СНАР. XI. A particular Defcription of the Island of Savu, its Produce and Inhabitants, with a Specimen of their Language. Tmiddle of it lies in about the latitude 10° 35'S. HIS ifland is called by the natives SAVU; the longitude 237° 30′ W. and has in general been fo little known, that I never faw a map or chart in which it is clearly or accurately laid down. I have feen a very old one, in which it is called Sou, and confounded with Sandel Bosch. Rumphius mentions an island by the name of Saow; and he alfo 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 side. The harbour in which we lay is called Seba, from the diftrict in which it lies: it is on the north-weft fide of the island, and well fheltered from the fouth-west trade wind, but it lies open to the north-weft. We were told, that there were two other bays, where ships might anchor; that the best, called Timo, was on the southweft side of the south-east point; of the third we learned neither the name nor fituation. The fea-coast in general is low; but in the middle of the island there are hills of a confiderable height. We were upon the coast at the latter end of the dry feason, when there had been no rain for seven months; and we were told that when the dry feafon continues fo long, there is no running stream of fresh water upon the whole ifland, but only small 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 ship. 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 cloathed, quite to the fummit, with plantations of the fan-palm, forming an almost impenetrable grove. How much even this profpe& must be improved, when every foot of ground between 1770. September. 1770. September. between the trees is covered with verdure, by maize, and millet and indigo, can scarce be conceived but by a powerful imagination, not unacquainted with the ftatelinefs and beauty of trees that adorn this part of the earth. The dry feafon commences in March, or April, and ends in October or November. The principal trees of this island are the fan-palm, the cocoa-nut, tamarind, limes, oranges, and mangoes; the other vegetable productions are maize, Guinea corn, rice, millet, callevances, and water melons. We faw also one fugar-cane, and a few kinds of European garden-ftuff; particularly cellery, marjoram, fennel, and garlic. For the fupply of luxury, it has betel, areca, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and a small quan tity 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 truft the fpecies out of their proper iflands. There are however feveral kinds of fruit, befides thofe which have been already mentioned; particularly the fweet sop, 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 thick skin of a light green colour, and in the infide are a few feeds difpofed in the form of a ftar: 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 difhes. The tame animals are buffaloes, fheep, goats, hogs, fowls, pigeons, horfes, affes, dogs and cats; and of all these there is great plenty. The buffaloes differ very confiderably from the horned cattle of Europe in feveral particulars; their ears are much larger, their fkins are almoft 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 fweep sweep of their femicircle in front feven feet fix inches and an half. It must however be observed, that a buffalo here of any fize, does not weigh above half as much as an ox of the same size in England: those that we gueffed to weigh four hundred weight did not weigh more than two hundred and fifty; the reafon is, that fo late in the dry feason 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 suppose better than the flesh of an English ox would be if he was to ftarve in this fun-burnt country. 1770. September. 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 common step: the inhabitants generally ride them without a faddle, and with no better bridle than a halter. The fheep are of the kind which in England are called Bengal sheep, 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 reafon are frequently called cabritos: their flesh we thought the worft mutton we had ever eaten, being as lean as that of the buffaloes, and without flavour. The hogs, however, were fome of the fatteft we had ever feen, though, as we were told, their principal food is the outside husks 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 coast, and are by these people, as well as all others, confidered as a dainty. The people are rather under than over the middle fize; the women especially are remarkably 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 weather were almost as brown as the New Hollanders, and the better fort nearly as fair as the natives of Europe. The men are in general well made, vigorous and ac 1770. tive, and have a greater variety in the make and difSeptember, pofition of their features than ufual; the countenan ces of the women, on the contrary, are all alike. The men fasten their hair up to the top of their heads with a comb, the women tie it behind in a club, which is very far from becoming. Both fexes eradicate the hair from under the arm, and the men do the fame by their beards: for which purpose, the better fort always carry a pair of filver pincers hanging by a ftring round their necks; fome however suffer a very little hair to remain upon their upper lips, but this is always kept fhort. The dress of both fexes confifts of cotton cloth, which being dyed blue in the yarn, and not uniformly of the fame fhade, is in clouds or waves of that colour, and even in our eye had not an inelegant appearance. This cloth they manufacture themselves, and two pieces, each about two yards long, and a yard and a half wide, make a dress: one of them is worn round the middle, and the other covers the upper part of the body; the lower edge of the piece that goes round the middle the men draw pretty tight just below the fork, the upper edge of it is left loofe, so as to form a kind of hollow belt, which ferves them as a pocket to carry their knives, and other little implements which it is convenient to have about them. The other piece of cloth is paffed through this girdle behind, and one end of it being brought over the left shoulder, and the other over the right, they fall down over the breaft, and are tucked into the girdle before; fo that by opening or clofing the plaits, they can cover more or lefs of their bodies as they pleafe; the arms, legs, and feet are always naked. The difference between the dress of the two fexes confifts principally in the manner of wearing the waift-piece, for the women, inftead of drawing the lower edge tight, and leaving the upper edge loofe for a pocket, draw the upper edge tight, and let the lower edge fall as low as the knees, fo as to form a petticoat; the body-piece, instead of being paffed thro' the girdle, is faftened under the arms and across the breaft, with the utmost decency. I have already observed that the men faften the hair upon the top of the head, and the women tie it in a club behind, but there is another difference in the head drefs, by which the fexes are are diftinguished the women wear nothing as a fuc- These people bore their teftimony that the love of finery is an univerfal paffion, for their ornaments were very numerous. Some of the better fort wore chains of gold round their necks, but they were made of plaited wire, and confequently were light and of little value; others had rings, which were fo much worn that they feemed to have defcended through many generations; and one perfon had a filver-headed cane, marked with a kind of a cypher, confifting of the Roman letters V, O, C, and therefore probably a prefent from the Dutch East India Company, whofe mark it is: they have also ornaments made of beads, which some wear round their necks as a folitaire, and others, as bracelets, upon their wrifts: these are common to both sexes, but the women have, befides, ftrings or girdles of beads, which they wear round their waifts, and which serve to keep up their petticoat. Both fexes had their ears bored, nor was there a fingle exception that fell under our notice, yet we never saw an ornament in any of them; we never indeed faw either man or woman in any thing but what appeared to be their ordinary drefs, except the King and his Minister, who in general wore a kind of a nightgown of coarfe chintz, and one of whom once received us in a black robe, which appeared to be made of what is called prince's ftuff. We faw fome boys, about twelve or fourteen years old, who had fpiral circles of thick brafs wire paffed three or four times round their arms, above the elbow, and fome men wore rings of ivory, two inches in breadth, and above an inch in thickness, upon the fame part of the arm; thefe, we are told, were the fons of the Rajas, or Chiefs, who wore thefe cumbrous ornaments as badges of their high birth. Almost all the men had their names traced upon their arms, in indelible characters of a black colour, and the women had a fquare ornament of flourished lines, imVOL. II. G g preffed 1770. September. |