In the Eastern Seas

by William Henry Giles Kingston

  CHAPTER NINETEEN.

  VOYAGE CONTINUED.

  Sailing from Dobbo, a number of our mop-headed friends accompanied us tosea in their long canoes--curious, savage-looking boats, the bow andstern rising up six or seven feet high, decorated with shells and wavingplumes of cassowary's feathers. They were all talking, laughing, andshouting at once, and when they at length, after receiving a fewfarewell presents, bid us good-bye, we felt as if we had passed out of atempest of noise into a calm, so apparently deep was the silence whichreigned round us. In two days, passing the Key Islands, the inhabitantsof which are very much like those of Aru, we arrived in sight of a loftyvolcano, from the summit of which wreaths of white smoke were even thenascending. On approaching more closely, we saw that there were twoother mountains near it, clothed with vegetation to their very summits.A fair breeze enabled us to enter the land-locked harbour of Banda. Thewater below our keel was so transparent, that we could see, at a depthof seven or eight fathoms, the smallest objects on the sand, and watchthe living corals at work. We sailed on through narrow channels, havingon one side lofty cliffs rising out of the sea.

  Besides three large islands, there are several others, which form whatare known as the Banda group. The largest is Lontar, or Great Banda--acrescent-shaped island, about six miles long and a mile and a half wide.Within the circle of which this island and two others joined to it forman arc, lie three more, the highest and most remarkable of which is theGrunong Api, or the Burning Mountain. It is an ever active volcano,about two thousand three hundred feet in height. We passed close underits base, and looking up, saw cloud-like masses of steam and sulphureousacid gas rising from its summit. On the Lontar shore rose upperpendicular crags from two to three hundred feet high, but everywherecovered with the most luxuriant vegetation, the trees and shrubs havingtheir roots in the crevices, and hanging down in broad sheets of thebrightest green. As we sailed on we perceived lofty palms rising amidthe matted mass of vegetation, and from their crests hung long featheredleaves, silently and gracefully oscillating in the light air whichfilled our sails.

  On the top of one of the heights appeared the dazzling white walls ofFort Belgica, with another fort below it; and along the shore on everyhand extended the chief village, called Neira, with rows ofwide-spreading trees shading the streets and bordering the bay.Opposite the village were a number of prows from Ceram--strange-lookingvessels, high at the stem and low at the bow, having, instead of asingle mast, a tall tripod, which can be raised and lowered at pleasure.There was a number of other craft--Bugis traders, mostly square topsailschooners, but ill-fitted apparently to contend with the storms whichoccasionally rage in those seas. Among the most beautiful trees was the_lontar_ or _palmyra_ palm--_Borassus flabelliformis_. Mr Hooker toldus that its leaves were formerly used as parchment all over thearchipelago before the Chinese introduced paper. In some places, evenat the present time, it is used for that purpose. In every direction wecould see spreading out over the island a continuous forest ofnutmeg-trees, shaded by the lofty kanary-trees. The nutmeg-tree is fromtwenty to five-and-twenty feet high, though sometimes its lofty spraysare fifty feet high. A foot above the ground the trunk is from eight toten inches in diameter. The fruit before it is quite ripe greatlyresembles a peach. This, however, is only a fleshy outer rind--epicarp--which, as it ripens, opens into two equal parts, when within isseen a spherical polished nut, surrounding an aril, the mace, which isof a bright yellow colour. No fruit can then surpass it in beauty. Thepeople who pick it use a small basket at the end of a long bamboo, intowhich it drops as they hook it off. The outer part, which we shouldcall the fruit, being removed, the mace is carefully taken off, anddried on large shallow bamboo baskets in the sun. Its bright colour nowchanges to a dark yellow. The black part seen within the vermilion maceis a shell, and inside this is the nutmeg. When the mace is removed,the nuts are spread out on shallow trays of open basket-work in adrying-room. A slow fire is made beneath the floor, where the nutsremain for three months. By this time the nutmeg has shrunk so muchthat it rattles in its shell. The shell is then broken, and the nutmegsare sorted and packed in casks for shipment.

  We took a stroll with Mr Hooker through the beautiful groves ofnutmeg-trees, which were heavily laden with fruit. It is picked twicein the year, though some is obtained throughout the whole year. Abeautiful carpet of green grass is spread out beneath the trees, whilehigh above them tower the lofty kanary-trees, which stretch out theirgnarled arms as if to defend their more tender sisters committed totheir charge. At a distance, indeed, the nutmeg-trees are completelyhidden from view by the kanary-trees. The roots of these latter arevery curious, looking like enormous snakes with their heads caught inthe trunk of the tree. As we strolled through the forest, shelteredfrom the direct rays of the sun by the thick foliage, we caught distantviews of the blue ocean sparkling in the sunlight, the white surfbreaking in masses of foam on the rocks beneath us, while at a distanceappeared the varied forms of the other islands.

