou, called by the inhabitants Ouarido, is covered with large trees, and throughout mountainous, even at a very small distance from the coast. The huts were built of bamboo, raised upon stakes, about three yards above the ground, and covered with reeds.
It is remarkable, that as soon as we had landed, those of our crew who were the least affected with the scurvy, or even shewed no symptoms at all of that disorder, became affected with a considerable degree of swelling all over the body: but this symptom, which had very much alarmed some of us, disappeared entirely after walking three or four hours.
During our stay in this island I made very frequent excursions into the forests, where I collec
Calao of the Island of Waigiou ed a great number of new plants, and killed a variety of rare birds, amongst which was that species of the promerops which Buffon calls the promerops of New Guinea; also a large psitaccus aterrimus, and a new species of calao, to which I gave the name of the calao of the island Waygiou. Its beak is bent, of a dirty white colour, and about six inches in length. Each mandible is unequally notched, and the superior is surmounted by a hood of a yellow colour, flat at the top and ridged. The wings and body are black, the tail white, and the neck of a lively red. (See Plate XI.) This beautiful bird is two feet in length, from the tip of the beak to the extremity of the feet.
I saw several wild cocks in the woods. The female of this species, which was brought us by the natives, was scarcely larger than a partridge, and yet its eggs were as large again as those of our domestic hen. This wild species of the dunghill-cock is black, that which I had found in the forests of Java was grey.
The crowned pheasant of India (columba coronata) is very common in these thick forests, where we found here and there wild orange trees, the fruit of which furnished our scorbutic patients with a very wholesome sort of lemonade.
The natives told us, that the road-stead where our vessels rode at anchor was infested by alligators; but this did not deter several of our sailors from bathing in it. We afterwards found some of the prints of their feet in the woods. It is particularly during the night-time that these animals are most to be feared.
Whilst we lay at anchor we were visited by several of the chiefs. The chief of Ravak supped and slept on board the Esperance the night before our departure; but as soon as he saw preparations for weighing anchor, he threw himself into the sea, from the apprehension that we were going to carry him away with us. We should have been surprised at his harbouring such a suspicion, if we had not been informed, that five months before the Dutch had carried off his brother, during an entertainment which they had made for him on board of their vessel. This chief wore trowsers, with a very wide Indian cloak, and a waistcoat of satin. His ear-rings were of gold.
The inhabitants of this island had declared war against the Dutch, and the greater part of them, with the most powerful of the chiefs, to whom they give the title of Sultan, at their head, were gone to unite with the inhabitants of Ceram, in order to attack the Governor of Amboyna, who was expected there on his visit to the Molucca Islands. The inhabitants of the huts built on the coast near our anchoring station, had provided for the safety of their women and children, by conducting them, before their departure from the island, into the villages in the heart of the country. The road-stead where our vessels lay is called by the natives Boni-Sainé. It is distant about 5,130 toises to the eastward of Ravak, and formed by the coast of Waygiou and a small island called by the natives Boni, which was eastward of our station. We were here almost under the Equator, our latitude being found by observation 38″ S. Our longitude was 128° 53′ E.
We took in our water towards the extremity of the road-stead, at a pretty large river, into which our boats could enter more than 500 toises from its mouth at low water, and twice as far at high water.
The thermometer, as observed on board, did not rise higher than 24°, undoubtedly in consequence of the abundant rains.
The barometer varied only from 28 inches 1 line to 28 inches 1½ line.
The variation of the magnetic needle was 1° 14′ E.
The breezes were very slight, and varied only from S.S.E. to S.W.
On the 28th we sailed from Waygiou, and ranged along its northern coast, standing to the west, in order to weather the westerly point. We here met with a flat which is not indicated upon the charts, where the soundings gave us a depth of from four to eight fathoms, within a space of about 300 toises in length, which we were obliged to cross. We observed in different places, rocks almost even with the water's edge, but were fortunate enough to keep clear of them. The greatest length of this flat is about 1,000 toises from north to south.
On the 4th of September we cast anchor in the road-stead of Bourou, at the distance of 1,000 toises from the Dutch settlement, in a depth of 20 fathoms, over a bottom of sand and mud. The Commander of this station immediately sent a corporal to us, to offer us a supply of whatever fresh provisions we might have occasion for. A few minutes after we observed some muskets fired amongst a herd of buffaloes that were walking along the shore, and were informed that the Resident had ordered two of the fattest to be killed for the use of our vessels. Well acquainted with the wants of navigators, he had sent us a great quantity of fruit, several bottles of an agreeable liquor extracted from the palm-tree, and some of the young leaves of a species of fern of the genus asplenium, which grows in moist places in the shade; eaten as sallad they are very tender and well-tasted.
The Resident, Henry Commans, was a man of great simplicity of manners, and very much beloved by the inhabitants. It was he whose happiness the Dutch of Amboyna described, by telling us that he might sleep as much as he pleased. We met with several persons in his house who had seen Admiral Bougainville during his stay at Bourou, and who mentioned the name of that celebrated navigator with enthusiastic admiration.
This and the following day were employed by me in surveying the different districts of this island, which presents every where a very varied and picturesque appearance. The sago tree grows here in great abundance: it forms the principal source of subsistence to the inhabitants, and affords even an article of exportation. Large plantations of it were seen near the Dutch establishment, in marshes which render this place very unhealthy, particularly in the beginning of the spring. The cayou pouti of the Malays (melaleuca latifolia), grows in great abundance upon the hills. The Resident showed us a large alembic, which he uses for distilling the leaves of this tree, from which he procures every year a great quantity of the oil of cajeput.
