- Passed the island of Teor, and a group near it, which
are very incorrectly marked on the charts.
Flying-fish were
numerous to-day. It is a smaller species than that of the
Atlantic, and more active and elegant in its motions. As they
skim along the surface they turn on their sides, so as fully to
display their beautiful fins, taking a flight of about a hundred
yards, rising and falling in n most graceful manner. At a little
distance they exactly resemble swallows, and no one who sees them
can doubt that they really do fly, not merely descend in an
oblique direction from the height they gain by their first
spring. In the evening an aquatic bird, a species of booby (Sula
fiber.) rested on our hen-coop, and was caught by the neck by one
of my boys.
Dec. 31st,. - At daybreak the Ke Islands (pronounced Kay) were in
sight, where we are to stay a few days. About noon we rounded the
northern point, and endeavoured to coast along to the anchorage;
but being now on the leeward side of the island, the wind came in
violent irregular gusts, and then leaving us altogether, we were
carried back by a strong current. Just then two boats-load of
natives appeared, and our owner having agreed with them to tow us
into harbour, they tried to do so, assisted by our own boat, but
could make no way. We were therefore obliged to anchor in a very
dangerous place on a rocky bottom, and we were engaged till
nearly dark getting hawsers secured to some rocks under water.
The coast of Ke along which we had passed was very picturesque.
Light coloured limestone rocks rose abruptly from the water to
the height of several hundred feet, everywhere broken into
jutting peaks and pinnacles, weather-worn into sharp points and
honeycombed surfaces, and clothed throughout with a most varied
and luxuriant vegetation. The cliffs above the sea offered to our
view screw-pines and arborescent Liliaceae of strange forms,
mingled with shrubs and creepers; while the higher slopes
supported a dense growth of forest trees. Here and there little
bays and inlets presented beaches of dazzling whiteness. The
water was transparent as crystal, and tinged the rock-strewn
slope which plunged steeply into its unfathomable depths with
colours varying from emerald to lapis-lazuli. The sea was calm as
a lake, and the glorious sun of the tropics threw a flood of
golden light over all. The scene was to me inexpressibly
delightful. I was in a new world, and could dream of the
wonderful productions hid in those rocky forests, and in those
azure abysses. But few European feet had ever trodden the shores
I gazed upon its plants, and animals, and men were alike almost
unknown, and I could not help speculating on what my wanderings
there for a few days might bring to light.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE KE ISLANDS.
(JANUARY 1857)
THE native boats that had come to meet us were three or four in
number, containing in all about fifty men.
They were long canoes, with the bow and stern rising up into a
beak six or night feet high, decorated with shells and waving
plumes of cassowaries hair. I now had my first view of Papuans in
their own country, and in less than five minutes was convinced
that the opinion already arrived at by the examination of a few
Timor and New Guinea slaves was substantially correct, and that
the people I now had an opportunity of comparing side by side
belonged to two of the most distinct and strongly marked races
that the earth contains. Had I been blind, I could have been
certain that these islanders were not Malays. The loud, rapid,
eager tones, the incessant motion, the intense vital activity
manifested in speech and action, are the very antipodes of the
quiet, unimpulsive, unanimated Malay These Ke men came up singing
and shouting, dipping their paddles deep in the water and
throwing up clouds of spray; as they approached nearer they stood
up in their canoes and increased their noise and gesticulations;
and on coming alongside, without asking leave, and without a
moment's hesitation, the greater part of them scrambled up on our
deck just as if they were come to take possession of a captured
vessel. Then commenced a scene of indescribable confusion. These
forty black, naked, mop-headed savages seemed intoxicated with
joy and excitement. Not one of them could remain still for a
moment. Every individual of our crew was in turn surrounded and
examined, asked for tobacco or arrack, grinned at and deserted
for another. All talked at once, and our captain was regularly
mobbed by the chief men, who wanted to be employed to tow us in,
and who begged vociferously to be paid in advance. A few presents
of tobacco made their eyes glisten; they would express their
satisfaction by grins and shouts, by rolling on deck, or by a
headlong leap overboard. Schoolboys on an unexpected holiday,
Irishmen at a fair, or mid-shipmen on shore, would give but a
faint idea of the exuberant animal enjoyment of these people.
Under similar circumstances Malays could not behave as these
Papuans did. If they came on board a vessel (after asking
permission), not a word would be at first spoken, except a few
compliments, and only after some time, and very cautiously, world
any approach be made to business. One would speak at a time, with
a low voice and great deliberation, and the mode of making a
bargain would be by quietly refusing all your offers, or even
going away without saying another word about the matter, unless
advanced your price to what they were willing to accept. Our
crew, many of whom had not made the voyage before, seemed quite
scandalized at such unprecedented bad manners, and only very
gradually made any approach to fraternization with the black
fellows.
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