1770. September.

CHAP. IX.

A particular Defcription of the Island of Savu, its Produce and Inhabitants, with a Specimen of their Language.

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HIS ifland is called by the natives SAVU;

the middle of it lies in about the latitude 10° 35′ S., longitude 237° 30′ W.; and has in general been fo little known that I never faw a a map or chart in which it is clearly or accurately laid down. I have seen a very old one, in which it is called Sou, and confounded with Sandel Bofch. Rumphius mentions an island by the name of Saow; and he also fays that it is the fame which the Dutch call Sandel Bosch: but neither is this ifland, nor Timor, nor Rotte, nor indeed any one of the islands that we have seen in these feas, placed within a reasonable distance of its true fituation. It is about eight leagues long from east to west; but what is its breadth, I do not know, as I saw only the north fide. The harbour in which we lay is called Seba, from the district in which it lies: it is on the north-weft fide of the island, and well fheltered from the fouth-weft trade-wind, but it lies open to the north weft. We were told, that

there

there were two other bays where fhips might anchor; that the beft, called Timo, was on the fouth-weft fide of the fouth-eaft point of the third we learnt neither the name nor fituation. The fea-coaft, in general, is low; but in the middle of the inland there are hills of a confiderable height. We were upon the coaft at the latter end of the dry season, when there had been no rain for feven months; and we were told that when the dry feafon continues fo long, there is no running ftream of fresh water upon the whole island, but only finall springs, which are at a confiderable distance from the fea-fide: yet nothing can be imagined fo beautiful as the profpect of the country from the fhip. The level ground next to the fea-fide was covered with cocoa-nut trees, and a kind of palm called Arecas; and beyond them the hills, which rofe in a gentle and regular afcent, were richly clothed, quite to the fummit, with plantations of the fan palm, forming an almost impenetrable grove. How much even this profpect must be improved, when every foot of ground between the trees is covered with verdure, by maize, and millet, and indico, can scarcely be conceived but by a powerful imagination, not unacquainted with the ftatelinefs and beauty of the trees that adorn this part of the earth. The dry season commences in March or April, and ends in October or November.

VOL. IV.

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The

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1770. September.

The principal trees of this island, are the fanpalm, the cocoa-nut, tamarind, limes, oranges, and mangoes; and other vegetable productionsare maize, Guinea corn, rice, millet, callevances, and water-melons. We faw also one fugarcane, and a few kinds of European garden-stuff; particularly cellery, marjoram, fennel, and garlic. For the fupply of luxury, it has betele, areca, tobacco, cotton, indico, and a fmalk quantity of cinnamon, which feems to be planted here only for curiofity; and indeed we doubted whether it was the genuine plant, knowing that the Dutch are very careful not to trust the spices out of their proper islands. There are however several kinds of fruit, befides those which have been already mentioned; particularly the sweet fop, which is well known to the West Indians, and a small oval fruit, called the Blimbi, both of which grow upon trees. The blimbi is about three or four inches long, and in the middle about as thick as a man's finger, tapering towards each end: it is covered with a very thin skin of a light green colour, and in the infide are a few feeds difpofed in the form of a star: its flavour is a light, clean, pleasant acid, but it cannot be eaten raw; it is faid to be excellent as a pickle; and stewed, it made a most agreeable four fauce to our boiled dishes. The tame animals are buffaloes, sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, pigeons, horfes, affes, dogs and

cats;

cats; and of all these there is great plenty. The buffaloes differ very confiderably from the horred cattle of Europe in feveral particulars; their ears are much larger, their skins are almost without hair, their horns are curved towards each other, but together bend directly backwards, and they have no dewlaps. We faw feveral that were as big as a well grown European ox, and there must be fome much larger; for Mr. Banks faw a pair of horns which measured from tip to tip three feet nine inches and an half, across their wideft diameter four feet one inch and an half, and in the whole sweep of their femicircle in front feven feet fix inches and a half. It must however be observed, that a buffalo here of any given fize, does not weigh above half as much as an ox of the fame fize in England: thofe that we gueffed to weigh four hundred weight did not weigh more than two hundred and fifty; the reason is, that fo late in the dry season the bones are very thinly covered with flesh there is not an ounce of fat in a whole carcafe, and the flanks are literally nothing but skin and bone: the flesh however is well tafted and juicy, and I fuppofe better than the flesh of an English ox would be if he was to ftarve in this fun-burnt country.

The horses are from eleven to twelve hands high, but though they are small, they are spirited and nimble, especially in pacing, which is their

1770. September.

1770. September.

common ftep: the inhabitants generally ride them without a faddle, and with no better bridle than a halter. The sheep are of the kind which in England are called Bengal fheep, and differ from ours in many particulars. They are covered with hair inftead of wool, their ears are very large, and hang down under their horns, and their nofes are arched; they are thought to have a general resemblance to a goat, and for that reason are frequently called cabritos: their flesh we thought the worst mutton we had ever eaten, being as lean as that of the buffalo's, and without flavour. The hogs, however, were fome of the fattest we had ever seen, though, as we were told, their principal food is the outfide hufks of rice, and the palm fyrup diffolved in water. The fowls are chiefly of the game breed, and large, but the eggs are remarkably fmall.

Of the fish which the fea produces here, we know but little: turtles are fometimes found upon the coaft, and are by these people, as well as all others, confidered as a dainty.

The people are rather under, than over the middling fize; the women efpecially are re. markably fhort and fquat built: their complexion is a dark brown, and their hair univerfally black and lank. We faw no difference in the colour of rich and poor, though in the South Sea islands thofe that were expofed to the wea

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ther