Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume Ii Part 26

The short distance at which we found ourselves from Sikayana, called Stewart's Island by the English, as also the prospect of procuring there fresh provisions for the crew, among whom after 66 days' confinement on board s.h.i.+p, some symptoms of scurvy began to appear, determined our Commodore on spending a day there, and effecting a landing. Towards afternoon, when we were about four or five miles distant from the western island, two splendid large canoes approached the s.h.i.+p, in which were fifteen men stark naked, except for a piece of linen round their loins.

They were all tall, robust, powerful men, five and a half to six feet high, some with long, others broad faces, all having long noses, of a light brown colour, and the greater number with glossy black hair. With the exception of one who had whiskers, they were beardless; almost all being tattooed from the elbow to the shoulder. They spoke broken English, and even had English names. We never saw among the savage races such finely built, well-proportioned, healthy-looking men, as these inhabitants of the coral reef of Sikayana. Their free, unaccustomed, familiar deportment was something surprising. But our astonishment reached its height when one of these apparently savage children of nature, happening to find on a table on the gun-deck a draught-board lying open, immediately challenged one of the by-standers to a game, which it seems he understood so well that he beat his antagonist two games out of three. We afterwards heard that the natives at Sikayana have learned draughts, as also an English game at cards known as "odd fourth," of which they seemed pa.s.sionately fond, from some English sailors, who several years before had spent five months on these islands, preparing Trepang, or _b.i.+.c.he-de-mar_, for the Chinese market, those sea-slugs having formerly been found here in large quant.i.ties.

To our question whether they had fresh provisions for sale, and of what description, they replied that they possess on the island plenty of Taro, cocoa-nuts, bananas, pigs, and poultry, which they would willingly exchange for fish-hooks, tobacco, calico, gunpowder, ammunition, biscuit, playing-cards, and ornaments for their wives. For money they did not show the slightest desire, and of the value of gold they seemed to be utterly ignorant. They showed the utmost eagerness for playing-cards and trinkets.

We now also learned that there was on the island one white settler, an English sailor. This man attempted to come off to the frigate in a small canoe, but owing to night setting in, he could not reach her. As these hearty people were taking their leave, we promised to pay them a visit early next morning, with which they seemed highly delighted.

There still remained the same evening one mournful duty for those on board the _Novara_. During the afternoon one of our sailors had died after protracted sufferings consequent on dysentery, and we had now, for sanitary reasons, to commit his remains to the deep the very evening of his death. It was already dark when the officers and crew were mustered on deck, to pay the last honours to the departed. The captain gave the customary orders, the s.h.i.+p's bell tolled, the narrow plank, on which lay the body of the deceased sewn up in his hammock, was brought to the gangway, where an iron weight was attached to the body by the feet, and last of all the plank being tilted up, the heavy body plunged into the waves with a hollow splash, and the watery tomb closed over him.

We looked down into the abyss and beheld myriads of stars reflected in all their l.u.s.tre in the smooth mirror of the ocean; the deep, blue, unfathomable ocean appearing like a second firmament beneath our feet!

Nothing in the gay scene around seemed out of harmony with the mournful act which the community of Christians on board the _Novara_ had been celebrating. Everything about us--the brightly glistening stars, the whispering ripple of the waves, the balmy atmosphere, all left an impression of a higher state of felicity and tranquil happiness, and seemed to remind us that everything in the universe, even the poor remains we had just committed to the waves, obeyed but one eternal, immutable law!

On the morning of 17th October, three boats put off from the _Novara_ with some of the officers and all the naturalists of the Expedition, bound for Sikayana, between three and four miles distant, while the frigate cruised about in the vicinity.

Stewart's Atoll (8 22' S., 162 58' E.) is a semi-lunar coral reef of about sixteen miles in circ.u.mference, with a deep lagoon in its centre, and five small wooded islands on the reef itself, which are visible from the deck of a s.h.i.+p about twelve miles away, and were first discovered by Captain Hunter, in May, 1791. These islands are named Sikayana, Faole, Manduiloto, Barena, and Maduawe, and are so overgrown with cocoa-nut palms, that they appear capable of supporting a population of about 1000 souls (with the wants and requirements of men in the tropics).

