Discoveries in Australia Volume I Part 39

The natives describe them as keeping together in flocks, headed by one, they call the Rajah bird, whose motions they follow.*

(*Footnote. This is also mentioned by Pennant in his work on the Malayan Archipelago, published in 1800.)

During the absence of the trading boats, the rest of the crews are employed making chinam of lime, from the coral which abounds on the beach, which fetches a good price at Banda, where fuel is expensive.

As soon as the South-East monsoon is fairly set in, the junks are hauled up on the western side of the sandy spit at high-water spring tides, a sort of dam is then built round them, with bamboos, and a kind of mat the Malays call kadgang, banked up with sand; from this the water is bailed out by hand, so as to form a dry dock in which they clean and coat the bottom with chinam which lasts till the next season.

The cargo, as it is brought in by the different trading boats, is carefully dried and stowed away in the different storehouses on the point.

CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES.

Of the natives of the islands we had not on this occasion an opportunity of seeing much, but the traders on the whole gave them a good character for honesty, and described them as a harmless race very much scattered.

They used formerly to bring their articles of barter to Dobbo, but discontinued it within the last few years, in consequence of having been ill-used by the Bughis. Many of them profess Christianity, having been converted by Dutch Missionaries sent from Amboyna.

THE KI ISLANDS.

Having completed our survey of the harbour and obtained such supplies as we could, which, from the traders only bringing with them enough for their own consumption, did not amount to much, we sailed for the Ki Islands; a group sixty miles to the eastward of Arru, consisting of two large islands called the greater and lesser Ki, and a number of small islands lying to the westward of the latter.

The great Ki is about sixty miles long, high, and mountainous; the lesser Ki and the small islands are low, few parts of the group attaining an elevation of more than fifty feet.

Owing to the light airs and unsettled weather attendant on the change of the monsoon, it was not till the 3rd that we arrived off the village of Ki Illi, situated on the north-east end of the great Ki, and finding no anchorage, the brig stood on and off, while we landed in the boats at the village which is built close down on the beach and surrounded by a wall, but not so strongly protected by its position as the villages in Timor Laut. The houses, like those at Oliliet, were raised on piles above the ground, but were not surmounted by the carved gables which seem to be peculiar to the Tenimber group.

In the centre of the village we noticed a large building, evidently a place of worship, surrounded by a gra.s.s plot, on which a number of stones were ranged in a circle with some taller ones in the middle. Ki Illi is celebrated for its manufacture of pottery, of which we saw many specimens, formed with great taste, of a coa.r.s.e porous material, which being unglazed is well adapted for cooling by evaporation, in the manner so much used in the east.

BOAT-BUILDING AT KI ILLI.

We had also an opportunity of seeing the boats, which are built in great numbers from the excellent timber with which all the islands of this group abound. They are much used by the traders frequenting the Arru Islands, and were highly spoken of for their durability and speed. The boats we saw, though they varied considerably in size, were all built on the same plan, having a considerable beam, a clean entrance and run, a flat floor, and the stem and stern post projecting considerably above the gunwales. They were all built of planks cut out of solid timber to the form required, dowelled together by wooden pegs, as a cooper fastens the head of a cask, and the whole afterwards strengthened by timbers, lashed with split rattan to solid cleats left for the purpose in each plank, during the process of hewing it into shape.

Four of the smallest of these boats were purchased for the use of the colony, for about 2 1/2 dollars each, and were found to answer very well.

After leaving Ki Illi we sailed to the southward, along the eastern side of the great Ki, which is well wooded to the summit of the hills, and cleared away for cultivation in many places. There is no anchorage off this side of the island, which is so steep to, that on one occasion we could get no bottom with ninety fathoms, two ships' lengths from the beach.

At daylight on the 5th we entered the strait between the greater and lesser Ki, the sh.o.r.es on both sides of which are lined with small patches of cultivation. During the day we observed several small detached reefs, and at sunset anch.o.r.ed on a reef, extending from the north end of the lesser Ki, in thirteen fathoms.

KI DOULAN.

April 6.

After breakfast, I started with some of the officers to visit Ki Doulan, the princ.i.p.al village in the lesser Ki, and sent another boat to sound towards a small island to the westward. After leaving the brig we pa.s.sed a luxuriant grove of coconut trees, extending along the beach, under the shade of which we saw several villages, where the natives were busily employed building boats.

