The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

xsviii.] MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISLANDS. 313rocks here, and as I was standing by the bulwarks, I happenedto spit over tlie side ; one of the men begged I would not do sojust now, but spit on deck, as they were much afraid of thisplace. Not quite comprehending I made him repeat his request,when, seeing he was in earnest, I said, " Very well, I supposethere are hantus' (spirits) here." "Yes," said he, "and theydon't like anything to be thrown ovei'board ;many a prau hasbeen lost by doing it." Upon which I promised to be verycareful. At sunset the good Mohammedans on board all repeateda few words of prayer with a general chorus, reminding me ofthe pleasing and impressive Ave Maria of Catholic countries._Dec 20th.—At sunrise we were opposite the Bontyne mountain,said to be one of the highest in Celebes. In the afternoon,we passed the Salayer Straits and had a little squall, whichobliged us to lower our huge mast, sails, and heavy yards. Therest of the evening we had a fine west wind, which carried us onat near five knots an hour, as much as our lumbering old tubcan possibly go.Dec. 2lst.—A heavy swell from the south-west rolling us aboutmost uncomfortably. A steady wind was blowing, however,and we got on very well.Dec. 22nd.—Tlie swell had gone down. We passed Boutong, alarge island, high, woody, and populous, the native place of someof our crew. A small prau returning fi'om Bali to the islandof Goram overtook us. The nakoda (captain) was known to ourowner. They had been two years away, but were full of peojDle,with several black Papuans on board. At 6 p.m. we passedWangiwangi, low but not flat, inhabited and subject to Boutong.We had now fairly entered the Molucca Sea. After dark it wasa beautiful sight to look down on our rudders, from which rushededdying streams of phosphoric light gemmed with whirlingsparks of fire. It resembled (more nearly than anything else towhich I can compare it) one of the large irregular nebulousstar-clusters seen through a good telescope, witli the additionalattraction of ever-changing form and dancing motion.Dec. 23rd— Fine red sunrise ;the island we left last eveningbarely \dsible behind us. The (jroram prau about a mile southof us. They have no compass, yet they have kept a very truecourse during the night. Our owner tells me they do it by theswell of the sea, the dii-ection of which tliey notice at sunset,and sail by it during the night. In these seas tliey are never(in fine weather) more than two days ^vithout seeing land. Ofcourse adverse winds or currents sometimes carry them away,but they soon fall in with some island, and there are always someold sailors on board who know it, and thence take a new course.Last night a shark about five feet long was cauglit, and thismorning it was cut up and cooked. In the afternoon tliey gotanother, and I had a little fried, and found it firm and dry, butvery palatable. In tlie evening the sun set in a heavy bank ofclouds, which, as darkness came on, assumed a fearfully black