The two largest islands, Sikayana and Faole, lie exactly at the sharp horns of the lune-shaped atoll. Here we again had an opportunity of observing the configuration of which all known atolls furnish examples, viz. that the islands found adjoining these reefs are almost invariably at the projecting extremities, where the surf rages on either side, and where consequently the conditions are most favourable for the heaping up of detached fragments of coral. The area of habitable dry land is to the extent of the reef in the proportion of 1 : 21. As may readily be a.s.sumed from the physical conditions of the islands, there is no drinkable water to be found upon them; the liquid contents of the cocoa-nut when fresh is almost the only beverage of the inhabitants, and hence the first thing the natives asked for when they came on board was for some "drinking-water,"

since, except of course during the wet season, when they catch the rain-water, this is a rarity with them--we might almost say an article of luxury.

Sikayana, the Big Island of the English, the most easterly and largest of the islands, is about 1 1/6th statute mile in length, and lies in 8 22'

24" S., and 163 1' E. The reef which surrounds the island sinks at certain points sheer downwards, so that a s.h.i.+p may in perfect safety approach within a cable's length. We had to sail for a considerable time along this line of reef, on which the sea beat with a thundering surf, ere we came to one of those spots on the N.W. side where it is practicable in a boat to pa.s.s the atoll reef into the tranquil lagoon, which it encloses.

At all times, even in the calmest weather, a tremendous surf roars against the reef, and even this point is inaccessible when there is a fresh breeze blowing. Here we found some of the canoes of the natives awaiting our approach, who now, as though they had been on the look-out for our arrival, came off to us, some in their boats, others swimming, to inform us that, it being ebb-tide, the entry into the lagoon was not very easy, but that at high-water one could pa.s.s right over the reef, in even larger boats than ours. It was accordingly arranged that two of the boats should anchor outside the reef, and only one should be hauled inside the lagoon with a rope for our further use. But even this could not be managed until by removing all baggage and trans.h.i.+pping almost her entire crew, she had been made sufficiently light.

The pa.s.sage between the coral reefs and the lagoon is at high-water about three feet deep, but at lowest ebb it is barely a foot in depth, and three to four feet wide, and then the reef juts up at most points to such extent, that a skilled equilibrist may (although not to the advantage of his soles) easily reach the interior of the lagoon without wetting his shoes. As soon, however, as this narrow entrance, which is about 300 feet long, has been pa.s.sed, the navigation becomes easier. The appearance of the reef was very peculiar. Corals of every description, _Astraeae_, _Maeandrinae_, _Madriporae_, form a sort of series of cl.u.s.ters of stone-bushes, among which beautifully mottled fish swim about, while starfish of an exquisite indigo blue, and mussels of the most extraordinary forms, people the ground.

The atoll presents some very remarkable geological features. At its N.W.

side, close to the reef and as it were growing to it, stand two singular vase-shaped rocks, from 8 to 10 feet in height. While their base is bathed by the sea, their upper portions, which are about 20 feet in diameter, present the spectacle of luxuriant gra.s.s, brushwood, and one or two fruit-bearing cocoa-nut palms, so that the two crags looked like two gigantic flower-pots attached to the reef. They seem to be all that remains of an island which Ocean had first thrown up, and was now busy wearing away.

Another geological peculiarity is the occurrence of heaps of pumice-stone.

These are found about the size of walnuts over the entire interior of the island of Faole at those places which the swell of the waves cannot reach even in the stormiest weather, where they occur in such immense quant.i.ties (though there are no traces of them on the sand or s.h.i.+ngle of the actual beach) that we may take for granted that the convulsion which brought them here must have occurred in times long gone by, the more so as this superposed pumice-stone exercises a marked and obvious influence upon the vegetation of the island. So far as its soil consists of heaps of fragments of coral and mussel-sh.e.l.ls, the cocoa-nut palm reigns almost alone, whereas as soon as the pumice-stone region is reached, there begins an exceedingly luxuriant growth of lofty forest trees with huge trunks and umbrageous foliage, and an astonis.h.i.+ngly abundant _flora_ of species apparently peculiar to these Atoll islands. The English naturalist Jukes, who accompanied Captain Blackwood on his survey of Torres Straits, found beds of pumice along the entire east and north coasts of Australia, over an extent of 2000 miles, and under numerous special conditions, but most frequently on flat grounds elevated about ten feet above high-water mark and more or less distant from the beach--never upon the beach itself. The occurrence of pumice in such vast quant.i.ties is of no slight interest in a geological point of view. It must have been some tremendous natural convulsions, an earthquake wave of enormous lateral dimensions, which threw up this pumice-stone, and deposited it throughout this entire region at the same height above high-water mark. Since this phenomenon occurred, the general level of the coasts and islands on which this deposit of pumice is found, can scarcely have undergone any considerable alteration, if one is not inclined to a.s.sume for the entire region a perfectly equal elevation or depression.

