The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online
The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online
292 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.trunk, perhaps twenty feet long and four or &ye in circumference,converted into food witli so little labour and preparation.A good-sized tree will pi'oduce thirty tomans or bundles ofthirty pounds each, and each toman will make sixty cakes ofthree to the pound. Two of these cakes are as much as a mancan eat at one meal, and five are considered a full day's allowance; so that, reckoning a tree to produce 1,800 cakes, weighing600 pounds, it will supply a man with food for a whole year.The labour to produce this is very moderate. Two men willfinish a tree in five days, and two women will bake the wholeinto cakes in five days more ; but the raw sago will keep verywell, and can be baked as wanted, so that we may estimate thatin ten days a man may produce food for the whole year. Thisis on tlie supposition that he possesses sago trees of his own, forthey are now all private property. If he does not, he has to payabout seven and sixpence for one ; and as labour here is fivepencea day, the total cost of a year's food for one man is abouttwelve shillings. The effect of tliis cheapness of food is decidedlyprejudicial, for the inhabitants of the sago countries are neverso well off" as those where rice is cultivated. Many of the peoplehere have neither vegetables nor fruit, but live almost entirelyon sago and a little fish. Having few occupations at home, theywander about on petty trading or fishing expeditions to theneighbouring islands ; and as far as the comforts of life areconcerned, are much inferior to the wild hill-Dyaks of Borneo,or to many of the more Ijarbarous tribes of the Archipelago.The country round Warus-warus is low and swampy, andowing to the absence of cultivation there were scarcely anypaths leading into the forest. I was therefore unable to collectmuch during my enforced stay, and found no rare birds or insects "to improve my opinion of Ceram as a collecting ground. Findingit quite impossible to get men here to accomiDany me on thewhole voyage, I was obliged to be content with a crew to takeme as far as Wahai, on the middle of the north coast of Cerara,and the chief Dutch station in the island. The journey took usfive days, owing to calms and liglit winds, and no incident ofany interest occurred on it, nor did I obtain at our stoppingplaces a single addition to my collections worth naming. AtWahai, whicli I reached on the 15th of June, I was hospitablyreceived bj' the Commandant and my old friend Herr Rosenberg,who was now on an othcial visit liere. He lent me some moneyto pay my men, and I was lucky enough to obtain three otherswilling to make the voyage with me to Ternate, and one morewho was to return from Mysol. One of my Amboyna lads,nowever, left me, so that I was still rather short of hands.I found here a letter from Charles Allen, wlio was at Silintain ^lysol, anxiously expecting me, as he was out of rice and othernecessaries, and was short of insect-pins. He was also ill, andif I did not soon come would return to Wahai.As my voyage from this place to Waigiou was among islands
XXVI.] BOURU. 293inhabited by the Papuan race, and was an eventful and disastrousone, I will narrate its chief incidents in a separate cliapterin that division of my work devoted to tlie Papuan Islands. Inow have to pass over a year spent in Waigiou and Timor, inorder to describe my visit to tlie island of Bouru, which concludedmy explorations of the Moluccas.CHAPTEE XXVIBOURU.(may axd JUNE 1861. Mcq), p. 279.)I HAD long wished to visit the large island of Bouru, whichlies due west of Ceram, and of which scarcely anything apjoearedto be known to naturalists, except that it contained a babirusavery like that of Celebes. I therefore made arrangements forstaying tliere two months after leaving Timor Delli in 1861.This I could conveniently do by means of the Dutch mailsteamers,which make a monthly round of the Moluccas.a gunWe arrived at the harbour of Cajeli on the 4tli of May ;was fired, the Commandant of the fort came alongside in anative boat to receive the post-packet, and took me and mybaggage on shore, the steamer going off again without comingto an anchor.We went to .the house of the Opzeiner, or overseer,a native of Amboyna—Bouru being too poor a place todeserve even an Assistant Resident ;yet the appearance of thevillage was very far superior to that of Delli, which possesses" His Excellency the Governor," and the little fort, in perfectorder, surrounded by neat grass-plots and straight walks,although manned by only a dozen Javanese soldiers with anAdjutant for commander, was a very Sebastopol in comparisonwith the miserable mud enclosure at Delli, with its numerousstaff of Lieutenants, Captain, and Major. Yet this, as well asmost of the forts in tlie Moluccas, was originally built by thePortuguese themselves. Oh ! Lusitania, how art thou fallen !While the Opzeiner was reading his letters, ;I took a walkround the village with a guide in search of a house. The wholeplace was dreadfully damp and muddy, being built in a swampwith not a spot of ground raised a foot above it, and surroundedby swamps on every side. The liouses were mostly well built,of wooden framework tilled in with gaba-gaba (leaf-stems of thesago-palm), but as they had no whitewash, and the floors wereof bare black earth like the roads, and generally on the samelevel, they were extremely damp and gloomy. At length I foundone with the floor raised about a foot, and succeeded in makinga bargain with the owner to turn out immediately, so that bynight I had installed myself comfortably. The chairs and tables
- Page 276 and 277: 244 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [cHAr.ha
- Page 278 and 279: 246 THE ]\IALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.
- Page 280 and 281: 248 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [cHAr.re
- Page 282 and 283: 250 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chai-.r
- Page 284: 252 THE ilALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [cnAr,b
- Page 287 and 288: XXIV.] BATCHIAN. 253known bird. The
- Page 289 and 290: —XXIV.] BATCHIAK 255a written ord
- Page 291 and 292: XXIV.] BATCHIAN. 257having a much g
- Page 293 and 294: XXIV.] BATCHIAX. 259Butterflies wer
- Page 295 and 296: XXIV.] BATCHIAN. 261individuals. Wh
- Page 297 and 298: XXIV.] BATCHIAK 263in the Moluccas.