A pull of three miles brought us to the town of Ki Doulan, situated near the beach, and surrounded by a stone wall, which had every appearance of antiquity. On the sea side, where the wall was in its best state of preservation, there were three gates leading towards the beach, but accessible only by means of ladders four or five feet high, which could easily be removed in case of attack. The stones forming the sides of the central gateway were ornamented by rude bas-reliefs, representing figures on horseback; and the gate itself, formed of hard wood, and strong enough to keep out any party not provided with artillery, was richly carved.

NATIVES OF KI DOULAN.

Within the walls there was a considerable s.p.a.ce in which the houses were built without any regularity, resembling those at Oliliet, with the exception of the carved horns at the gable. We visited the chief's, and found it tolerably clean: it consisted of one storey only; the high-pitched roof being used as a storeroom, to the rafters of which all sorts of miscellaneous articles were suspended. The chief himself, who was an old man, dressed in the black serge denoting his rank, was very civil, and offered us arrack and cocoa nuts. The natives of this group differ considerably from those of Arru, and more resemble those of Timor Laut, but are not so much inclined to treachery. The population is said to amount to 8 or 10,000.

Christianity has not made the same progress here as at Arru, and many of the natives profess the Mahometan faith, to which they have been converted by the Mahometans of Ceram, who have several priests in the islands.

They pay great attention to cultivation, and produce considerable quant.i.ties of coconut oil of a superior quality. Tortoise-sh.e.l.l is also found, but their chief source of trade consists in the number of boats and proas, of various sizes, they build of the timber which abounds in both islands. Outside the walls we noticed several burial places; and in a small shed, not very highly ornamented, was a rude figure of a man, nearly the size of life, holding a spear in his hand; and near this shed was a building resembling the one at Ki Illi, but much smaller, and very much out of repair. On the beach two Maca.s.sar proas were hauled up to repair, and their crews had erected houses, similar to those at Arru, for the purpose of carrying on their trade. The boats, of which the natives had great numbers in every stage of construction, were more highly finished than those at Ki Illi, but of the same form.

On returning on board, Mr. Hill, who had been away sounding, reported a clear channel to the westward. In the evening we again landed at a small village near the ship, beautifully situated in a most luxuriant grove of coconut trees, and surrounded by a jungle, too dense to penetrate, except where a path had been cleared. Many of the trees were very fine.

AGILITY OF JACK WHITE.

We were all much amused and surprised at the extraordinary activity our Australian native, Jack White, displayed in ascending the coconut trees, which he did with as much ease as any of us could have mounted a ladder, and when near the top of one of the highest, finding the sleeves of his frock and the legs of his trousers in the way, he held on with one arm and leg, while he rolled his trousers up above the knee, and then with both legs, while he rolled his sleeves above his elbows. His delight at the coconuts, which were quite new to him, was very great.

Although we were not very successful in obtaining supplies on this occasion, we found on a subsequent visit, when our stay was longer, that they could be obtained at a very moderate price; firewood and water may also be obtained without difficulty.

Off the town of Ki Doulan the water is too deep for a ship to anchor, but the shoal which projects from the point of the island three miles north of the town affords good anchorage in both monsoons.

There seem to be clear pa.s.sages between all the islands in this group, though contracted in places by reefs, which, from the clearness of the water, can be distinctly seen from the masthead.

ISLAND OF VORDATE.

On the morning of the 6th we got underweigh, and pa.s.sing to the westward of the Ki group, saw the Nusa Tello Islands indistinctly through the haze to the westward of us. At dawn on the 7th we made the high land of Vordate, but light winds prevented our making much progress till the evening, when a light air carried us along the land, and soon after sunset we anch.o.r.ed in twenty fathoms off a small village. Daylight on the 8th did not impress us with a favourable idea of our anchorage, for it appeared we had entered by a narrow and deep channel between two reefs upon which there was not more than 4 1/2 fathoms.

At 8 a chief came off from the village in a large canoe pulled by about a dozen men, with a tom-tom beating in the bow. He was very anxious to get some arrack, and promised plenty of supplies.

After breakfast we landed, and were saluted by one gun from a proa hauled up on the beach. Our arrival had evidently caused much excitement among the natives, who came down in great numbers, and formed a semicircle round the boat. They were nearly all armed with cresses and steel-headed spears. Several of them wore a sort of breastplate made of hide, and their heads were ornamented with a profusion of richly coloured feathers and long horn-like projections formed of white calico; long necklaces of sh.e.l.ls hung down to their waists, and all had their hair dyed in the same way as at Oliliet. Here we again noticed the carved horns surmounting the gables of the houses.