The whole party of Excursionists had wandered along the reef to a spot at which we could embark once more, so as to row over to the next island, Faole, which, however, the natives do not much frequent, except occasionally to collect cocoa-nuts and panda.n.u.s fruits. But as one main object had to be accomplished, namely, the supply of the s.h.i.+p with fresh provisions, which were not found here, some of the party went off to the princ.i.p.al settlement on the island of Sikayana, to barter some goods they had brought, against as much private supplies for themselves as could be conveniently conveyed to the boats and so taken on board.

While the natives were paddling along in their elegant canoes, escorting us as far as Sikayana, we offered a seat in our boat to the only white man on the island, the English sailor already mentioned. This man was named John Davis, about forty years of age, a native of Greenwich, and was, according to his own story, left behind against his will by Captain Ross, a "sandal-wooder," who had visited this group in 1858. He stated he had just before been with Captain Ross at the Tonga Islands, where the captain sent two sailors on sh.o.r.e to fell sandal-wood. These men, however, got into a quarrel with the natives, who would not permit them to rob them of their property, in the course of which they lost their lives. The captain immediately proceeded to the islands himself with some of his crew well armed, attacked the unfortunate natives, shot five, and then sailed off.

Davis had become obnoxious to the captain, because in consequence of over-work he had fallen ill with intermittent fever, and could not work, upon which his remorseless superior cast about how to get rid of the now useless seaman, and resolved to put him ash.o.r.e by force on the next island which came in sight. What a fearful doom! To be abandoned, sick and helpless, on a lone island far from the highways of the world, where s.h.i.+ps but seldom touched, and amid savages with whose tongue he was unacquainted! If even one were disposed to doubt the possibility of such inhuman cruelty, it would find mournful confirmation in many similar instances. To this charge the "sandal-wooders" are especially amenable, who visit the islands of the South Sea to collect the costly sandal-wood, and in the prosecution of their enterprise seem to go upon the exclusive principle that the coloured man has no property over the natural wealth of these islands, and has no right to resist the wishes of the white man!

Commander Erskine of H.M.S. _Savannah_, mentions a case in which an English merchantman, engaged in the sandal-wood traffic, entered into an engagement to employ his whole crew in a.s.sisting one native tribe to overpower its neighbour, in return for which timely a.s.sistance certain places were pointed out where the coveted sandal-wood was found in great abundance. A battle took place, and a number of prisoners were carried on board the s.h.i.+p, of whom, during the pa.s.sage to the sandal-wood-producing islands, several were in the presence of the European crew coolly slaughtered and eaten by their cannibal foes of the Fee-jee Islands!!

Davis, whom the natives for distinction's sake called simply "the white man," could not expatiate enough on the cordiality and kind treatment he received from the poor inhabitants of Sikayana during his stay. Since April no s.h.i.+p had called at the island, or even been visible from it. He begged the favour of a pa.s.sage to Sydney, which was readily accorded him on condition he would first repay all his obligations to the natives, and that on their side there should be no objections made to his leaving. On our arrival in Sydney we learned that Captain Ross, who had put Davis ash.o.r.e at Sikayana, had been tried for another still greater atrocity; he had inflicted Lynch-law, by hanging some of the natives of New Caledonia at his yard-arm. Ross was somewhat later acquitted by the judges at Sydney, but public opinion reversed the verdict.

After a row of an hour and a half we at last reached the island of Sikayana, having previously met three canoes, one of which was manned by twelve rowers, who now entered on a sort of regatta contest with us. These canoes, not more than a foot and a half wide, glide with uncommon velocity through the water, but despite their outriggers, they are not adapted for carrying much provisions. We found it quite easy to land at the place, and drew up our boat upon the sandy beach.

