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

—xxviii.] MACASSAR TO THE ARU ISLANDS. 315rather bulky and easy to see, and in the final submergence beingaccompanied with a little bubbling and commotion of the water,which calls the attention to it. It is also quickly replaced iflost while in harbour.Our captain and owner I find to be a quiet, good-temperedman, who seems to get on very well with all about him. Whenat sea he drinks no wine or spirits, but indulges only in cofteeand cakes, morning and afternoon, in company with his supercargoand assistants. He is a man of some little education, canread and write well botli Dutch and Malay, uses a comjDass, andhas a chart. He has been a trader to Ai'U for many years, andis well known to both EurojDeans and natives in this part of theworld.Dec. 24:th.—Fine, and little wind. No land in sight for thefirst time since we left Macassar. At noon calm, with heavyshowers, in which our crew wash their clothes, and in the afternoonthe prau is covered with shirts, trousers, and sarongs ofvarious gay colours. I made a discovery to-day which at firstrather alarmed me. The two jDorts, or ojDenings, through whichthe tillers enter from the lateral ruddei'sare not more than threeor four feet above the surface of the water, which thus has afree enti^ance into the vessel. I of course liad imagined thatthis open space from one side to the other was separated fromthe hold by a water-tight bulkhead, so that a sea enteringmight wash out at the further side, and do no more harm thangive the steersmen a drenching. To my surprise and dismay,however, I find that it is completely ojoen to the hold, so thathalf-a-dozen seas rolling in on a stormy night would nearly, orquite, swamp us. Think of a vessel going to sea for a monthwith two holes, each a yard square, into the hold, at tlu-ee feetabove the water-line—holes, too, which cannot jjossilily beclosed ! But our captain says all praus are so ; and though heacknowledges the danger, '* he does not know how to alter itthe people are used to it ; he does not understand praus so wellas they do, and if such a great alteration were made, he shouldbe sure to have ditficulty in getting a crew "! This proves at allevents that jjraus must be good sea-boats, for the captain has beencontinually making voj'ages in them for the last ten years, andsays he has never known water enough enter to do anj^ harm.Dec. 25fh.—Christmas-day dawned upon us with gusts ofwind, driving rain, thunder and lightning, added to whicli a shortconfused sea made our queer vessel pitch and roll very uncomfortably.About nine o'clock, however, it cleared up, and wethen saw ahead of us the fine island of Bouru, perhaps forty orfifty miles distant, its mountains wreathed with clouds, whileits lower lands were still invisible. The afternoon was tine, andthe wind got round again to the west ;but although this isreallj' the west monsoon, there is no regularity or steadinessabout it, calms and breezes from every point of tlie compasscontinually occurring. The captain, though nominally a Protesty