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

418 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [cuap.steersman began shouting out to " Allali ! il Allah " ! to preserveus. We could only keep up our jib, which was almost blown torags, but by careful handling it kept us before the wind, and theprau behaved very well. Our small boat (purchased at Gani)was toAving astern, and soon got full of water, so that it brokeaway and we saw no more of it. In about an hour the fury ofthe ^vind abated a little, and in two more we were able to hoistour mainsail, reefed and half-mast high. Towards evening itcleared uj) and fell calm, and the sea, which had been ratherliigh, soon went down. Not being much of a seamen myself Ihad been considerably alarmed, and even the old steersmanassured me he had never been in a worse squall all his life. Hewas now more than ever confirmed in his opinion of the unluckinessof the boat, and in the efficiency of the holy oil whichall Bugis praus had poured through their bottoms. As it was,he imputed our safety and the quick termination of the squallentirely to his own prayers, saying with a laugh, "Yes, that'sthe way we always do on board our praus : when things are atthe worst we stand wp and shout out our prayers as loud as wecan, and then Tuwan Allali helps us."After this it took us two days more to reach Ternate, havingour usual calms, squalls, and head-winds to the very last ; andonce having to return back to our anchorage owing to violentgusts of wind just as we were close to the town. Looking atmy whole voyage in this vessel from the time when I left Goramin May, it will appear that my experiences of travel in a nativeprau have not been encouraging. My first crew ran away ; twomen were lost for a month on a desert island ; we were tentimes aground on coral reefs ; we lost four anchors ; the sailswere devoured by rats ; the small boat was lost astern ; wewere thirty-eight days on the voyage home, which should nothave taken twelve ; we were many times short of food andwater ; we had no compass-lamp, owing to there not being adrop of oil in Waigiou when we left ; and to crown all, duringthe whole of our voyages from Goram by Ceram to Waigiou,and from Waigiou to Ternate, occupying in all seventy-eightdays, or only twelve days short of three months (all in whatwas supposed to be the favourable season), we had not one smgleday of fair wiml. We were always close braced up, alwaysstruggling against wind, tide, and leeway, and in a vessel thatwould scarcely sail nearer than eight points from tlie wind.Every seamen will admit that my first voyage in my own boatwas a most unlucky one.Charles Allen had obtained a tolerable collection of birds andinsects at Mysol, but far less than he would have done if I hadnot been so unfortunate as to miss visiting him. After waitinganother week or two till he was nearly starved, he returned toWahai in Ceram, and heard, much to his surprise, that I hadleft a fortnight before. He was delayed there more than amonth before he could get back to the north side of Mysol,