The world of these islanders, the entire area of dry habitable land upon this coral reef, is about one-eighth of an English square mile; no stream, no mountain, no eminence adorns the island, the highest part of which is just sufficiently elevated to enable the winds and waves to heap up sand and debris; around it on every side is the boundless ocean, and its mineral wealth is reduced to one single mineral, carbonated chalk, deposited in the brine by thousands of millions of coral-animals. Hither too the ocean in some extraordinary cases wafts pumice and other stones lighter than water, which somewhat improve the soil, or occasionally stones are transported, entangled in the roots of floating trees, with which the denizens of this little place can grind the mussel-sh.e.l.ls, of which they make all their tools, as well as knives and hatchets.

The immense vegetable kingdom has but 20 or 30 representatives here, whose seeds have been transported hither by the sea from richer and more congenial soils, and thrown up by it upon the strand. Animals are still more scarce. A few sea-swallows and insects form the whole Fauna of the group. The sea furnishes the only supply of animal food, in the shape of fish, crabs, and sh.e.l.l-fish. One may well ask, what degree of moral or spiritual development can be attained by a race of men whose sphere of action is confined to a solitary coral reef! Yet the mode of existence of the inhabitants of Stewart's Islands is by no means of the most primitive or simple nature; through the occasional visits of s.h.i.+ps they have obtained much, by which they have sensibly improved their condition. They now possess swine, poultry, and various tubers, which seem greatly to thrive on the island, and which they can now exchange for other articles of prime necessity.

Sikayana is the only member of the group which is permanently inhabited, and that by a sincerely hospitable, most friendly race. Their origin is variously accounted for.

Among the natives themselves there is a dim tradition that Captain Cook transported hither the first settlers. Another version is, that the first inhabitants came from South Island, 130 miles W. of Stewart's Islands, and that they were brought hither by whalers, which latter, when they no longer needed the services of these poor people, sought how most easily to get rid of them. At the same time several English and American sailors, who at various times have been left in these islands in consequence of sickness, want of further employment, love of adventure, or quarrels with their captains, must have largely contributed to the present quite peculiar mixture. The practice of leaving upon any suitable island such natives of the South Sea groups as may take service with English or American whalers, is very common, and sufficiently explains the mode of first settling many of these islands of Oceania.

When Captain Cheyne, who has greatly contributed to our more intimate knowledge of the islands of the West Pacific, visited Sikayana in September, 1847, the population amounted to 48 men, 73 women, and 50 children, who inhabited a small village lying on the lagoon at the eastern end of the island. Although eleven years had elapsed ere we visited this simple community, their numbers did not appear materially to have increased.

Considering the powerful, healthy appearance of the natives, it should seem that we must ascribe this stagnation in amount of population less to the influence of climate, than to the ravages of the various diseases which are from time to time introduced by foreign s.h.i.+ps. Thus we saw one woman whose whole body was deeply marked with small-pox, and presented a living example that the fell scourge of all uncivilized races is no longer unknown in Sikayana.

At the landing-place we were received by the king of the island, a very aged man with grey hair and silver beard. He sat on the gra.s.s close to the sh.o.r.e under the shade of cocoa-nut palms, driving away with his hand the flies which were stinging his naked body. After a brief welcome he invited us to be seated beside him on Nature's own soft green carpet.

The natives whom we met here were all tall handsome men, with good features, decidedly of a European cast. The hair was black, very crisp, but not the slightest appearance of being woolly. Many had shaved it till there only remained a long tail; most of them had their arms and legs tattooed, but wore no ear or nose ornaments like the Solomon Islanders.

Round the loins they wore a sort of girdle, four or five inches wide, of strips of plants plaited by the women. In addition to this, most of them wore some piece of European clothing; drawers, old caps, but most commonly a sort of jacket without sleeves made of calico, which only covered the back and chest. Like the natives of the Nicobars, they showed great curiosity to learn our names, and kept repeating them over and over, apparently to impress them upon their memory. They had beyond a doubt taken their own names from sailors and s.h.i.+p captains, with whom they had once been in communication.

Close to the sh.o.r.e, among some scattered palm-trees, stood a few wretched huts, compared with which the bee-hive huts of the Nicobar Islanders appear like palaces. They consisted of a roofing woven of cocoa-nut palm-leaves, planted upon the naked soil which serves as a floor, and closed in front and rear with mats of similar texture. The interior was no less poverty-stricken than the exterior. We could see no articles of furniture beyond a few baskets and battered boxes, in which the islanders stow away their small property.