The island of Bourou produces several kinds of wood proper for inlaid work, which are in great request among the Chinese; and others useful in dyeing. Two Chinese vessels were run aground in the mud to the N.E. of the Dutch fort. The village near which the fort is built is called Cayeli, in the Malay language. Those of the natives who follow the Mahometan religion have a mosque, whose roofs diminishing in regular gradation as they rise one above the other, present a very agreeable appearance. (See Plate XLII. which represents a part of this village.)
The coast to the east of the village is watered only by very small streams, but about 2,500 toises to the N.W. we went up a very considerable river, called by the inhabitants Aer-Bessar, which discharges itself into the road-stead. This river is very deep, and for the length of about 2,000 toises, as far as we went up it, more than 70 feet broad. The island of Bourou undoubtedly owes its possessing so considerable a stream to the great elevation of its mountains. On the borders of the river I frequently found the beautiful shrub known by the name of portlandia grandiflora.
The pebbles rolled from the mountains, which 
View of the Island of Bourou, taken from the Road. I found on the banks of several rivulets, were fragments of rocks of quartz mixed with mica, and frequently of a sort of free stone, which likewise consisted of quartzose particles.
Birds, especially parrots, are so numerous in this island, that it probably derives from this circumstance its name, which signifies in the Malayan language, a bird.
The woods afford such abundance of deer, goats and wild boars, that the natives can furnish the Resident with as many as he has occasion for, at the rate of two musket shots fired at each. The species of boar called babi-roussa (sus babyrussa), is also found here.
The natives seemed to be much afraid of several kinds of snakes, which they told us were very numerous in their island; but during the whole of our stay in this place, which I spent almost entirely in rambling through the woods, I never met with one of these reptiles.
Although the rainy season had not yet set in, violent storms blew almost every night from the high mountains.
Upon sounding the bay, we discovered at its entrance, a little on this side of the east point, called Point Rouba, a shelf of rocks, at a depth of not more than a fathom throughout an extent of about 2,000 toises; but the rest of this spacious outlet very deep, and that even at a small distance from the western point, or Point Lessatello, called by the natives Tanguiou Corbau (Buffalo Point).
According to astronomical observations made at the village of Cayeli, its latitude was 3° 21′ 54″ S. long. 125° 1′ 6″ E.
The dip of the magnetic needle was 20° 30′.
Its variation, as observed on board, was 0° 54′ E.
The higest point indicated by the thermometer on board was 23°, and on shore 25° 3-10ths.
The mercury in the barometer varied only from 28 inches 1 line to 28 inches 2 lines.
The time of high water on the full and change days was three quarters after eleven; it then rose to six feet perpendicular height.
On the 16th we sailed from Bourou, steering for the Strait of Bouton, which we entered on the afternoon of the 22d.
17th. On the following day, about sun-set, we cast anchor 513 toises from the coast, opposite to the outlet of the channel which separates Pangesani from Celebes. Rossel, who, in consequence of Dauribeau's being indisposed, had now the command of the expedition, formed the project of sailing out through this channel. Early in the morning of the 24th, he dispatched a pinnace, which reconnoitred the channel to the extent of 15,000 toises. A great number of small islands were scattered throughout the Strait, particularly towards the coast of Celebes; and both coasts were almost every where bordered with marshes. After this report many of our seamen thought there was reason to apprehend that we might not be able to find a sufficient depth of water in every part of the channel for our vessels to pass through it; however we sailed into it on the following day, and, after having proceeded about 10,000 toises east, anchored at the close of the evening.
26th. The following day another pinnace was sent out to sound throughout the whole of this passage. She returned on the 29th in the afternoon, with the intelligence that she had found a great number of sand-banks and some flats, very difficult to be discovered on account of their black colour, which rendered the passage extremely dangerous. It was therefore determined to return to the Strait of Bouton; and after having been obliged to cast anchor, often several times in the course of a single day, we at length arrived, on the 7th October, at its southern extremity, and anchored near the village of Bouton, at the distance of 1,000 toises from the nearest coast.
We had spent a considerable space of time in passing through this Strait, as we were obliged to lie at anchor during the whole night time, and in the day to wait till the tide was favourable to our intended course, before we could set sail.
During our passage the natives brought us various sorts of fruits common in the Moluccas. Some of their boats had a cargo of wild breadfruit, the kernels of which, those who eat of them, found very indigestible, even when roasted. They brought us likewise a great number of pullets, goats, dried and sometimes fresh fish. Most of these natives would not exchange any of their commodities with us, before they had asked permission of the Commander of our vessel, to whom they generally made a present. They informed us that a year ago they had seen four European vessels sailing through this Strait, namely, two from Ternate, the others from Banda and Amboyna. These people trade with the Dutch. They preferred money to any other commodity we offered them. Most of them, however, were very desirous to procure powder and ball from us; but when they found that we would not give them any, one of them offered us two slaves in exchange for a small quantity of ammunition, and appeared extremely surprised that we did not accept of his proposal.
These islanders brought us a great number of parrots, of the species psillacus alexandri and psillacus cristatus.
We were much surprised to see them bring some cotton stuffs, and thread made of the agave vivipara, which, they told us, were of their own manufacture.
