The Next
Morning My Men Went On Shore To Cut Wood Suitable For Making
Fresh Anchors, And About Noon, The Current Turning In Our Favour,
We Proceeded To The Village, Where We Found An Excellent And
Well-Protected Anchorage.
On inquiry, we found that the head men resided at the other Gani
on the western side of the peninsula, and it was necessary to
send messengers across (about half a day's journey) to inform
them of my arrival, and to beg them to assist me.
I then
succeeded in buying a little sago, some dried deer-meat and
cocoa-nuts, which at once relieved our immediate want of
something to eat. At night we found our bag of atones still held
us very well, and we slept tranquilly.
The next day (October 12th), my men set to work making anchors
and oars. The native Malay anchor is ingeniously constructed of a
piece of tough forked timber, the fluke being strengthened by
twisted rattans binding it to the stem, while the cross-piece is
formed of a long flat stone, secured in the same manner. These
anchors when well made, hold exceedingly arm, and, owing to the
expense of iron, are still almost universally used on board the
smaller praus. In the afternoon the head men arrived, and
promised me as many rowers as I could put on the prau, and also
brought me a few eggs and a little rice, which were very
acceptable. On the 14th there was a north wind all day, which
would have been invaluable to us a few days earlier, but which
was now only tantalizing.
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