  These groves of nutmegs are divided into what are called parks,belonging to different proprietors, who are known as perkeniers. By farthe greater proportion of nutmegs used throughout the world are grown onthese small islands, though wild nutmegs are found in New Guinea and ina few other places. As the nutmeg is among the most beautiful offruits, so are the trees superior to almost any other cultivated plant.They are well-shaped, and have glossy leaves, bearing small yellowishflowers. On examining the fruit, we compared it in size and colour to apeach, only rather more oval. It is of a tough fleshy consistency tillit becomes ripe, when, as I have before said, it splits open and shows adark brown nut within covered with the crimson mace. We saw a mostbeautiful bird flying among the trees; it was the Banda pigeon, whichfeeds upon the nutmeg fruit. It digests the mace, but casts up the nutwith its seed uninjured. By this means it has undoubtedly carried theseed to all parts of the group, and perhaps to other islands in theneighbourhood. In one part of Lontar we heard that the mace, instead ofbeing red, is white--probably owing to some peculiarity of the soil.The deer and pig are found in the islands, and also a species of cuscus.

  A proprietor, to whom Mr Hooker had an introduction, invited us toclimb the burning mountain; but after considering the matter, our frienddeclined the honour, from hearing that the ascent was very difficult anddangerous, and that we should gain very little more knowledge about itthan we should by gazing up at it from the base.

  While sleeping on shore, the house we occupied was one night so shakenthat we thought it would fall about our heads; but the inhabitantsseemed to take it as a thing of course, and we heard that nearly everymonth an earthquake occurs. Several most disastrous eruptions of themountain have taken place, causing great destruction of life and havocamong the plantations.

  The Portuguese were the first Europeans who took possession of theBandas. They were driven out by the Dutch, who exterminated theaboriginal inhabitants, and then had to import slaves to cultivate theplantations. Since slavery was abolished by Holland, convicts have beensent there for the purpose; and now, people from various neighbouringregions have been collected to perform the part of labourers. TheBandas are not properly included in the Moluccas. The cultivation ofthe clove-tree is now chiefly confined to Amboyna, and the surroundingislands, to which we were now bound.

  A day's sail took us off Amboyna, the capital of the Moluccas. It isone of the oldest European settlements in the East. The island isdivided into two parts by the sea, a narrow sandy isthmus alone joiningthem. We sailed up the western inlet, the shores of which were lined bygroves of cocoa-nut palm-trees, furnishing food and shade to the nativeswho dwell in the rude huts beneath them. We came to an anchor off thetown of Amboyna. In few places we visited was the forest vegetationmore luxuriant or beautiful than on this island. Ferns and palms ofgraceful forms were seen everywhere; climbing ratans formed entangledfestoons pendent from every forest tree; while fine crimson lories andbrush-tongued turkeys, also of a bright cr
imson colour, flew in and outamidst the foliage, forming a magnificent sight, especially when a flockof the former settled down on some flowering tree, the nectar from whichthe lories delight to suck. Amboyna is a large city for the East,containing 14,000 people, about 8000 of whom are Europeans, with halfthat number, perhaps, of Chinese and Arabs. Our great wish was to see aclove plantation in full bearing. We found, however, that theproprietors had discovered that there were more profitable means ofemploying their ground and labour, and that cacao plantations weresuperseding them.

  The two young ladies, with Frau Ursula, were able to accompany us. Ourroad lay through a grove of palm-trees, and wound up a hill, till wereached the plantations of young cacao-trees. They were covered withlong red cucumber-like fruit. The plants had been brought here fromMadagascar, where it was first discovered by the Spaniards. They aregreat consumers of it in various forms. Chocolate comes from theSpanish chocolate, which is composed of cacao pounded with Indian corn,to which honey is sometimes added. The sugar-cane was also introduced,as sugar assists in neutralising the bitter qualities of the cacao. Ineed scarcely point out the difference between the cacao--often writtencocoa--plant and fruit, from which the now much used beverage is made,and the lofty cocoa-nut palms with their well-known nuts full of juice.In the woods we saw numbers of green parrots, which uttered their shrilldeafening screams as they darted to and fro through the thick foliage.

  Proceeding again along the beach, my sister and Grace, feeling thirsty,asked for a draught of water, but neither stream nor fountain was insight. When one of our attendants heard what was inquired for, "Stop,"he said, "you shall have it." Directly afterwards, we saw him climb upa cocoa-nut palm above our heads, whence he cut off some of the clustersof large green fruit. Immediately descending, he struck off the endwith a hatchet, and presented each of us with a goblet of the freshestand most sparkling water I ever tasted. We had before only found themore mature fruit, after the liquid has assumed a milk-like appearance.