THE ORAN KAYA.

Soon after we landed, the Oran Kaya made his appearance, and seemed to be in a great state of alarm. As soon as he got within the circle of his countrymen he commenced a series of most profound salaams, bending his head down till he touched my feet. By way of rea.s.suring him, I presented him with a fine gaudy red shawl, which for a time had the desired effect; and he then produced a doc.u.ment in Dutch, signed by Lieutenant Kolff, which appeared to be a certificate of good conduct. By means of the vocabulary and dictionary I tried to make them understand that we only wanted some pigs, vegetables and poultry, for which we had brought money to pay or goods to exchange. These he promised to procure for us, and to send them on board, earnestly making signs all the time that we should go away as soon as possible.

ALARM OF THE NATIVES.

Finding the natives still coming down to the beach in great numbers, and that all were in a highly excited state, we merely gratified our curiosity on the beach, without attempting to go into their village, and returned on board.

We subsequently found out that the natives had some reason to be alarmed at our appearance, as they had been recently visited by a frigate, sent by the Dutch government to punish the inhabitants of the neighbouring island Laarat for the murder of Captain Harris, and part of the crew of the English bark Alexander, on which occasion she destroyed the village and took away several of the natives, who were supposed to have been implicated in the business, prisoners to Amboyna.

After about an hour, during which the natives remained in a compact group on the beach, evidently in deep consultation, the same chief who visited us in the morning came off again, bringing with him the promised supplies, consisting only of a billy-goat and a small pig. We tried some time in vain to convince him we had no hostile intentions, and as the weather was too unsettled to remain in so insecure an anchorage, we weighed, and made sail for Oliliet, pa.s.sing close along the island of Vordate, which is moderately high, luxuriantly wooded, very well cultivated, and apparently densely inhabited. It is separated from Laarat by a narrow strait, which, from the way the sea broke across it, appeared to be quite shoal.

RETURN TO OLILIET.

April 11.

At 10 A.M. we were off Laouran, but finding the swell, occasioned by the strong breezes experienced yesterday, was breaking too heavily on the reef skirting the bay for a boat to land, we stood on for Oliliet, and on rounding the point fired a gun and hove to. Two canoes soon after left the beach, and from the number of articles of European manufacture with which they were decorated, we soon saw that some vessel must have visited the place since our departure; and on the chief coming on board he handed me some papers, from which I ascertained that Mr. Watson, commanding the Essington schooner, had visited the place during our absence; and by having a person on board who could communicate with the natives, he had succeeded by threats and promises held out to the chiefs in getting the European boy given up to him. The boy had nearly forgotten his English at first, but Mr. Watson afterwards made out that he belonged to the Stedcombe schooner, the crew of which were all murdered by the natives while engaged in watering their vessel. He had been ten years on the island, during which time he had been well treated by his captors.

The brig was obliged to stand off and on, as there is no anchorage off Oliliet during the south-east monsoon, which had now set in; but two boats were sent on sh.o.r.e to obtain supplies.

CONDUCT OF THE NATIVES.

They were well received by the natives, and again visited the village, where they were surprised to find that all the women came out to see them. All, both young and old, were dressed in a dark coloured wrapper, which reached from the waist to the knees, and on their ankles they wore a profusion of bright bra.s.s ornaments. The boats were not very successful in procuring stock, but the chiefs promised an abundant supply in the morning, which I determined to wait for, and accordingly worked to windward under easy sail during the night, but found at daylight that we had been sent so far to the southward by a current, that it was 10 A.M.

before we were again near enough to send the boats in.

On landing they found all their chiefs, and a considerable number of the natives waiting on the beach with vegetables, etc. for sale. But they had hardly commenced their barter, when a powerful looking man, armed with a large iron-headed spear, in a state of intoxication, came rushing down from the village; he made directly for the crowd upon the beach, apparently with the intention of attacking our party; but the natives immediately closed upon him, and after some trouble disarmed him; after which he continued to rush about the crowd in a violent state of excitement, running against any of our party he could see, and making urgent signs to them to leave the sh.o.r.e.

At the same time the noise and confusion on the beach was so great, that the officer in charge of the party prepared to return on board at once, in order to avoid any collision with the natives. As soon as the chiefs became aware of his intention, they were most anxious he should remain, and made every profession of friendship to induce him to do so; but he had heard so much of their treachery from the traders at Arru that he resisted their entreaties, and returned on board at half-past eleven.