I made use of the opportunities afforded me by our detention in the Strait to go on shore. I found a great number of plants which I had never met with before: among others, the uviform nutmeg tree described by Citizen Lamark; its fruit has no aromatic quality. I likewise collected the cynometra ramiflora the gyrinocarpus of Gærtner, and various species of calamus, which, after raising themselves to the summit of the tallest trees, descend again to the ground, from whence they climb up others trees of equal height, their stalks frequently growing to the length of several hundred yards.
The fruit of the bombax ceiba, and that of several new species of the same genus, affords abundant nourishment to the numerous troops of apes that are found here, some of which we killed in order to preserve their skins.
The moist ground exhibited almost every where marks of the feet of deer, wild boars, and buffaloes. We frequently found numerous herds of the last-mentioned animals lying upon the wet ground; but they always betook themselves to flight as soon as they saw us, and it was impossible to pursue them through the mire.
In the island of Pangesani I frequently traversed thick forests of the palm, known by the name of corypha umbraculifera, where I found squirrels of the species called sciurus palmarum, which always fled at the approach of a man.
The natives had erected several sheds near the shore, where they kept the bamboo hurdles, upon which they place their fish when they dry them at the fire in order to preserve them.
The islanders, aware of the danger of living near the morasses, which render the northern coast of Pangesani very unhealthy, have built no villages in that part of the country. It was in the midst of these morasses that our crew became first infected with a dysentery of a very contagious nature, which produced the greater ravages amongst us, as we were already much debilitated by the long use of bad provisions, which had become still more unwholesome during the course of our voyage. I was also infected with this disorder which proved fatal to great numbers of our crew.
8th. This morning at sun-rise, four chiefs, who bore the title of Oran-kai, came on board to notify to us, that we were not permitted to land, before the Sultana, who resided at Bouton, and was an ally of the Dutch Company, had been previously informed of our design. We told them that we were very desirous of viewing this part of the island, and one of them went immediately to signify our wish to that petty sovereign.
We were soon visited by two Dutch soldiers, who offered to procure us an interview with the Sultan, assuring us that without his permission the natives durst not sell us any provisions. They then conducted us to their own dwelling, where we were informed that the Sultan would not be visible till very late in the afternoon. Upon this intelligence a considerable number of us took an excursion into the interior of the island, directing our route to the eastward. The natives did not appear surprised at seeing us, and shewed no inclination to follow us.
After having walked for more than two hours along the banks of a small river, covered with a great number of boats, some of which had come from the strait laden with fish, we forded the stream with a view of proceeding to the northward. We went up very steep ascents, where I collected a great number of plants; among others, the barleria prionitis, and several new species of the croton.
Most of the habitations in this part of the country were built upon the summits of delightful hills, with which this side of the island abounds. We met with a very friendly reception from the inhabitants, who presented to us fruits of different kinds. One of them, who went to gather some cocoa-nuts for us, climbed very quickly to the top of the tree, by means of an expedient which to me appeared singular. He tied his legs together near the ancle with a stripe of cloth, by which he was enabled to grasp the trunk of the tree with his feet so strongly as to support the whole weight of his body; and, as the stem was not very thick, by thus clasping it alternately with his feet and his arms, he very soon reached the top.
We remarked some forts built on the most inaccessible heights amongst these hills, which serve the inhabitants for a place of refuge when their habitations are invaded by an enemy. These fortifications consist of stone walls of considerable thickness, and about ten or twelve feet high, inclosing a plot of ground from sixty to eighty feet square.
The natives who sold us stuffs a few days before, had not deceived us when they told us that they had been manufactured in the island of Bouton. We saw to-day, in several of the houses, looms for manufacturing similar stuffs; the workmen performing their operations in a manner very like our linen weavers. They use cotton threads of various colours; but red and blue appear to be the most in request among the natives.
About four o'clock in the afternoon we went to the village of Bouton to see the Sultan. We had not been informed that it was necessary to bring some presents with us, in order to be admitted to an audience. As we had nothing to offer him, he was not to be spoken with; but his son and nephew received us at the fort where he resides. They frequently repeated to us, with great emphasis, that the whole island was under his dominion; that he was an ally of the Dutch Company, and that their enemies were his enemies. They then told us that the natives of Ceram having lately invaded their coasts, four of them were taken and delivered up to the King, who immediately ordered them to be beheaded. They then desired us to step a few paces further, and shewed us, with an air of great satisfaction, the heads of these unfortunate islanders, exposed upon long poles planted on the walls of the fort.
The village of Bouton is built upon an eminence with a very steep declivity to the northwest, and surrounded with thick walls which secure the inhabitants from the incursions of their enemies. The houses are built of bamboo, and their roofs covered with palm-trees, like those of the other inhabitants of the Moluccas.
The Sultan resides in a fort built of stone. It appeared to us that this chief shews great distrust of the agents of the Dutch Company, though they are his allies; for the three Dutch soldiers, who were the only inhabitants of the Company's house, were not permitted to live in the village where he resides. They were obliged to remain in an inconvenient, isolated dwelling, more than 1000 toises distant from his residence. They were soon to leave the island, and go to Macassar; but were still detained by the apprehension of meeting with the vessels of the natives of Ceram, which had been cruising for some time in these seas.
It was already night when we returned to the shore in order to go on board. As it was then low water, we were obliged to wade in the sea up to our waists, though the greater part of us had laboured under the dysentery for several days, which was very much aggravated in consequence.