A crowd of eager expectants had gathered round the crates of merchandise which our sailors had brought on sh.o.r.e, and the barter began.

The natives had swine, poultry, a few eggs, papayas, Taro, cocoa-nuts, and bananas to offer, while we had an a.s.sortment of knives, hatchets, saws, flints, fish-hooks, calico, linen, blue cloth, ribbons, linen-thread, needles, coa.r.s.e tobacco, biscuit, red coral, gla.s.s beads, empty bottles, &c. &c.

This commerce was something higher than a mere barter--it had also a psychological interest of its own. Useful goods and tools found a much less demand than baubles and objects of personal adornment; and for a string of gla.s.s beads only fit to hang round the neck of a wife, or to put as a bracelet upon the arm of some little dusky daughter, provisions enough were given away to have supported an entire family for days.

Red and green seemed the colours most in demand, and the small beads were in far more request than the larger and heavier descriptions, even if these latter were more costly and neat. It seemed the women were not permitted to show themselves at market, which must have been a sore enough disappointment for many; but the men earnestly requested before closing with an offer to be permitted to carry off the coveted prizes, leaving their own articles of barter in pledge, apparently with the gallant attention of first of all obtaining the advice and consent of their better halves. Hence it frequently happened that the article first selected was exchanged for some other widely different, or the whole bargain given up.

The women whom we afterwards saw in their huts were all tall and powerfully built, but very unattractive, the majority appearing prematurely old. The sole covering was a piece of gay-coloured calico tolerably wide, which they wore around their loins. Their lower limbs and faces were tattooed, the latter however with only a few cross-bars.

The two hampers of a.s.sorted articles, which was our stock in trade, were ere long nearly emptied, and as the sailors would have found it hard work to bring off the provisions we had purchased in our small boat, it was agreed to break up our improvised exchange, and return to Faole with our valuable cargo of fresh provisions.[200]

While the barter was going on, the author of this narrative occupied himself with making some anthropometrical measurements, and at the same time noting down a few cursory remarks respecting these interesting people.

The chief food of these islanders consists of fish, cocoa-nuts, taro, and the fruit of the panda.n.u.s (_dawa_); only at rare intervals do they taste pork or poultry. The rearing of pigs and poultry is chiefly carried on for the purpose of trading with foreign vessels, so as to obtain in return the products of a higher civilization. Their fish-nets are prepared from the rind of their trees. A few looms which they also possess have been given them by whale-fishers. The cincture round the loins, which is their sole article of apparel, is also prepared from the inner bark of the tree.

When the king dies, the oldest member of the community is elected his successor. At their festivals they sing in a sort of monotonous drone, and blow at the same time through mussel-sh.e.l.ls.

When mourning for the dead, they stain their faces red with the seeds of the _Bixa orellana_, and wear a piece of white calico, shaped something like a capuchin's hood, which reaches down till it covers the shoulder.

One native, who was wearing one of these head coverings, could not be induced to traffic, nor even to approach the place where our improvised market was being held, because, as he made us understand, one of his near relatives had lately died. Altogether the inhabitants of Sikayana struck us as a primitive, very moral, and honourable race, and it made us almost melancholy to think that these excellent people should be without the blessings of Christianity. To our great amazement, however, we learned that the natives themselves strenuously opposed the settlement in their midst of any missionaries of any Christian denomination,--"Because," said they, "all their Kai-kai (i. e. their food) would belong to the missionaries." This nave reply reminds us of a similar remark on the part of the Quiche Indians, which we once overheard in the highlands of Guatemala, in whose language a missionary or priest is known as Ki-sol-re-le-ak-uch, which being interpreted means "devourer of all hens!"

And just as among the Mormons every care is taken to keep certain professions out of their community, as, for instance, the physician, in order to prevent illness, or the lawyer, with the intent to keep away law-suits, thus in their simplicity the natives of Sikayana have fallen into the error of viewing the missionary, that moral physician, as only of importance or of necessity in those places where there are really spiritual and moral evils to cure!

