Transcribed from the 1899 George Newnes edition by David Price,
[email protected] THE ADVENTURES OFLOUIS DE ROUGEMONTAs Told by Himself
With Forty-six Illustrations
LondonGeorge Newnes, LimitedSouthampton Street, Strand1899
[_All rights reserved_]
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.At the Ballantyne Press
DEDICATION
_To my Devoted Wife_,
YAMBA,
_The Noblest Work of the Creator_,A GOOD WOMAN,
_And to her People_, _my True and Streadfast Friends_,_who never wavered in their confidence or__attachment_, _and to whom I owe the__Preservation of my Life_,
THIS WORK
_Is gratefully Dedicated_
CHAPTER I
Early life--Leaving home--I meet Jensen--I go pearling--Dailyroutine--Submarine beauties--A fortune in pearls--Seized by anoctopus--Shark-killing extraordinary--Trading with the natives--Impendingtrouble--Preparing for the attack--Baffling the savages.
I was born in or near Paris, in the year 1844. My father was a fairlyprosperous man of business--a general merchant, to be precise, who dealtlargely in shoes; but when I was about ten years old, my mother, inconsequence of certain domestic differences, took me to live with her atMontreux, and other places in Switzerland, where I was educated. Ivisited many of the towns near Montreux, including Lausanne, Geneva,Neufchatel, &c. The whole of the time I was at school I mixedextensively with English boys on account of their language and sports,both of which attracted me.
Boys soon begin to display their bent, and mine, curiously enough, was inthe direction of geology. I was constantly bringing home pieces of stoneand minerals picked up in the streets and on the mountains, and askingquestions about their origin and history. My dear mother encouraged mein this, and later on I frequently went to Freiburg, in the Black Forest,to get a practical insight into smelting. When I was about nineteen,however, a message arrived from my father, directing me to return toFrance and report myself as a conscript; but against this my motherresolutely set her face. I fancy my father wanted me to take up the armyas a career, but in deference to my mother's wishes I remained with herin Switzerland for some time longer. She and I had many talks about myfuture, and she at length advised me to take a trip to the East, and seewhat the experience of travel would do for me. Neither of us had anydefinite project in view, but at length my mother gave me about 7000francs and I set out for Cairo, intending eventually to visit and makemyself acquainted with the French possessions in the Far East. My ideawas to visit such places as Tonkin, Cochin-China, Madagascar, Mauritius,Seychelles, &c. My mother was of the opinion that if I saw a bit of theworld in this way I would be more inclined to settle down at home withher at the end of my wanderings. The primary cause of my going away wasa little love episode. Whilst at Montreux I fell in love with a charmingyoung lady at a boarding-school near my home. She was the daughter ofsome high personage in the court of Russia--but exactly what position heheld I cannot say. My mother was quite charmed with the young lady andviewed our attachment with delight. But when my father heard of thematter he raised a decided objection to it, and ordered me to return toFrance and join the army. He had, as I have previously intimated, madehis own plans for my future, even to the point of deciding upon a futurewife for me, as is customary in France; but I resolutely declined toconform to his wishes in this respect, and my mother quite sided with me.I never quite knew how he got to hear of my love affair, but I concludethat my mother must have mentioned it to him. I only stayed a few daysin the wonderful metropolis of Egypt; its noises, its cosmopolitanism,its crowds--these, and many other considerations, drove me from the city,and I set out for Singapore.
I had not been many days in that place when, chancing to make inquiriesat a store kept by a Mr. Shakespeare, I was casually introduced to aDutch pearl-fisher named Peter Jensen. Although I describe him as aDutch pearler I am somewhat uncertain as to his exact nationality. I amunder the impression that he told me he came from Copenhagen, but inthose days the phrase "Dutchman" had a very wide application. If a manhailed from Holland, Sweden, Norway, or any neighbouring country, he wasalways referred to as a Dutchman. This was in 1863. We grew quitefriendly, Jensen and I, and he told me he had a small forty-ton schoonerat Batavia, in which sturdy little craft he used to go on his pearlingexpeditions.
