SEPT. 1770 SPICES 339 that an old one printed by Mount and Page, the Lord knows when, which has it by the name of Sau, but confounds it with Sandel Bosch, which is laid down quite wrong. Rumphius mentions an island by the name of Saow, and says it is that which is called by the Dutch Sandel Bosch, but no chart that I have seen lays either that, Timor, Rotte, or indeed any island that we have seen hereabouts, in anything near its right place. He, While we were here an accident happened by the imprudence of Mr. Parkinson, my draughtsman, which might alone have altered our intended and at first promised reception very much; indeed, I am of opinion that it did. desirous of knowing whether or not this island produced spices, carried ashore with him nutmegs, cloves, etc., and questioned the inhabitants about them without the least precaution, so that it immediately came to Mr. Lange's ears. He complained to the doctor that our people were too inquisitive, particularly, says he, "in regard to spices, concerning which they can have no reason to wish for any information unless you are come for very different purposes than those you pretend." The doctor, not well versed in the German language, in which they conversed, immediately conceived that Mr. Lange meant only some questions which he himself had asked concerning the cinnamon; nor did we ever know the contrary till the day after we had left the place, when Mr. Parkinson boasted of the information we had obtained of these people certainly having a knowledge of the spices, as they had in their language names for them. CHAPTER XV DESCRIPTION OF SAVU Mr. Lange's account-Political divisions of the island-Its general appearance- - Productions-Buffaloes - Horses -Sheep- Fish -VegetablesFan-palm-Liquor-Sugar-making-Fire-holes for cooking-Sustaining qualities of sugar-Description of the natives-Dress-OrnamentsChewing betel, areca, lime, and tobacco-Construction of their housesLooms and spinning-machines-Surgery-Religion-Christian converts -Radjas-Slaves-Large stones of honour-Feasts-Military-Weapons --Relations with the Dutch-Mynheer Lange-Language-Neighbouring islands-Wreck of a French ship-Dutch policy with regard to language. I SHALL now proceed to give such an account of the island as I could get together during our stay, which, short as it was, was so taken up with procuring refreshments, in which occupation every one was obliged to exert himself, that very little, I confess, is from my own observation. Almost everything is gathered from the conversation of Mr. Lange, who at first and at the end was very free and open, and, I am inclined to believe, did not deceive us in what he told us, how much soever he might conceal; except, perhaps, in the strength and warlike disposition of the islanders, which account seems to contradict itself, as one can hardly imagine these people to be of a warlike disposition who have continued in peace time out of mind. As for the other islands in this neighbourhood, his information was all we had to go upon. I would not, however, neglect to set it down, though in general it was of little more consequence than to confirm the policy of the Dutch in confining their spices to particular isles, which, being full of them, cannot supply themselves with provisions. SEPT. 1770 FERTILITY OF THE ISLAND 341 The little island of Savu, which, trifling as it is, appears to me to be of no small consequence to the Dutch East India Company, is situate in lat. 10° 35′ S. and long. 122° 30′ E.1 from the meridian of Greenwich: its length and breadth are nearly the same, viz. about 6 German or 24 English miles. The whole is divided into five principalities, nigries as they are called by the Indians, Laai, Seba, Regeeua, Timo, and Massara, each governed by its respective radja or king. It has three harbours, all good; the best is Timo, situate somewhere round the S.E. point of the isle; the next, Seba, where we anchored, situate round the N.W. point: of the third we learnt neither the name nor situation, only guess it to be somewhere on the south side. Off the west end of the island is another called Pulo, with an additional name, which in the hurry of business was forgotten, and never again asked for. The appearance of the island, especially on the windward side where we first made it, was allowed by us all to equal in beauty, if not excel, anything we had seen, even parched up as it was by a drought, which, Mr. Lange informed us, had continued for seven months without a drop of rain, the last rainy season having entirely failed them. Verdure, indeed, there was at this time no sign of, but the gentle sloping of the hills, which were cleared quite to the top, and planted in every part with thick groves of the fan-palm, besides woods almost of cocoanut trees, arecas which grew near the seaside, filled the eye so completely that it hardly looked for or missed the verdure of the