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

iXXIX.] THE Kfi ISLA]SrDS. 321little soil had accumulated and the rock had been less exposedto atmospheric action.The island of Ke (iironoiinced exactly as the letter K, buterroneously spelt in our maps Key or Ki) is long and narrow,running in a north and south direction, and consists almostentirely of rock and mountain. It is everywhere covered withluxuriant forests, and in its bays and inlets the sand is of dazzlingwhiteness, resulting from the decomposition of tlie corallinelimestone of which it is entirely composed. In all the littleswampy inlets and valleys sago trees abound, and these supplythe main sub-sistence of the natives, who grow no rice, and havescarcely any other cultivated products but cocoa-nuts, plantains,and yams. From the cocoa-nuts, which surround every hut, andwhich thrive exceedingly on the poi'ous limestone soil and underthe influence of salt breezes, oil is made which is sold at a goodprice to the Aru traders, who all touch here to lay in tlieirstock of this article, as well as to purchase boats and nativecrockery. Wooden bowls, pans, andti'ays, are also largely madehere, hewn out of solid blocks of wood with knife and adze ;andthese are carried to all parts of the Moluccas. But the art inwhich the natives of Ke pre-eminently excel is that of boatbuilding.Their forests supply abundance of fine timber thoughprobably not more so than many other islands, and from someunknown causes these remote savages have come to excel inwhat seems a very difiicult art. Their small canoes arebeautifully formed, broad and low in the centre, but rising ateach end, where they terminate in high-pointed beaks more orless carved, and ornamented with a plume of feathers. Tlieyare not hollowed out of a tree, but are regularly built of planksrunning fromrendtoend, and so accurately fitted tliat it is oftenditficult to find a place where a knife-blade can be insertedbetween the joints. The larger ones are from 20 to 30 tonsburthen, and ai'e finished ready for sea without a nail or particleof iron being used, and with no other tools than axe, adze, andaiiger. These vessels are liandsome to look at, good sailers, andadmirable sea-boats, and will make long voyages with perfectsafety, traversing the whole Archipelago from New Guinea toSingapore in seas, which, as eveiy one who has sailed much inthem can testify, are not so smooth and tempest free as wordpaintingtravellers love to represent them. —The forests of Ke produce magnificent timber, tall, straight,1and durable, of various qualities, some of which are said to besuperior to the best Indian teak. To make each pair of planks ^used in the construction of the larger boats an entire tree isconsumed. It is felled, often miles away from the shore, cutacross to the proper length, and tlien hewn longitudinally intotwo equal portions. Each of these forms a plank by cuttingdown with the axe to a uniform thickness of tlu'ee or four inches,leaving at first a solid block at each end to l^re^•ent splitting.Along the centre of each plank a series of projecting pieces areY