We Had Very Light Winds, And It Therefore Took Us Thirty
Hours To Make The Passage Of Sixty Miles To The Low, Or Flat, But
Equally Forest-Covered Aru Islands, Where We Anchored In The
Harbour Of Dobbo At Nine In The Evening Of The Next Day.
My first voyage in a prau being thus satisfactorily terminated, I
must, before taking leave of it for some months, bear testimony
to the merits of the queer old-world vessel.
Setting aside all
ideas of danger, which is probably, after all, not more than in
any other craft, I must declare that I have never, either before
or since, made a twenty days' voyage so pleasantly, or perhaps,
more correctly speaking, with so little discomfort. This I
attribute chiefly to having my small cabin on deck, and entirely
to myself, to having my own servants to wait upon me, and to the
absence of all those marine-store smells of paint, pitch, tallow,
and new cordage, which are to me insupportable. Something is also
to be put down to freedom from all restraint of dress, hours of
meals, &c., and to the civility and obliging disposition of the
captain. I had agreed to have my meals with him, but whenever I
wished it I had them in my own berth, and at what hours I felt
inclined. The crew were all civil and good-tempered, and with
very little discipline everything went on smoothly, and the
vessel was kept very clean and in pretty good order, so that on
the whole I was much delighted with the trip, and was inclined to
rate the luxuries of the semi-barbarous prau as surpassing those
of the most magnificent screw-steamer, that highest result of our
civilisation.
CHAPTER XXX
THE ARU ISLANDS - RESIDENCE IN DOBBO
(JANUARY TO MARCH 1857.)
On the 8th of January, 1857, I landed at Dobbo, the trading
settlement of the Bugis and Chinese, who annually visit the Aru
Islands. It is situated on the small island of Wamma, upon a spit
of sand which projects out to the north, and is just wide enough
to contain three rows of houses. Though at first sight a most
strange and desolate-looking place to build a village on, it has
many advantages. There is a clear entrance from the west among
the coral reefs that border the land, and there is good anchorage
for vessels, on one side of the village or the other, in both the
east and west monsoons. Being fully exposed to the sea-breezes in
three directions it is healthy, and the soft sandy heath offers
great facilities for hauling up the praus, in order to secure
them from sea-worms and prepare them for the homeward voyage. At
its southern extremity the sand-bank merges in the beach of the
island, and is backed by a luxuriant growth of lofty forest. The
houses are of various sizes, but are all built after one pattern,
being merely large thatched sheds, a small portion of which, next
the entrance, is used as a dwelling, while the rest is parted
oft; and often divided by one or two floors, in order better to
stow away merchandise and native produce.
As we had arrived early in the season, most of the houses were
empty, and the place looked desolate in the extreme - the whole of
the inhabitants who received us on our landing amounting to about
half-a-dozen Bugis and Chinese. Our captain, Herr Warzbergen, had
promised to obtain a house for me, but unforeseen difficulties
presented themselves. One which was to let had no roof; and the
owner, who was building it on speculation, could not promise to
finish it in less than a month. Another, of which the owner was
dead, and which I might therefore take undisputed possession of
as the first comer, wanted considerable repairs, and no one could
be found to do the work, although about four times its value was
offered. The captain, therefore, recommended me to take
possession of a pretty good house near his own, whose owner was
not expected for some weeks; and as I was anxious to be on shore,
I immediately had it cleared out, and by evening had all my
things housed, and was regularly installed as an inhabitant of
Dobbo. I had brought with me a cane chair, and a few light
boards, which were soon rigged up into a table and shelves. A
broad bamboo bench served as sofa and bedstead, my boxes were
conveniently arranged, my mats spread on the floor, a window cut
in the palm-leaf wall to light my table, and though the place was
as miserable and gloomy a shed as could be imagined, I felt as
contented as if I had obtained a well-furnished mansion, and
looked forward to a month's residence in it with unmixed
satisfaction.
The next morning, after an early breakfast, I set off to explore
the virgin forests of Aru, anxious to set my mind at rest as to
the treasures they were likely to yield, and the probable success
of my long-meditated expedition. A little native imp was our
guide, seduced by the gift of a German knife, value three-
halfpence, and my Macassar boy Baderoon brought his chopper to
clear the path if necessary.
We had to walk about half a mile along the beach, the ground
behind the village being mostly swampy, and then turned into the
forest along a path which leads to the native village of Wamma,
about three miles off on the other side of the island. The path
was a narrow one, and very little used, often swampy and
obstructed by fallen trees, so that after about a mile we lost it
altogether, our guide having turned back, and we were obliged to
follow his example. In the meantime, however, I had not been
idle, and my day's captures determined the success of my journey
in an entomological point of view.
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