"I am now," he said, "about to organise a trip to some untouched pearlinggrounds off the south of New Guinea, but have not sufficient capital todefray the preliminary expenses."
This hint I took, and I offered to join him. He once agreed, and wecommenced our preparations without delay--in Batavia. Now when a pearlerengaged a crew of native divers there in those days, he had to depositbeforehand with the Dutch Government a certain sum for each man enteringhis service, this money being a guarantee that the man would get hiswages. Well, I placed all the money that I had with me at CaptainJensen's disposal, provided he gave me a share in the venture we wereabout to undertake. "We will not," he said to me in Singapore, "draw upan agreement here, but will do so at Batavia," and forthwith we set sailfor that place. Before leaving Singapore, however, Jensen bought somenautical instruments he could not get at Batavia--including compasses,quadrant, chronometer, &c. Strange to say, he did not tell me that hisship was named the _Veielland_ until we had arrived at Batavia. Here thecontract was duly drawn up, and the vessel fitted out for the voyage. Ifancy this was the first time Jensen had embarked on a pearlingexpedition on a craft of the size of the _Veielland_, his previous tripshaving been undertaken on much smaller vessels, say of about ten tons.Although the fitting out of the ship was left entirely in his hands, Iinsisted upon having a supply of certain stores for myself putaboard--things he would never have thought about. These included suchluxuries as tinned and compressed vegetables, condensed milk, &c. Jensendid not even think of ship's biscuits until I called his attention to theoversight. He demurred at first about buying them, but I told him Iwould not go until we had the biscuits aboard. Jensen was a very bluff,enigmatic sort of fellow, as I afterwards found out. He was of a sullen,morose nature, and I could never get much out of him about his past. Hewould not speak about himself under any circumstances, and at no time ofour acquaintance was he any sort of a sociable companion. He was veryhard upon the sailors under him, and was much addicted to the use ofstrong language. I admit that I was an absolute "muff" in those days,and Jensen was quick to grasp the fact. He was very fond of schnapps,whilst I hated the smell of the stuff. Moreover, he was a great smoker,and here again our tastes differed.
Our preparations in Batavia complete, we next went over to the islands ofthe Dutch Archipelago, and engaged forty experienced Malay divers toaccompany us. Jensen was very particular in selecting the men, eachbeing required to demonstrate his capabilities before us. The way hetested them prior to actually engaging them was to make each dive after abright tin object thrown into so many fathoms of water. Altogether hespent several weeks choosing his crew. He had engaged a couple of Malaysat Batavia to help in the work of navigating the ship, but besides beingsailors these men were also good divers. The majority of the otherMalays were only useful as divers, and took no part in the working of theship. A native _serang_, or "boss," was appointed as chief, or foreman,over the Malays, and he was permitted to take with him his wife and hermaid. This "serang" had to be a first-class diver himself, and had alsoto be acquainted with the manoeuvring of a small boat. He was alsorequired to have a smattering of navigation generally. Above all, he hadto be able to assert authority over the other divers; and in all theserespects our serang was thoroughly proficient.
I may here explai
n that shortly after leaving Batavia the captain had theship repainted a greyish-white colour all over. I never troubled to lookfor her name, but one day I saw Jensen painting the word _Veielland_ onher. There was a totally different name on the lifeboat, but I cannotremember it. What Jensen's motive was in sailing the ship under anothername I never understood; certainly it was a very suspicious circumstance.Perhaps the ship as originally named had a bad name, and if such were thecase--mind you, I don't say that it had--the Malays could never have beeninduced to go aboard. Once out at sea, however, they would be absolutelyat the mercy of the captain, and he could treat them just as he pleased.The first thing they did before coming aboard was to look at the name forthemselves. No doubt they knew the reputation of every pearler. Jensendid on one occasion exercise his authority to the extent of transferringsome of his own Malay divers to another ship when we were out at sea.
