Nat the Naturalist: A Boy's Adventures in the Eastern Seas

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

  THE MALAY KRIS IN STRANGE LANDS.

  Three days later we were lying in Singapore harbour, and I had one ortwo runs ashore to have a good look at the town, with its busy port fullof all kinds of vessels, from the huge black-sided steamer and trim EastIndiaman, to the clumsy high-sterned, mat-sailed, Chinese junk, and longnarrow Malay prahu.

  I could have stayed there a month staring about me at the varied scenesin the bright sunshine, where hundreds of Chinamen in their blue cottonloose clothes and thick-soled shoes were mingled with dark-lookingHindoostanees, Cingalese, and thick-lipped, flat-nosed, fierce-lookingMalays, every man in a gay silk or cotton sarong or kilt, made in plaidsof many colours and with the awkward-looking, dangerous kris stuck atthe waist.

  I say I could have stopped here for a month, enjoying the change, andwondering why the Malays should be so constantly chewing betel-nut andpepper leaves. I learned, too, that there was much to be seen in theisland, and that there were tigers in the jungle near the plantations;but my uncle said there was no time to waste, and we must get on.

  "We don't want civilisation, Nat, or the works of man; we want to go faraway into the wilds."

  "But don't you mean to go to Malacca, uncle?" I said. "That is whereso many birds come from."

  "I did think of going there, Nat; but I want to get to less-frequentedspots, and I have found to-day a great prahu that is going right away tothe Ke Islands, which will be well on our route to Aru and New Guinea.The Malay captain says he will take us, and tow our boat behind."

  "Our boat, uncle?"

  "Yes, Nat; while you have been staring about at the heathen I have beenbusy looking out for a boat, and I have found one that I think will do.Come and see."

  I went with him to a creek outside the busiest part of the town, wherethe principal part of the people seemed to be fishermen, and here, afterthreading our way amongst dozens of clumsy-looking boats, my uncleshowed me one that I should have thought would be the last to suit us.

  "Why, you don't admire my choice, Nat!" he said smiling.

  "It is such a common-looking thing, and it isn't painted," I replied.

  "No, my boy, but it is well varnished with native resin. It is Malaybuilt, very strong, and the mast and sails are well-made, though rough;better still, it will carry us, and a man or two for crew if we like,and give plenty of room for our treasures as well."

  "But it is differently rigged to the boats on the Thames, uncle," I saiddisparagingly.

  "Naturally, my boy," he said laughing; "but the sails will require thesame management."

  "And what an anchor, uncle!" I said. "Why, it is made of bamboo and astone."

  "We can easily buy a small grapnel and some cord, Nat," he said smiling;"and when you have found out how our boat will sail, you will thinkbetter of it, I am sure."

  On the following day but one we were on board the prahu surrounded byfierce-looking Malays, every man being armed with his kris, and lookingas bloodthirsty a lot as I thought I had ever seen. Our boat was towingbehind as the men used long oars to get us out of the port, and then thegreat matting sails were hoisted, and we began to go swiftly through thesurging sea.

  "There, Nat," said my uncle gleefully, "good-bye to civilisation, for weare fairly off. How do you feel now?"

  "I was thinking, uncle, suppose that, now they have us safely on board,and away from all help--"

  "They were suddenly to rise up, draw their knives, which are said to bepoisoned, Nat."

  "Yes, uncle, and stab us."

  "Rob us," he said laughing.

  "And throw us overboard, uncle."

  "Ah! Nat; suppose they did. What would Uncle Joe say?"

  "It would kill him, uncle," I said, with tears in my eyes.

  "And Aunt Sophy?" he said.

  "Well, I don't know about Aunt Sophy," I replied; "but I hope she wouldbe very sorry."

  "Ah! well, you needn't be nervous, Nat, for I don't think the Malays aresuch bloodthirsty fellows as people say; and our captain here, in spiteof his fierce aspect, is very gentlemanly and pleasant."

  I could not help looking at our captain, whom Uncle Dick calledgentlemanly, for to my eyes he seemed to be a fierce savage, with hisscarlet kerchief bound round his head, beneath which his dark eyesseemed to flash angrily.

  "Shall you keep your loaded gun with you always, uncle, while we arewith these people?" I said.

  "No, my boy, certainly not," he replied; "and you may take it forgranted, Nat, that even the most savage people are as a rule inoffensiveand ready to welcome a white man as a friend, except where they havebeen ill-treated by their civilised visitors. As for the Malays, I havemet several travellers who have been amongst then and they all join insaying that they are a quiet superior race of people, with whom you maybe perfectly safe, and who are pleased to be looked upon as friends."

  "But I thought, uncle," I said, "that they were very dangerous, and thatthose krises they wore were poisoned?"

  "Travellers' tales, my boy. The kris is the Malay's national weaponthat everyone wears. Why, Nat, it is not so very long since everyEnglish gentleman wore a sword, and we were not considered savages."

  We had rather a long and tiresome voyage, for the prahu, though lightand large, did not prove a very good sea-boat. When the wind was fair,and its great sail spread, we went along swiftly, and we were seldom forlong out of sight of land, coasting, as we did, by the many islandsscattered about the equator; but it was through seas intersected byendless cross currents and eddies, which seemed to seize upon the greatprahu when the wind died down, and often took us so far out of ourcourse one day, that sometimes it took the whole of the next to recoverwhat we had lost.