During the day the natives had brought, for the use of our vessels, rice, maize, sugar canes, pullets, eggs, ducks and goats. In exchange for these provisions they had been offered hardware commodities, but they preferred the money current in the Moluccas, especially the small silvered coin which they call koupan pera, and which is brought over by the Dutch from Europe.
The time of high water in this bay at full and change days, is about one o'clock in the afternoon, the tide rising six feet perpendicular height.
Our anchoring station was 5° 27′ 8″ S. lat. 120° 27′ long.
On the 9th in the afternoon we weighed anchor, and steering under full sails to get out of the strait of Bouton, we soon reached the open sea.
On the 11th we passed the strait of Salayer. A great number of canoes and natives were seen upon the beach, others were sailing towards Celebes.
We cast anchor several times along the coast of Madura, and on the afternoon of the 19th, in a bottom of reddish mud, at the depth of five fathoms, not far distant from the north-west point of the island, and at the entrance of the channel that leads to Sourabaya, one of the principal establishments of the Dutch in the island of Java. As we intended to come to anchor there, a pinnace had been dispatched, about nine o'clock in the morning, to the village of Grissé, by the Esperance, to demand a pilot who could conduct us through the channel.
Five days elapsed without our receiving any news of our pinnace. We were apprehensive that she had fallen in with pirates; and, on the 23d, another was sent out, upon the supposition that the former had not arrived at the place of her destination; for we could not have imagined that she had been detained by the Dutch, who were well acquainted with the purpose of our expedition: but on the 25th, we received a letter from the officer who had the command of the pinnace, acquainting us that he was detained prisoner by the Dutch, who were then at war with France. Soon, however, a message was brought us from the Council of Sourabaya, informing us that in pursuance of the instructions which they had just received from Batavia, they were willing to afford us every assistance in their power; and on the 26th two pilots were sent us. We were obliged to cast anchor several times before we could get into the roads of Sourabaya, where we cast anchor on the 28th, about 1,000 toises northward of the river that runs through the town; the flag of the fort bearing S. 2° E. and the village of Grissé W. 30′ N.
The dysentery had already carried off six of our crew since our departure from Bouton.
31st. We soon obtained permission to reside in the town of Sourabaya, where I procured a lodging in the house of Messrs. Bawer and Stagh, who received me with the greatest cordiality.
November 10th. The council revoked the permission they had granted us, and all our company were immediately obliged to return on board, with the exception of our invalids, to which number I belonged, the dysentery having left me in a state of extreme debility. Being now removed from the rest of my fellow-sufferers in this contagious malady, I was very much relieved by the use of purgatives, sago, and skimmed milk; and in a short time completely recovered.
It was high time that this captivity should have an end; for the number of sick persons on board increased with alarming rapidity. Almost one half of the crew were attacked with dysentery and contagious fevers, which did not abate of their violence till they had carried off several of our men. At length the Council again granted the permission which they had revoked a few days before, and we had the satisfaction of meeting again together in the town.
The heat was excessive during the first days of our stay at Sourabaya. I was astonished to see Reaumur's thermometer rise to 27°; but these burning heats were but of short duration; for the change of the monsoon, which took place about the beginning of November, caused for a considerable time, especially in the afternoon, abundant falls of rain, which cooled the atmosphere to such a degree, that the thermometer did not stand higher than 22° or 23°, in the hottest part of the day.
As soon as my health was a little re-established, I made frequent excursions in the environs of the town, and as far into the country as my strength permitted me. I had the pleasure of seeing my collections of natural history encrease with a great number of specimens which I had never before met with.
Most of the roads to a considerable distance from Sourabaya are shaded by hedges of bamboo. Others were inclosed between long avenues of mimusops elengi, guillandina moringa, nauclea orientalis, hybiscus tiliaceus, &c. the shade of which produces a very salutary effect in this fervid climate. I was much surprised to see the last mentioned tree send out branches from the whole length of its trunk, as far down as the root; differing in this respect from all of the same species, that I had seen in other places, but I soon observed some of the Javanese employed in making incisions very close to each other in the bark of the trees with a large knife, and was informed that this operation has been practised here from time immemorial for the purpose of causing young shoots to sprout from the places cut in this manner. They always choose the rainy season for performing this operation, as it succeeds with most certainty at that period. Vegetation is then so rapid in this climate, that a very short time after the incisions had been made, I saw them filled with a vast number of young buds. The inhabitants of this island are, however, in general, but little skilled in the agricultural arts.
On the 12th of December, those of us who were engaged in the pursuit of natural history, obtained permission from the Governor of Sourabaya to visit the mountains of Prau, situated at the distance of about 30,000 toises west-southwest of the town.
On the following day we set out for the village of Poron, situated near the foot of the mountains. The Javanese who carried our baggage, suspended it to long poles of bamboo, each borne between the shoulders of two men.
Having proceeded about 20,000 toises, we arrived at Sonde Kari, where we dined after the Javanese fashion with the chief of the village, who had ordered a sumptuous repast to be prepared for us. It consisted of several dishes of broiled fish, and the flesh of buffaloes and horses that had been preserved, as we were told, for six months, by being cut into thin slices, and dried in the sun. All the dishes were seasoned very highly with pepper, pimento and ginger. Rice served us in the place of bread, and the entertainment concluded with a plentiful desert of excellent fruit.
