In the Eastern Seas Part 19

Proceeding again along the beach, my sister and Grace, feeling thirsty, asked for a draught of water, but neither stream nor fountain was in sight. When one of our attendants heard what was inquired for, "Stop,"

he said, "you shall have it." Directly afterwards, we saw him climb up a cocoa-nut palm above our heads, whence he cut off some of the cl.u.s.ters of large green fruit. Immediately descending, he struck off the end with a hatchet, and presented each of us with a goblet of the freshest and most sparkling water I ever tasted. We had before only found the more mature fruit, after the liquid has a.s.sumed a milk-like appearance.

A short way on, we saw the hill-side covered with myrtle-like trees, and found that they were plantations of clove-trees. The clove-tree belongs to the order of myrtles. The trunks of the full-grown trees were about twelve inches in diameter. Their topmost branches were from forty to fifty feet from the ground. However, we found some very small ones, fully loaded with fruit. The clove is the flower bud, and it grows in cl.u.s.ters at the end of the twigs. Our guide told us that the annual yield of a good tree is about four pounds and a half. When the buds are young, they are nearly white; when more mature, they change to a light green, and ultimately to a bright red. They are then picked by the hand, or beaten off with bamboos, on cloths spread under the trees.

They are simply dried in the sun for use, when their colour changes from red to black. The leaves, the bark, and young twigs, have also a peculiar aroma. It grows best on the high hillsides, on a volcanic soil, or a loose sandy loam. Curiously enough, although cloves are used in all parts of the world, the inhabitants of these islands do not eat them. They employ them in making models of their prows and bamboo huts, by running a small wire through them before they are dried. I remember seeing a number of these models in the Great Exhibition in England, many of them of very elaborate construction. When cloves were first introduced into England, thirty s.h.i.+llings per pound was paid for them.

They are now cultivated in several other places, and consequently their value in the Spice Islands has greatly fallen.

As we returned home in the evening, we pa.s.sed along a pathway lined by rows of pine-apples, which had, like the cocoa-nut trees, been brought from Tropical America. We also saw creatures leaping from branch to branch. The servants caught some, when we found them to be flying dragons; not such as Saint George fought with, but small lizards known as 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 from branch to branch.

I was ahead of our party when I heard a loud hammering or tapping, and creeping near, I saw a cocoa-nut, which had just fallen from a tree, and an enormous crab working away at it. I stopped to watch him. He had torn 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 was now breaking the sh.e.l.l by hammering with one of his heavy claws. As soon as this was done, he began to pick out the rich food, by means of his pincer-like claws. Our servants as they came up chased and caught him, 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 little outside the town. Our beds were placed in a verandah, merely covered with mats at night; our heads only guarded by mosquito curtains, though we could hear the venomous insects buzzing outside. As I put my head on the pillow before going to sleep, the sound of the low cooing of doves came up out of the forest, while the tree frogs piped out their shrill notes.

Next day, when pulling along the narrow channel of the beautiful harbour on our return to the brig, we gazed down over the side with astonishment at the lovely spectacle the bottom of the sea afforded. It was thickly covered with a ma.s.s of corals, actiniae, and other productions of the ocean, of vast dimensions, of every possible form, and of the most brilliant colours. In some places the depth, Mr Hooker said, was fifty feet, and in others twenty, for the bottom was very uneven. Here appeared 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 of living 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 one spotted and banded; there is another striped in the most curious manner.

See how leisurely they swim, as if admiring the beauty of their country!"

"Look there! What is that floating by us?" exclaimed Grace; "what a lovely orange ma.s.s!"

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

The creatures the girls were admiring were medusae, beautifully transparent, which were floating along near the surface. We entreated that the crew might stop rowing, that we might admire them at our leisure; indeed, we could have gazed at the scene all day long, but I am very sure, were I to make the attempt, I could not do justice to its surpa.s.sing beauty and interest. There may be coral beds of equal beauty, but in few places is the water so transparent as in the harbour of Amboyna; while, from being sheltered from the violence of storms, there are probably a larger number of marine productions, sh.e.l.ls, and fishes collected in it, than in almost any other spot. While we were still gazing down into the ocean depths, a strange rumbling noise came over the land. The trees seemed to rock from side to side, the buildings shook, the frightened birds flew off from the sh.o.r.e, the land seemed to rise and fall, and people were seen flying from their houses, and rus.h.i.+ng to their boats; others hurried away into the open country.