  So far, in spite of the novelty of many of the sights we had seen, I hadmet with nothing like that which I had pictured in my boyish dreams ofwondrous foreign lands. The sea was very lovely, so was the sky atsunrise and sunset; but where we had touched upon land it was at portsswarming with shipping and sailors of all nations. I wanted to seebeautiful islands, great forests and mountains, the home of strangebeasts and birds of rare plumage, and to such a place as this it seemedas if we should never come.

  I said so to Uncle Dick one day as we sat together during a calm, tryingto catch a few fish to make a change in our food.

  "Wait a bit, Nat," he said smiling.

  "Yes, uncle, but shall we see wonderful lands such as I should like?"

  "You'll see no wonderful lands with giants' castles, and dwarfs andfairies in, Nat," he replied smiling; "but before long I have no doubtthat I shall be able to show you beauties of nature glorious enough tosatisfy the most greedy imagination."

  "Oh! of course I did not expect to see any of the nonsense we read of inbooks, uncle," I said; "only we have been away from home now threemonths, and we have not got a single specimen as yet, and I want tobegin."

  "Patience, my boy, patience," he said. "I am coming all this distanceso as to get to quite new ground. So far we have not landed on a tropicisland, for I shall not count civilised Singapore; but very soon weshall take to our own boat and coast along here and there, landing wherewe please, and you shall have nature's wonders and natural history toyour heart's content. Look there," he said softly; "there is abeginning for you. Do you see that?"

  He pointed down into the gloriously blue clear water, illumined by thesunshine, which made it flash wherever there was the slightest ripple.

  "Yes, I can see some lovely little fish, uncle," I said. "Why, they areall striped like perch. There's one all blue and scarlet. Oh! I wishI could catch him."

  "No, no; farther down there, where those pink weeds are waving on thatdeep-brown mass of coral. What's that?"

  "Why, it's a great eel, uncle. What a length! and how thin! How it iswinding in and out amongst the weed! Is it an eel?"

  "No, Nat; it is a snake--a sea-snake; and there is another, and another.They are very dangerous too."

  "Are they poisonous, then?" I said.
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  "Extremely. Their bite is often fatal, Nat, so beware of them if everyou see one caught."

  We had a fine opportunity for watching the movements of these snakes,for several came into sight, passing through the water in that peculiarwaving manner that is seen in an eel; but a breeze springing up soonafter, the sail filled out, and once more we glided rapidly over thebeautiful sea.

  I call it beautiful sea, for those who have merely looked upon the oceanfrom our own coasts have no conception of the grandeur of the tropicseas amongst the many islands of the Eastern Archipelago, where thewater is as bright as lapis lazuli, as clear as crystal, and thepowerful sun lights up its depths, and displays beauties of submarinegrowth at which the eye never tires of gazing.

  It used to worry me sometimes that we had not longer calms to enable meto get down into the little boat and lie flat, with my face as close tothe water as I could place it, looking into what was to me a new world,full of gorgeous corals and other Zoophytes, some motionless, others allin action. Scarlet, purple, blue, yellow, crimson, and rich ruddybrown, they looked to me like flowers amongst the singular waving weedsthat rose from the rocks below.

  Here fishes as brilliant in colours, but more curious in shape, than thepets of our glass globes at home, sailed in and out, chasing the insectsor one another, their scales flashing every now and then as they turnedon one side or dashed up towards the surface and leaped clean out of thewater.

  In some places the sand was of a beautiful creamy white and as pure ascould be, Uncle Dick saying that it was formed out of the corals whichwere being constantly pounded up by the waves.

  But whenever the breeze rose I had to be quickly on board again, and onwe sailed till, after a long dreamy voyage, we came one morning in sightof some mountains; and as we drew nearer I could see that the rocks rosestraight up from the sea, which, calm as it was, sent up columns ofspray where the waves broke upon the solid stone.

  "There, Nat," said my uncle, "that is our present destination."

  "What! that rocky place, uncle?" I said, with a tone of disappointmentin my voice.

  "Yes, my quick young judge," he said laughing. "Wait till we get closerin," he continued, using his glass; "or no, you can see now; look, Nat."

  He handed me the glass, and as I looked through, my heart seemed to givea great throb, for the lovely picture I gazed upon seemed to more thanrealise my dreams.

  For what at a distance looked to be a sunlit rocky shore, proved throughthe glass to be a land with lovely shaped trees growing to the edges ofthe cliffs, which were covered with wonderful shrubs and creepers. Eventhe rocks looked to be of beautiful colours, and every here and there Icould see lovely little bays and nooks, edged with glistening whitesand, upon which the crystal water played, sparkling like diamonds andsapphires in the sun.

  "Oh, uncle!" I cried.

  "Well, Nat, will that place do for a beginning?"

  "How soon can we get ashore?" I cried excitedly in answer.

  "In a couple of hours, now, Nat; but I said will this place do?"

  "Oh, uncle!" I cried, "it was worth coming all the way to see. I couldwander about there for months. Shall I get the guns out of the cases?"

  "Gently, gently," he said laughing; "let's get into harbour first."