We soon set forward on our journey, and were overtaken by a heavy rain, which put us to great inconvenience. A serjeant of the Dutch troop gave us a proof of his authority over the Javanese, who returned to the village we had left, by taking out of their hands the umbrellas which they had brought with them; none of them daring to resist. We did not know what he intended to do with them, till he came up and offered them to us, saying, that he thought it very presumptuous in these men to shelter themselves from the rain, while they saw us exposed to it; but to his great surprise, none of us would make use of the umbrellas, but desired him to return them to the owners.
At length we arrived at the village of Poron, where we were received by the chief, who bears the title of Deman. His principal office is to apportion to the natives their daily tasks of labour.
The country through which we had passed is a vast plain, in which rice is principally cultivated. The plantations were already covered with six or eight inches of water, retained by the earthen mounds with which they were surrounded.
Before we arrived at Sonda Kari, we had observed large plantations of indigo. This article is principally cultivated in Java by the Chinese, who have a much more extensive acquaintance with the arts than the natives.
We saw likewise several fields in which the ricinus communis was cultivated, from the seeds of which the Javanese extract a kind of lamp-oil.
This plain contains also a few plantations of maize, sugar canes, and the holcus sorghum.
We spent the night in a very neat house, built of bamboo, which stood close by that of the Deman.
14th. On the following day we baited at the west extremity of the same village upon lands under the jurisdiction of the Tomogon of Banguil, who, though he resided at the distance of more than 7,500 toises from thence, came early in the morning to give orders to the inhabitants to provide for our safety, and furnish us with whatever eatables we might want.
The Tomogon was a man of much good sense, spoke the Dutch language very well, and had a competent knowledge of the affairs of Europe. He was a Chinese by birth, but had embraced the Mahometan religion in order to obtain the title of Tomogon.
We were extremely fatigued with the journey we had made the preceding day upon the small horses common in this island. Their very hard trot galled us the more, as the saddles we were obliged to make use of were not stuffed, but consisted of a very hard kind of wood, with a thick piece of skin glued on for their only covering. Besides, the Javanese stirrups were too short for us, and could not be lowered, which rendered our posture extremely uneasy. We therefore went very little from our habitation during this day, but on the following (15th), we passed over a plain about 2,500 toises in length, and for the greater part already covered with water, before we arrived at the mountains of Prau. The Tomagon of Banguil came to this place on horseback, accompanied by upwards of a hundred attendants, very well mounted. We found him in the forest, where he waited for us; but, having probably very little idea of the simple mode in which naturalists choose to travel, he had made his men bring chairs with them for us to sit down upon at the top of one of the mountains, from whence we had a view through the trees of a great extent of country, which he told us was all in his dependency; and, to impress it the more strongly upon our minds, he immediately ordered the tops of several tek-trees to be struck off; but we saw with regret more than a hundred feet of the trunks of these beautiful trees destroyed and sacrificed to such a momentary gratification.
Peacocks were very common in these forests through which we rambled in every direction, and we shot several of them. Amongst other plants, I collected several beautiful species of uvaria, helecteres and bauhinia.
The natives were employed in clearing a fine piece of ground at the foot of the eastern mountains. The smaller trees they cut down with axes; the larger they only stripped of their bark near the root, in order to make them decay.
In the afternoon a distant sound of thunder ushered in a violent fall of rain, as is usual at this season, which compelled us to hasten back to our habitation. The Tomagon, before he returned to Banguil, repeated the orders he had already given to the natives, to provide for our safety and our wants.
On the following days we visited the mountains of Panangounan, penetrating into the territory of the Emperor of Solo through vast forests of tek-trees, under the shade of which the pancratium amboinense grew in abundance. Our guides often expressed their fear of meeting with tigers, which, they told us, were very common in the thickets on the banks of the rivers, where they lie in wait for the animals that come to drink. We, however, met with none of these beasts of prey.
The Javanese who accompanied us were almost continually on horseback, and did not dismount even in the most inaccessible parts of the forest; but whenever they saw the plant, called in their language kadiarankri, they immediately threw themselves on their feet, and ran as fast as they were able to gather it, trying to outstrip each other. Their eagerness raising our curiosity to know the cause of their valuing this plant so highly, we were informed that the knobs of its roots, dried and reduced to powder, were a powerful aphrodisiac. It appears that these auxiliary medicines are much esteemed amongst this people, as, indeed, they generally are amongst the inhabitants of hot climates. This parasite plant is only to be found upon the trunks of large trees. It was not yet at its period of fructification; however, it appeared to me to be a new species of the pothos.
During these excursions I killed several wild cocks, whose plumage was diversified with a variety of colours of admirable brilliancy. Their crowing, which we often heard in the midst of the woods, led us at first to imagine that we were in the vicinity of some habitation, but we soon learnt to distinguish their note perfectly well from that of the domestic cock. The comb of the wild cock is not red, but of a whitish colour, with a slight tinge of violet, which grows somewhat deeper towards the edges. The greater part of the swamps in the neighbourhood of our dwelling were covered with very large leaves of the nymphea nelumbo, upon which we frequently observed a species of bird similar to that called parra sinensis; and admired the lightness with which it walked over the surface of the water, stepping with its long legs from one leaf to the other.
At a small distance westward of the village of Porou, we saw two colossal statues, called by the Javanese rectio, and in high veneration amongst them. They were both hewn out of blocks of stone eleven feet high; their drapery was very wide, and the physiognomy of the two heads bore a Moorish character. To me it appeared probable that these statues had been erected in honour of some of the Moorish conquerors of the Moluccas; but the natives could give us no information upon this head.