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

In a few seconds, however, all was quite quiet. The people returned on sh.o.r.e, and some were seen hurrying back to buildings which had been the most shaken, either to rescue friends who had been left behind, or to carry 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 the south-west, Mr Hooker purposing to visit a number of islands on our pa.s.sage to Maca.s.sar, after which he intended standing across to Java, or perhaps visiting the south of Borneo before proceeding on to Singapore.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

A MODERN CRUSOE'S ISLAND.

Maca.s.sar, at the south-west end of Celebes, had been visited; a Dutch town, very neat and clean, having covered drains down the streets which carry away all impurities. On one side along the sh.o.r.e, forming a straight street a mile in length, are a number of shops, warehouses, and native bazaars; on the other, two shorter streets form the old Dutch town, with most of the private houses of the Europeans. It is enclosed by gates, with a fort at the southern end. Round the town extend rice-fields, in the rainy season presenting a ma.s.s of the most vivid green. Beyond, are numerous native villages embosomed in fruit-trees.

We were occasionally on sh.o.r.e, and saw many objects of interest, but Mr Hooker made a long excursion into the interior, of which he gave us an account on his return. We caught sight of two of the animals peculiar to Celebes. One of them was a curious baboon-like monkey, about the size of a spaniel, and of a jet-black colour. It had the projecting dog-like muzzle and overhanging brows of a baboon, with red callosities, and a scarcely visible fleshy tail, about an inch long. A large band of them visited the garden of the merchant at whose house we were stopping, and were busily employed in carrying off the fruit, when they were disturbed by the servants, who rushed out with guns and sticks to drive them off.

Next day we started with our friend into the neighbouring forest, in chase of the _babirusa_ or pig-deer. After a long search, we came up with one, to which, the dogs gave chase; and it being brought to bay, was killed. It resembled a pig in general appearance, but had long slender legs and curved tusks like horns. Those of the lower jaw are very long and sharp, but the upper ones, instead of growing downwards as those of a boar generally do, curve upwards out of bony sockets through the skin on each side of the snout till they meet the eyes. Those of the creature we killed, which was an old one, were nearly ten inches in length. Our Dutch friend stated that they were so formed to guard its eyes from the thorns and spines which it meets with whilst searching for fallen fruits among the thickets of ratan and other spiny plants. Mr Hooker, however, said he thought they had once been of use to the animal in digging, but its mode of life having been somewhat changed, they had grown up into their present curious form. Instead of digging for food with its snout as other pigs do, it feeds on fallen fruits from various trees. We saw also a number of b.u.t.terflies, which Mr Hooker said were peculiar to Celebes. Besides the babirusa, herds of wild pigs of large size abound in the northern forests, and numerous jungle-fowl, hornbills, and great fruit-pigeons. Buffaloes are generally employed on the farms, and we drank buffalo milk, which was brought into the house in bamboo buckets. It was as thick as cream and in order to keep it fluid during the day it was diluted with water.

Among the many curious trees we saw, was the sugar-palm, from which the usual beverage of the country is made--called sagueir. It is as strong as ordinary beer. The sugar makes a very nice sweetmeat, and Mr Hooker said it put him very much in mind of the North American maple sugar.

We were introduced also to a very curious animal, somewhat smaller than a Shetland cow, called the sapi-utan. It has long straight horns, which are ringed at the base and slope backwards over the neck. We were told that it inhabits the mountains, and is never found where deer exist.

There seems a doubt whether it should be cla.s.sed with the ox, buffalo, or antelope. The head is black, with a white mark over each eye, one on the cheek, and another on the throat. We saw also a couple of maleos, a species of brush-turkey, allied to the _megapodi_ or mound-making birds which we had met with in our island. They live also in the northern part of Celebes, and come down to the sh.o.r.e in order to lay their eggs in the black, hot, volcanic sand. It is a handsome bird, the plumage glossy black and rosy white, with a helmeted head, and elevated tail.