  A short way on, we saw the hill-side covered with myrtle-like trees, andfound that they were plantations of clove-trees. The clove-tree belongsto the order of myrtles. The trunks of the full-grown trees were abouttwelve inches in diameter. Their topmost branches were from forty tofifty feet from the ground. However, we found some very small ones,fully loaded with fruit. The clove is the flower bud, and it grows inclusters at the end of the twigs. Our guide told us that the annualyield of a good tree is about four pounds and a half. When the buds areyoung, they are nearly white; when more mature, they change to a lightgreen, and ultimately to a bright red. They are then picked by thehand, or beaten off with bamboos, on cloths spread under the trees.They are simply dried in the sun for use, when their colour changes fromred to black. The leaves, the bark, and young twigs, have also apeculiar aroma. It grows best on the high hillsides, on a volcanicsoil, or a loose sandy loam. Curiously enough, although cloves are usedin all parts of the world, the inhabitants of these islands do not eatthem. They employ them in making models of their prows and bamboo huts,by running a small wire through them before they are dried. I rememberseeing a number of these models in the Great Exhibition in England, manyof them of very elaborate construction. When cloves were firstintroduced into England, thirty shillings per pound was paid for them.They are now cultivated in several other places, and consequently theirvalue in the Spice Islands has greatly fallen.

  As we returned home in the evening, we passed along a pathway lined byrows of pine-apples, which had, like the cocoa-nut trees, been broughtfrom Tropical America. We also saw creatures leaping from branch tobranch. The servants caught some, when we found them to be flyingdragons; not such as Saint George fought with, but small lizards knownas the _Draco volans_. They were provided with broad folds in the skin,along each side of the body, which enabled them not really to fly, but,as a parachute would do, to sustain them in the air while they leap frombranch to branch.

  I was ahead of our party when I heard a loud hammering or tapping, andcreeping near, I saw a cocoa-nut, which had just fallen from a tree, andan enormous crab working away at it. I stopped to watch him. He hadtorn off the dry husk which covered the latter with his powerful claws,just at the point where the three black scars are found marked. He wasnow breaking the shell by hammering with one of his heavy claws. Assoon as this was done, he began to pick out the rich food, by means ofhis pincer-like claws. Our servants as they came up chased and caughthim, tying up his claws, and saying that we should find it, when cooked,one of the greatest delicacies in the place.

  We stopped for the night at the house of Mr Hooker's friend, a littleoutside the town. Our beds were placed in a verandah, merely coveredwith mats at night; our heads only guarded by mosquito curtains, thoughwe could hear the venomous insects buzzing outside. As I put my head onthe pillow before going to sleep, the sound of the low cooing of dovescame up out of the forest, while the tree frogs piped out their shrillnotes.

  Next day, when pulling along the narrow channel of the beautiful harbouron our return to the brig, we gazed down over the side with astonishmentat the lovely spectacle the bottom of the sea afforded. It was thicklycovered with a mass of corals, actiniae, and other productions of theocean, of vast dimensions, of every possible form, and of the mostbrilliant colours. In some places the depth, Mr Hooker said, was fiftyfeet, and in others twenty, for the bottom was very uneven. Hereappeared some deep chasm, here a hill rose up, there a valley was seen,here rocks of every possible shape, the whole covered with a forest ofliving vegetables, as I may call them.

  "See, see!" cried Emily; "there swims a beautiful fish; there, another;and there, another. Some are red; there is a yellow one; there is onespotted and banded; there is another striped in the most curious manner.See how leisurely they swim, as if admiring the beauty of theircountry!"

  "Look there! What is that floating by us?" exclaimed Grace; "what alovely orange mass!"

  "See, there is another, of a beautiful rose colour!" said Emily.

  The creatures the girls were admiring were medusae, beautifullytransparent, which were floating along near the surface. We entreatedthat the crew might stop rowing, that we might admire them at ourleisure; indeed, we could have gazed at the scene all day long, but I amvery sure, were I to make the attempt, I could not do justice to itssurpassing beauty and interest. There may be coral beds of equalbeauty, but in few places is the water so transparent as in the harbourof Amboyna; while, from being sheltered from the violence of storms,there are probably a larger number of marine productions, shells, andfishes collected in it, than in almost any other spot. While we werestill gazing down into the ocean depths, a strange rumbling noise cameover the land. The trees seemed to rock from side to side, thebuildings shook, the frightened birds flew off from the shore, the landseemed to rise and fall, and people were seen flying from their houses,and rushing to their boats; others hurried away into the open country.

  "An earthquake!" exclaimed Mr Hooker. "They are pretty well accustomedto it, though, and I trust no real damage may be done. However, shouldit be more severe than usual, we will be ready to take off any poorpeople who may wish to find refuge at sea."

  In a few seconds, however, all was quite quiet. The people returned onshore, and some were seen hurrying back to buildings which had been themost shaken, either to rescue friends who had been left behind, or tocarry off their household furniture, in case another shock should occur,and bring their houses to the ground.

  Leaving this beautiful, though unstable island, we stood away to thesouth-west, Mr Hooker purposing to visit a number of islands on ourpassage to Macassar, after which he intended standing across to Java, orperhaps visiting the south of Borneo before proceeding on to Singapore.