The Dutch serjeant who accompanied us was a passionate admirer of the music of the Javanese. Soon after our arrival at Porou, he sent for a female singer, whose shrill voice was accompanied by two musicians, who played every evening upon instruments, one of which resembled a dulcimer, and the other a mandolin. Whilst we were employed in preparing and describing our collections, we were obliged to hear, for several hours together, this discordant music, which, however, had always charms sufficient to attract a great concourse of the natives round the performers.
All the airs were sung in the Javanese language. They generally turned upon the subject of love, as our serjeant, who understood the Javanese language perfectly well, interpreted them to us. He told us that these airs were all impromptu as those sung by the singing-women of Java generally are. Ours accompanied her voice with a variety of gestures appropriate to the subject, and especially with certain movements of her fingers of very difficult execution, which were much applauded by the natives. If report does not do them injustice, these singing-women are not distinguished by any extraordinary rigidity of virtue.
On the 20th we returned to Sourabaya.
Citizen Riche and I had formed a plan of spending some time among the mountains of Passervan, to which we had approached very near during our last excursion. They are very high, and we had often heard their fertility much spoken of. Grain is cultivated there with great success. Many European fruit-trees likewise succeed very well upon those heights, on account of the mild temperature of their atmosphere. It was necessary for us to procure a new order from the Governor before we could undertake this expedition; but Dauribeau, who had offered to request it for us, brought us information that the Governor had shortly received new instructions from the Council at Batavia, according to which he could not permit us to go to any great distance from the town; a walk of three or four hours, being all that was allowed us. I went several times to see a spring situated at the distance of about 7,500 toises to the westward. A great quantity of petroleum rises to the surface of its water, and is carefully collected by the inhabitants, who mix it with pitch. Abundance of pumice-stone is found in the surrounding country.
Citizen Riche and I lodged in the same house. We generally went out together to pursue our researches, and returned in the evening to Sourabaya with the new specimens we had collected. It was always with regret that we found our labours suspended by the approach of night. But on the 19th of February 1794, about four o'clock in the morning, Chateauvieux, the commandant of the place, came with a troop of thirty soldiers under arms, to inform us, in the name of Dauribeau and the principal officers of our expedition, that we were under arrest. Shortly after we learnt that several others of our companions had shared the same fate, without being able to divine the cause of so arbitrary an act of authority; but we were soon informed that intelligence which Dauribeau had received from Europe, had determined him to hoist the white flag, and put himself under the protection of the Dutch, who were then at war with France. He had undoubtedly already then formed the project, which he afterwards carried into execution, of selling the vessels of our expedition. To insure his success, it was necessary for him to get rid of all those persons under him who he knew would strongly disapprove of such a measure. We were therefore delivered into the hands of the Dutch as prisoners of war, to the number of seven, namely, Legrand, Laignel, Willaumez, Riche, Ventenat, Piron, and myself, and conducted to Samarang by a march of 200,000 toises, over roads bad in the extreme, and in the rainy season. We were obliged to use boats to cross several large plains, inundated by the torrents descending from the mountains situated to the southward, and which form a part of the great chain which runs through the whole land of Java from east to west.
Michel Sirot and Pierre Creno, servants on board the Esperance, followed us in our proscription.
Dauribeau had robbed me of all my collections. When we left Sourabaya, I had intrusted to the care of Lahaie, the gardener, eleven bread-fruit trees, and an equal number of the roots and stems of this valuable plant, kept in clay in perfect preservation, and fit to produce as many young trees. He promised to take the best care of them, and gave me a receipt for the deposit.
The greater part of the crews were thrown into the prisons of the Tomagon of Sourabaya, from whence they were taken out some time after, part to be sent into those of Batavia, and part to remain with Dauribeau.
We left Sourabaya on the 24th of February.
This town is situated in 7° 14′ 28″ south lat. 110° 35′ 43″ east long.
The variation of the magnetic needle was 2° 31′ 14″ west, and the distance 25°.
After a long course of fatigue we at length arrived at Samarang, on the morning of the 11th March.
The Commandant of the place immediately conducted us to Governor Overstraaten. The Governor told us that the first surgeon of the hospital had got a lodging prepared for us, and sent us to take possession of it; but what was our surprise, when, having been introduced to the surgeon, he led us into one of the wards of his hospital, where he shewed us seven beds, which he said had just been made ready for us. There was neither table nor chairs in this place. It was in vain that we represented to him that we were not sick, and did not wish to become so by living in an hospital: his answer always was, that, according to the orders of his Excellency the Governor, he had no other lodging to offer us.
We were obliged at last to appeal to the Governor, and to make him sensible, if possible, of the harshness of such a mode of proceeding with respect to men, who, upon their return from a long and toilsome expedition, undertaken for the advancement of the arts and sciences, had a right to expect a better reception from a civilized nation. It was not, however, till after parleying for several hours, that the order for our imprisonment in an hospital was reversed. We were now permitted to live in the centre of the town, and this was our prison.
Some time after we obtained permission to go to the distance of about 2,500 toises from Samarang, but with the restriction that we should not approach the sea-coast.