Its walk is peculiarly stately. The s.e.xes are very much alike. Two or more birds will come down, and the female deposits a single egg in a hole which the male a.s.sists her in making, about a foot deep in the sand, and having covered it up, returns to the forest. At the end of ten days or so she comes to the same spot and lays another egg. Each can lay, it is said, six or eight eggs during the season. Frequently two or three hens deposit their eggs in the same hole. The colour of the sh.e.l.l is a pale brick-red. The eggs being thus deposited, the parents take no further care of their offspring. The young birds, after breaking their sh.e.l.l, work their way up through the sand, just as the young megapodi do, and run off at once to the forest. A friend of Mr Hooker's presented him with some, which had been carefully covered up, and had just arrived. We took them on board the brig. The next morning, when far out of sight of land, we heard a strange noise in the cabin, and looking in, great was our surprise to see a covey of little birds flying right across it. They had been hatched during the night, and following the instincts of their nature, were making their way, as they supposed, to their future forest home. We fed them on little bits of chopped fruit, and such things as Mr Hooker thought would suit their appet.i.tes.

"But what can induce the parents thus to leave their eggs?" asked Emily.

"I thought it was the nature of creatures to look after their young."

"If it was for their benefit, so it would have been," he answered; "but I suspect that these large birds, requiring a considerable amount of food, which consists entirely of fallen fruits, could only find it by roaming over a wide extent of country. If, therefore, a large number came down to this particular beach, which seems the only one fit for hatching them during the breeding season, they would perish for want of food. Providence, therefore, has so arranged that they should return to the districts where they can find their food; whilst the young ones, not requiring so much, are able to make their way as their strength will allow in the same direction."

We had a full-grown stuffed maleo on board. Its claws were sharp and straight, and very different from those of the megapodi. The toes, however, were strongly webbed at the base; the leg rather long, forming a powerful instrument for scratching away the loose sand, which those who have watched them say they throw up in a complete shower when digging their holes.

We had been standing on for some time to the west, a cast of the lead showing us that we were in fifty fathoms--the shallow sea which separates Borneo from Java and Sumatra. Our compa.s.s had never been very trustworthy. An injury it had received had still further put it out of order, while thick cloudy weather had prevented us from taking an observation. Mr Hooker had also for some days been unwell. He had caught a fever while we were at Maca.s.sar, the effects of which he began to feel directly he came on board, and we were now very anxious about him. Several of the men also had been ill for some time before we reached Maca.s.sar. Two of them died. I will not stop to describe the particulars of their funeral. We felt very sad as we committed them to their ocean grave. Mr Hooker, who had studied medicine, was too ill to visit the rest. He, however, got Mr Thudic.u.mb and I to describe their symptoms as far as we were able, and sent the medicine accordingly. As soon as he was able to move he insisted upon being carried forward to see the men, when, somewhat altering his treatment of them, they appeared to be getting better.

I was on deck one day, and Roger Trew was aloft, when he shouted out, "Land ahead!" Not knowing exactly our position, we were glad that it had been seen during the day. I ran aloft, and after a time I could distinguish the land stretching away to the north and south, where it seemed to terminate. We therefore concluded that it was an island.

This became a certainty as we stood on, as no land could be distinguished beyond the two distant points we had discovered. We were rather nearest the north end, and Mr Thudic.u.mb determined therefore to go round it. It was a land of dense forest, with here and there mountainous points; high bold capes standing out into the ocean, affording every possible variety of scenery.

"Why, there must be a fort somewhere thereabouts," observed Mr Thudic.u.mb, who had been examining it through his gla.s.s. "I see a flag flying!"

There, sure enough, as we drew nearer, we discovered on the summit of a bold rock, standing out into the sea, a flagstaff with a large flag flying from it. What the flag was, we could not well make out, from its somewhat battered condition. As we stood on, a bay opened out, the headland I have spoken of forming the westernmost point. Mr Thudic.u.mb considered that it would afford sufficient shelter to us should we bring up. He was anxious to do this, that we might go ash.o.r.e and ascertain whether any Europeans were living there.

"Perhaps some people have been cast away," he observed, "and have hoisted the flag as a signal to any pa.s.sers-by."

Mr Hooker was still too weak to go ash.o.r.e without inconvenience. Mr Thudic.u.mb therefore ordered d.i.c.k Tarbox, myself, Roger Trew, and three others, to go in the boat, well armed with muskets and pistols, and to ascertain the state of the case.