- Page 299 and 300: XXIV.] BATCHIAK 265usual and except
- Page 301: XXV.] CERAM, GORAM, AND THE MATABEL
- Page 304 and 305: 270 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.ve
- Page 306 and 307: 272 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.in
- Page 308 and 309: —;I274 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [ch
- Page 310 and 311: ;276 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.p
- Page 312 and 313: 278 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap. x
- Page 314 and 315: 280 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap,Ce
- Page 316 and 317: ;282 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.i
- Page 318 and 319: 284 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.th
- Page 320 and 321: 286 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.of
- Page 322 and 323: ;288 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.i
- Page 324 and 325: 290 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.or
- Page 328 and 329: 294 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.we
- Page 330 and 331: 296 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.co
- Page 332 and 333: 298 THE :MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.s
- Page 334 and 335: 300 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.la
- Page 336 and 337: 302 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.pe
- Page 338 and 339: 304 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.Ob
- Page 340: 306 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap100
- Page 343 and 344: xxvii.] THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE
- Page 345 and 346: xxv-iii.] MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISLAN
- Page 347 and 348: sxYiii.] MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISLAND
- Page 349 and 350: xsviii.] MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISLAND
- Page 351 and 352: —xxviii.] MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISL
- Page 353 and 354: XXIX.] THE K6 islands. 317we rounde
- Page 355 and 356: sxix.] THE Kf; ISLANDS. 319Mongolia
- Page 357 and 358: iXXIX.] THE Kfi ISLA]SrDS. 321littl
- Page 359 and 360: XXIX.] THE Kfi ISLANDS. 323himself
- Page 361 and 362: —XXIX.] THE Kl: ISLANDS. 325leave
- Page 363 and 364: XXX.] THE ARU ISLANDS.—RESIDENCE
- Page 365 and 366: XXX.] THE ARU ISLANDS.—RESIDENCE
- Page 367 and 368: —XXX.] THE ARU ISLANDS.—RESIDEX
- Page 369 and 370: XXX.] THE ARU ISLANDS.—RESIDENCE
- Page 371 and 372: XXX.] THE ARU ISLANDS.—RESIDENCE
- Page 374 and 375: NATIVES OF ARU SHOOTING THE GREAT B
XXVI.] BOURU. 293inhabited by <strong>the</strong> Papuan race, and was an eventful and disastrousone, I will narrate its chief incidents in a separate cliapterin that division <strong>of</strong> my work devoted to tlie Papuan Is<strong>land</strong>s. Inow have to pass over a year spent in Waigiou and Timor, inorder to describe my visit to tlie is<strong>land</strong> <strong>of</strong> Bouru, which concludedmy explorations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Moluccas.CHAPTEE XXVIBOURU.(may axd JUNE 1861. Mcq), p. 279.)I HAD long wished to visit <strong>the</strong> large is<strong>land</strong> <strong>of</strong> Bouru, whichlies due west <strong>of</strong> Ceram, and <strong>of</strong> which scarcely anything apjoearedto be known to naturalists, except that it contained a babirusavery like that <strong>of</strong> Celebes. I <strong>the</strong>refore made arrangements forstaying tliere two months after leaving Timor Delli in 1861.This I could conveniently do by means <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Dutch mailsteamers,which make a monthly round <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Moluccas.a gunWe arrived at <strong>the</strong> harbour <strong>of</strong> Cajeli on <strong>the</strong> 4tli <strong>of</strong> May ;was fired, <strong>the</strong> Commandant <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fort came alongside in anative boat to receive <strong>the</strong> post-packet, and took me and mybaggage on shore, <strong>the</strong> steamer going <strong>of</strong>f again without comingto an anchor.We went to .<strong>the</strong> house <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Opzeiner, or overseer,a native <strong>of</strong> Amboyna—Bouru being too poor a place todeserve even an Assistant Resident ;yet <strong>the</strong> appearance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>village was very far superior to that <strong>of</strong> Delli, which possesses" His Excellency <strong>the</strong> Governor," and <strong>the</strong> little fort, in perfectorder, surrounded by neat grass-plots and straight walks,although manned by only a dozen Javanese soldiers with anAdj<strong>utan</strong>t for commander, was a very Sebastopol in comparisonwith <strong>the</strong> miserable mud enclosure at Delli, with its numerousstaff <strong>of</strong> Lieutenants, Captain, and Major. Yet this, as well asmost <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> forts in tlie Moluccas, was originally built by <strong>the</strong>Portuguese <strong>the</strong>mselves. Oh ! Lusitania, how art thou fallen !While <strong>the</strong> Opzeiner was reading his letters, ;I took a walkround <strong>the</strong> village with a guide in search <strong>of</strong> a house. <strong>The</strong> wholeplace was dreadfully damp and muddy, being built in a swampwith not a spot <strong>of</strong> ground raised a foot above it, and surroundedby swamps on every side. <strong>The</strong> liouses were mostly well built,<strong>of</strong> wooden framework tilled in with gaba-gaba (leaf-stems <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>sago-palm), but as <strong>the</strong>y had no whitewash, and <strong>the</strong> floors were<strong>of</strong> bare black earth like <strong>the</strong> roads, and generally on <strong>the</strong> samelevel, <strong>the</strong>y were extremely damp and gloomy. At length I foundone with <strong>the</strong> floor raised about a foot, and succeeded in makinga bargain with <strong>the</strong> owner to turn out immediately, so that bynight I had installed myself comfortably. <strong>The</strong> chairs and tables
Change language