During our march from Sourabaya to Samarang, I had been surprised to observe in the market places of several villages, shops where small flat squares of a reddish clay, called by the inhabitants tana ampo, were exposed for sale. At first I imagined that they might be employed for fulling cloths; but I soon observed the inhabitants chewing small quantities of this clay, and they assured me that this was all the use they made of it.
Whilst we were passing through the extensive rice plantations at the foot of the mountains, the natives had frequently pointed out to us, fields of rice upon declivities too steep to be able to retain the water. The rice cultivated in these places was of a species, that does not require an inundated soil to succeed perfectly well; but they only cultivate it in the season when the land is daily drenched with copious rains.
I had already remarked upon several hills in the island of Java, a great number of cocoa-trees which were stripped of their leaves and dead at the root. It had appeared very singular to me to find so great a number within so small a space; but I was at length informed, by several of the inhabitants of the hills situated at a little distance north-west of Samarang, where I saw many cocoa-trees in the same condition, that they had been struck by lightning, and they informed me that the same circumstance frequently happens upon many other hills in the island. In fact, these high trees are particularly exposed by their situation, to the terrible effects of the lightning; besides, the sap, with which they abound, contributes in a great degree to attract the electric matter.
On the 5th of April, we were informed that a packet was shortly to sail from Batavia for Europe. The Governor of Samarang was willing that two of us should go to Batavia, to solicit permission of the Regency for themselves to return in this vessel. As we were all animated by the same desire of revisiting our native country, we agreed to cast lots. The fortunate persons were Citizens Riche and Legrand, and on the 6th of May they set out for Batavia.
Twelve days after we received orders from the Governor of Samarang, to go to the same place, and there to wait for another opportunity of returning to France, than that of the packet above mentioned; for it was even very uncertain, whether or not Riche and Legrand would find a place in it.
Some of the Dutch who were interested about us, informed us that the fleet, upon which our hopes of returning to Europe depended, was not to set sail in less than six or seven months, and they assured us, that before that period it was not probable we should meet with any other opportunity of returning to our native country. The dysentery which I had caught among the marshes of Strait Bouton, made me apprehensive that a relapse would be produced by those of Batavia, where the exhalations are still more noxious. Besides, the situation of Batavia is so pernicious to Europeans, particularly during the first year of their abode there, that out of every hundred soldiers who arrive there from Europe, twenty-four generally die in the first year, and those who become somewhat accustomed to the climate, still remain in a languishing state of health. Other Europeans who have all the conveniencies of life at their command, do not die in so terrifying a proportion: but from the small allowance that was granted us as prisoners of war, we could not hope to be able to procure ourselves any thing beyond the mere necessaries of life.
Citizen Piron and myself obtained permission to delay our departure for Batavia till the Dutch fleet was just about to sail. Our companions in misfortune, Laignel, Ventenat, and Willaumez, set off for that place; and as soon as they arrived there they were sent to Fort Tangaran, more than 7,500 toises distant from the town. Riche and Legrand, instead of procuring a passage in the packet, which was immediately to set sail, had been exiled to Fort Anké. However, about two months afterwards, they had the good fortune to embark for Isle de France, on board of a vessel in which some prisoners taken from our privateers were conveyed to that place.
Dauribeau, not satisfied with having taken away my collections, requested of the Governor of Samarang, that the manuscript which contained the observations I had made during the voyage in search of Pérouse might likewise be taken from me. In vain I protested against this violation of the most sacred species of property: Governor Overstraaten gave orders, on the 28th of July, that my effects, to which the seal had been applied a month before, should be searched; but fortunately my journal was not found.
Dauribeau shortly after his arrival at Samarang, for the purpose of treating with the Governor concerning the sale of the vessels, died there on the 22d of August.
As the time appointed or the sailing of the Dutch fleet was at hand, Citizen Piron and myself set out for Batavia on the 31st. On board of the vessel which conveyed us thither were several Javanese, one of whom was in irons. His unfortunate wife sat beside him, having voluntarily chosen to follow him in his banishment. We were penetrated with compassion, when we heard from the mouth of this unhappy man the occasion of his ruin. His name, he told us, was Piromongolo; he was of the village of Calibongou, in the dependency of the Government of Samarang. He had paid 350 rix dollars to become a freeman of that place, but was supplanted by another person, who offered a still larger sum for the same privilege; and those who had received his money, instead of returning it to him, thought fit to put him out of their way by banishing him to Ceylon, where he was to be in the same confinement with many others of the inhabitants of the Moluccas, who are sacrificed by the Dutch to their revengeful disposition, or pretended political interests. Amongst the injuries that had been heaped upon him, he had been accused, he said, of being a sorcerer. Though he assured us, with a great deal of simplicity, that if he was one, he had never known any thing about it; but at any rate he was sure that those who had robbed him of his three hundred and fifty dollars, were a much more dangerous kind of sorcerers than he.
The salary which the different Governors of the Island of Java receive from the Dutch Company very moderate; but then the abuses are connived at, which result from the very ample indemnification, which the greater part make themselves, by raising contributions upon the natives to a much greater amount than what they have to deliver into the magazines of the Company, the surplus of which they appropriate to their own profit.
The Chinese are almost the only persons employed here in the cultivation of sugar. They scarcely make any other than sugar-candy, which they are not allowed to sell, except to the Governor, who purchases it on the Company's account; but frequently he compels these unfortunate Chinese to sell it him at half the price which he makes the Company pay for it, though even they buy it at a comparatively low rate.