"Now, take care," said Mr Thudic.u.mb, "that you are not led into an ambush. Some of these islands are the dens of pirates, or savages, who are no better, and still more treacherous. Keep a bright look-out on either side as you advance, and see that you are able to get back to the boat without any difficulty. If there is an European there, he is sure to come down when he sees the boat pull in; so if you find no one at first, you must be doubly careful not to be caught in a trap."

Emily and Grace stood at the gangway as we pulled off.

"Oh, do take care, Walter, that those horrid savages do not get hold of you again!" exclaimed Emily.

"Pray, do! pray, do!" added Grace.

"Yes, Mynheer Walter, take care dat de savages don't eat you up; you now grow so fat and big, you fine large morsel," exclaimed Frau Ursula, who had no fear whatever of savages or pirates, being in most instances a very dauntless and fearless person.

I was glad she said this, as it a.s.sisted to quell the anxiety of Emily and Grace. The brig lay about a quarter of a mile from the beach, Mr Thudic.u.mb being afraid to stand in nearer because of the reefs, of which there appeared to be several under water, their dark heads projecting here and there from the sh.o.r.e. I waved my cap and held up my musket as we pulled in, to show them that we were in good spirits, and prepared to make a bold fight, if it was necessary; though I must say I had no expectations of meeting either savages or pirates.

The flag, though tattered and patched, looked very like an English ensign with the jack torn out of it.

"Depend upon it, some Englishman is there," observed Tarbox. "What object could any pirates or savages have in flying a flag from that point?"

We found the sh.o.r.e lined with black volcanic rocks, among which there was some difficulty in landing. However, at length we discovered a place between two ledges, into which we ran the boat. One of the men remained to take charge of her, while the rest of us, landing, walked up the beach. We soon came to the thick jungle, in which we could find no opening. We therefore continued along the sh.o.r.e towards the point where the flag was flying. Having gone some way, we found an opening on our right. The underwood and branches had evidently been cut away by an axe, and seemed to lead from the flagstaff rock towards some place in the interior. d.i.c.k Tarbox leading the way, we advanced along the path, keeping a look-out among the trunks of the trees on every side, lest any treacherous enemies might be lurking there. The ground rose somewhat.

At length we emerged into the open s.p.a.ce, where there were signs of rude cultivation; and further on appeared a cottage raised on poles about three feet from the ground, very similar to the building we had put up in our island, but considerably larger. This, we concluded, must be the habitation of the people who had erected the flagstaff. As we got nearer to it, we were saluted by the loud voices of birds--a number of the numerous tribes found in these regions. Such screeching, crying, cooing, shrieking, and chattering, I had never before heard; while from wooden cages on every side, or from under small huts of curious construction, came forth the cries of all sorts of animals. Still, no one appeared. Presently we heard a shot at a little distance, and discovered a path leading to where it came from. Tarbox fired as a signal, being sure, from what we saw in the cottage, that its occupant was not likely to be evilly disposed towards us. As we went on, we saw, coming through the open glade before us, a tall figure, with a gun in his hand, followed by another carrying a basket, and several birds slung over his shoulders.

"A veritable Robinson Crusoe!" I exclaimed.

The figure answered, indeed, in every respect, the description I had seen of that far-famed adventurer. There was the pointed, palm-leaf hat; the rough skin leggings; a belt round the waist, with hunting-knife and all sorts of things stuck in it; boots of skin; and a gun in his hand (though, I suspect, Robinson Crusoe must have used a bow and arrow--at all events, he must have done so when his powder was expended). The man behind him, too, was in all respects like his man Friday; fully as dark-skinned, though perhaps with rather more clothing than Friday was accustomed to wear, as his dress was similar to that of the leading figure.

"Hilloa, my friends! where do you come from?" he exclaimed, in a loud, cheery voice. "What! have you found me out at last?"

"Why, friend, we saw a flag flying from the point out there, and took it for granted that somebody or other was here on sh.o.r.e wanting to be taken off; and if you wish to come with us, we have directions to take you on board our brig, which lies in the bay out there."

"Yes, indeed, I do; for I have been waiting here long enough almost to have lost all account of time," answered the tall man. "I have a pretty large family, however; and unless your brig is a good-sized one, I doubt whether you can carry us all."

"What! have you got a wife and children living here?" asked Tarbox. "We saw nothing of them as we came along."