The liquors of Europe are as yet but little known to the inhabitants of Sikayana. In none of the huts could we discern any sort of spirituous fluids, nor was any offered to us. Even during the trading, amid the demands for every sort of article, no desire was expressed for them, not a question even was asked respecting them, whereas. .h.i.therto all the wild or semi-savage races with which we came in contact at once clamoured for "Brandy," and not seldom presented themselves in a riotous condition.

That there is as yet no demand for spirits at Sikayana shows how little intercourse they can as yet have had with civilization. In former years this group was occasionally visited by American and English merchantmen, owing to the abundance of Trepang. Since the year 1845, however, when one American captain collected 250 Chinese piculs[201] (about 15 tons), and ten years later when Captain Cheyne in the course of nine months gathered 265 piculs (about 16-3/4 tons), the business is no longer profitable and at present years sometimes slip by without a s.h.i.+p lying to off Sikayana.

As these worm-like animals,[202] which in the dried state command, like the Salangan swallows' nests, a high price as a costly delicacy in China and j.a.pan, form an important article of commerce and employ a considerable number of s.h.i.+ps annually, we shall indulge in a few remarks on the very laborious operations of preparing the Trepang.

Of the large number of varieties of Trepang which are found among the coral reefs of the Pacific, there are only ten suited to the Chinese market, which are accurately distinguished by their special names. As they fetch a price according to quality of from 6 to 35 dollars per picul, it is a matter of great importance to obtain the very highest qualities.

The four species most in demand are known in China by the following names,--_Bangkolungan_, _Kiskisan_, _Talipan_, and _Munang_, each of which has a distinctive appearance, and is found at various depths on the coral reefs.

_Bangkolungan_, when captured, is from 11 to 15 inches in length, of an oval form, brown on the back, white on the belly, incrusted with chalk, and with a row of papillae or warts along the side. This species is hard, stiff, and possesses hardly any means of progression beyond expanding and contracting at will. They are found on the inner edge of the coral reef in coral-sandy ground, under water of from 2 to 10 fathoms, and are difficult to get at without diving. Kiskisan is from 6 to 12 inches long, oval, very black, smooth on the back, dark grey belly, and with a row of papillae along its side. This description is found in shallow water near the highest portion of the reef, and on a bottom of coral and sand. _Talipan_ varies in length from 9 inches to 2 feet, and is the most peculiar-looking of all the Trepang species. This sort is found in all parts of the reef, but chiefly in water of from 2 to 3 fathoms. It is of a dark red colour, and less bulky than either of the sorts already described. The back is covered with large red spots, which readily distinguish it from all other species. It is more flexible than the black sort, and more difficult to prepare. _Munang_ is oval, small, quite black, and rarely measures above eight inches in length. It has neither warts nor other excrescences, and is found in shallow water on the coral flats, and frequently also among the sea-tangle along the sh.o.r.e. It is this sort which the Americans usually catch at the Fee-jee Islands. In the Chinese markets, a picul of _Munang_ is worth 15 to 25 dollars. Besides these four princ.i.p.al species, there are a variety of less valuable descriptions, such as Zapatos-China, Lowlowan, Balati-blanco, Matan, Hangenan, and Zapatos-Grande.

In order to prepare these four sorts of Trepang for commerce, they are first soaked in a large iron kettle for from 5 to 10 minutes in boiling water, and when thoroughly heated through, are taken out. The portion of the animal which is cut off, when well boiled, should be of an amber colour tinged with blue, and feel somewhat like Indian rubber.

A certain degree of dexterity and practice are requisite for boiling Trepang to the proper point and afterwards drying it. While it becomes puffed out through too sudden an application of heat, and porous like sponge, too low a temperature or too short a time destroys it on the other hand, and in 24 hours it becomes quite tainted. Trepang dried in the sun is more valuable than that dried on the island, nor does the native ever care for those he dries over his wood fire. Probably the former mode of preparing it would not pay for a s.h.i.+p, since at least twenty days are necessary to dry Trepang in the sun, whereas over a wood fire the same end is attained in four days.

On the whole, the precautions requisite properly to prepare Trepang are so manifold and require such an expenditure of time, that only those who for years have been exclusively devoted to the business can secure a successful result. Consequently the trade is exceedingly remunerative, and numbers of captains have within a very few years realized a competency and even affluence by preparing Trepang for the Chinese market.