The contributions which the Governors receive in specie, are likewise a great source of profit to them, as they keep this money in their own hands, and pay the amount to the Company in paper. During my stay in Java, their emoluments in this way amounted to twenty per cent.
The nomination of the natives to different offices, is likewise a source from whence the Governors and Residents derive great profits.
On the 2d of September we anchored in the roadstead of Batavia.
4th. After we had remained two days on board, the Commandant of the roadstead conducted us on shore, and we were immediately conveyed to Fort Anké, distant not more than about 2,500 toises from the town. The same chamber was allotted us, which our companions in misfortune, Riche and Legrand, had formerly occupied.
We were surrounded on all sides by marshes, which render this situation very unhealthy: it is, however, much less so than that of the town, where, at low water, the black mud collected in a great number of canals, is exposed to the heat of the sun, and exhales the most pestilential effluvia. The marshes of Anké, on the contrary, were covered with a variety of plants, so close to each other, that they presented the appearance of fine meadows in full vegetation. A great number of different kinds of grasses, rushes, nelumbo, &c. grew forth from the bottom of the stagnant water, and the interstices between these plants were covered with large quantities of the ptisia stratiotes, which, floating on the surface of the water by means of the small air-bladders, with which its leaves are provided at their bases, absorb a great quantity of the noxious vapours as fast as they are exhaled from the mud, and change them, with the aid of the solar rays, as we know, into respirable air. This transmutation is affected by the ptisia more than by any other plant; for it is known by experiment to be so powerful a preventive of the decomposition of stagnant water, that if fishes be put into a small quantity of water, in which they would otherwise perish in the course of a few days they may be preserved alive for a long time, by covering its surface with these singular plants, every one of which occupies a space of about nine square inches.
These marshes are haunted by the enormous serpent known by the name of boa constrictor. One of these snakes came regularly every five or six days, and stole one of the fowls from a hen-coop belonging to a publican in the neighbourhood of Fort Anké, with whom we were allowed to take our meals. This publican was a very severe master; for, whenever he missed one of his fowls he always taxed an old slave, who had the care of his hen-coop, with dishonesty; and for every one that disappeared, he ordered fifty strokes of a ratan to be inflicted without mercy upon the unfortunate wretch; but one day the thief having swallowed a very large hen, found himself so stuffed with his meal, that he could not get out of the coop by the hole through which he had entered; and the slave revenged himself for the chastisement he had received by cutting the animal in pieces. The fowl, which was taken out of his stomach, had been swallowed down head-foremost, and had as yet undergone no change in its substance. This serpent was but of a middling size, being only twelve feet in length; but a few days afterwards the natives killed one at a small distance from this place, which measured forty feet. It appeared that this animal did not use to prey upon fowls; for they found in his stomach a kid that weighed thirty pounds.
The river that runs at the foot of Fort Anké is frequented by alligators. One day I saw a very large one advance towards a company of boys who were swimming in the river. He immediately seized one of them and disappeared under the water: nevertheless, a few days after another company of boys came to bathe in the same place.
During the last months of our stay at Anké, four officers of the French privateer Le Modeste were confined in the same fortress, and alleviated the tediousness of our captivity by their company. They had been made prisoners of war on board of a Dutch vessel, shortly after they had made prize of her.
The Major of the place, who visited us very frequently, informed us of the death of Giradrin, purser to the Recherche, who was discovered to be a woman, as we had suspected from the beginning of the voyage. An impulse of curiosity seems to have been her principal motive for embarking in this expedition. She had left a very young child behind her in France.
The corvette La Nathalie, having Citizen Riche on board, had been dispatched from Isle de France to Batavia in order to demand our vessels from the Regency; but, after she had arrived in the roads, she was detained for five months under the cannon of two Dutch ships of war, and all that she could obtain was to sail back with those persons belonging to our expedition who were in confinement, and some other French prisoners of war.
At length, on the 29th of March 1795, we set sail for the Isle de France.
It was high time for me to be released from my confinement amongst the marshes of Fort Anké, as I had laboured already more than a month under a dysentery, which was making a very rapid progress. But as soon as I was removed into a purer air, my malady diminished from day to day.
On the 18th of May we arrived at Isle de France. I made frequent excursions among the mountains, where I observed a great variety of natural productions.
I had long been waiting for an opportunity of returning to my native country, when at length General Malartic dispatched the Minerva to France, under the command of Citizen Laignel, one of my companions in misfortune. I embarked in this vessel, which sailed from Isle de France on the 20th of November.
It is remarkable, that during a run of upwards of 600,000 toises west-north-west, from 25° N. lat. and 31° W. long. we found the sea covered with a prodigious quantity of fucus natans, which indicate the existence of some very extensive banks upon which this sea-weed is produced. This is a subject well worthy of the investigation of navigators.
On the 12th of March 1796, we cast anchor at the Isle of Bar, from whence I soon returned to Paris.
Soon after I arrived in that city, I was informed that my collections of natural history had been sent to England. The French Government immediately put in their claim for them, which, being supported by Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society of London, with all the exertions that were to have been expected from his known love for the sciences, I soon had the satisfaction of finding myself again in possession of the requisite materials, for making known to the world the natural productions which I had discovered in the different countries we had visited during the course of our expedition.
The bread-fruit plants which I left in the custody of the gardener Lahaie, were transported, with several others which he had cultivated, to Isle de France; from whence some have been sent to Cayenne, and others to Paris, where they are deposited in the hot-houses of the Botanical Garden.