earth, a circumstance seldom seen in any perfection so near the line. beautiful it must appear when covered with its springing crops of maize, millet, indigo, etc., which cover almost every foot of ground in the cultivated parts of the island, imagination can hardly conceive. The verdure of Europe, set off by those stately pillars of India, palms—I mean especially the fan-palm, which for straightness and proportion, both of the stem itself and of the head to the stem, far excels all the How 1 The latitude and longitude were left blank: they have been filled in from Cook's Journal. palms that I have seen-requires a poetical imagination to describe, and a mind not unacquainted with such sights to conceive. The productions of this island are buffaloes, sheep, hogs, fowls, horses, asses, maize, guinea corn, rice, calevances, limes, oranges, mangroves, plantains, water-melons, tamarinds, sweet sops (Annona), blimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi), besides cocoanuts and fan-palms, which last are in sufficient quantity, should all other crops fail, to support the whole island, people, stock, and all, who have at times been obliged to live upon its sugar, syrup, and wines for some months. We saw also a small quantity of European garden herbs, as celery, marjoram, fennel, and garlic, and one single sugarcane. Besides these necessaries, it has for the supply of luxury betel and areca, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and a little cinnamon, only planted for curiosity, said Mr. Lange; indeed, I almost doubt whether or not it was genuine cinnamon, as the Dutch have been always so careful not to trust any spices out of their proper islands. Besides these were probably other things which we had not an opportunity of seeing, and which Mr. Lange forgot or did not choose to mention. All their produce is in amazing abundance, so we judged at least from the plantations we saw, though this year every crop had failed for want of rain. Most of them are well known to Europeans: I shall, however, spend a little ink in describing such only as are not, or as differ at all in appearance from those commonly known. To begin then with buffaloes, of which they have got good store; these beasts differ from our cattle in Europe in their ears, which are considerably larger, in their skins, which are almost without hair, and in their horns, which, instead of bending forwards as ours do, bend directly backwards, and also in their total want of dewlaps. We saw some of these as big as wellsized European oxen, and some there must be much larger; so at least I was led to believe by a pair of horns which I measured they were from tip to tip 3 feet 9 inches, across their widest diameter 4 feet 11 inch; the whole SEPT. 1770 QUADRUPEDS 343 sweep of their semicircle in front 7 feet 6 inches. One caution is, however, exceedingly necessary in buying these beasts, which is that one of them of any given size does not weigh half as much as an ox of the same size in England; in this we, who were ignorant of the fact, were very much deceived. The larger animals which we guessed to be 400 lbs. did not weigh more than 250, and the smaller which we guessed to be 250 not more than 160; this vast difference proceeded first from a total want of fat, of which there was not the least sign, but more especially from the thinness of the flanks, and thin pieces which were literally nothing but skin and bone. Their flesh, notwithstanding this, was not bad; it was well tasted and full of gravy: not that I can put it on a footing with the leanest beef in England, yet I should suppose it better than a lean ox would be in this burnt-up climate. Mr. Lange told us that when the Portuguese first came to this island there were horses upon it, an opinion from which I confess I rather apostatise; but, to waive the dispute, horses are now very plentiful. They are small, generally eleven or twelve hands high, but very brisk and nimble, especially in pacing, which is their common step. The inhabitants appear to be tolerable horsemen, riding always without a saddle, and generally with only a halter instead of a bridle. This is not, however, the only benefit that these islanders receive from them, for they use them as food, and prefer their flesh to that of buffaloes and every other sort but swine's flesh, which holds the highest rank in their opinion. Their sheep are of the kind that I have seen in England under the name of Bengal sheep; they differ from ours in having hair instead of wool, in their ears being very large and flapping down, their horns almost straight, and in their noses, which are much more arched than those of our European kind. These sheep are, I believe, very frequently called cabritos, from their resemblance to goats, which, though I cannot say it appeared to me at all striking, yet had such an effect on the whole ship's company, officers and seamen, |