At last everything was ready, and when we sailed for the pearlinggrounds, our crew numbered forty-four all told, not including a fine dogthat belonged to the captain. This dog, which played so important--nay,so vitally important--a part in my strange afterlife, was given to Jensenat Batavia by a Captain Cadell, a well-known Australian seaman, who hadgained some notoriety by navigating the Murray River for the first time.Cadell, who was a great friend of Jensen, was himself a pearler. But hemet with a sad end. He was in a pearling expedition in the neighbourhoodof Thursday Island, and among his crew were some of the very AustralianBlacks who in after years proved so friendly to me. Cadell treated thesemen very badly, keeping them at work long after the time for their returnhome had expired, and one day they mutinied and murdered him whilst hewas asleep. The black fellow who called himself "Captain Jack Davies,"of whom I shall have more to say hereafter, was amongst the crew at thetime. I obtained this information in Sydney from Captain Tucker, a well-known Torres Straits pearler. Bruno, Jensen's dog, was something of agreyhound in build, only that his hind-quarters were heavier.
As you may suppose, my knowledge of seamanship was very limited indeed,but Jensen interested himself in me, so that I soon began to pick up agood deal of useful knowledge. He taught me how to take the sun, I usinghis old instruments; but I could never grasp the taking of the lunars. Onour voyage out I had no duties to perform on board, but I found much tointerest myself in the beautiful tropical islands among which we threadedour way; and I took quite a childish delight in everything I saw. It wasreally a grand time for me. I constantly wrote home to my mother, thelast letter I forwarded to her being from Koopang. Occasionally welanded on one of the islands to buy fresh provisions, in the shape offowls, pigs, fruit, &c. We then set sail for the coast of New Guinea.The voyage thence was accomplished without the slightest hitch, thedivers spending most of their time in singing and playing like littlechildren,--all in the best of good spirits. Their favourite form ofamusement was to sit round a large fire, either telling stories of thegirls they had left behind, or singing love melodies. When the weatherwas at all cold, they would make a fire in a rather shallow tub, thesides of which were lined with a layer of sand. They were a wonderfullylight-hearted lot of fellows, and I greatly enjoyed listening to theirchants and yarns. I was more often with them than in Jensen's company,and it did not take me long to pick up bits of their language.
The _Veielland_ only drew between seven feet and eight feet of water, sothat we were able to venture very close in-shore whenever it wasnecessary. At length, about a month after starting, we reached a likelyspot where the captain thought that the precious shells might be found;here we anchored, and the divers quickly got to work. I ought to havementioned that we carried a large whale-boat, and about half-a-dozenfrail little "shell" boats for the use of the divers.
The comings and goings of the various pearling expeditions were of courseregulated by the weather and the state of the tide. The captain himselfwent out first of all in the whale-boat, and from it prospected forshells at the bottom of the crystal sea. The water was marvellouslytransparent, and leaning over the side of the boat, Jensen peered eagerlyinto his sea-telescope, which is simply a metal cylinder with a lens ofordinary glass at the bottom. Some of the sea-telescopes would even bewithout this lens, being simply a metal cylinder open at both ends.Although they did not bring the objects looked at nearer the vision, yetthey enabled the prospector to see below the ruffled surface of thewater.
The big whale-boat was followed at a respectful distance by the flotillaof smaller boats, each containing from four to six Malays. When Jensendiscerned a likely spot through his peculiar telescope, he gave thesignal for a halt, and before you could realise what was going to happen,the native divers had tumbled out of their boats, and were _swimming_ ina weird way down to the bottom of the translucent sea. As a rule, oneman was left in each little boat to follow the movements of the divers asthey returned to the surface. Not only did these divers wear nomechanical "dress," but they used no stimulants or palliatives of anykind to aid them in their work. All they carried was a smallsheath-knife hung from the waist by a piece of string. The water for themost part was only two or three fathoms deep, but sometimes it would beas much as eight fathoms,--which was the greatest depth to which the mencared to go. When he reached the bottom, the diver would grope about forshells, and generally return to the surface with a couple, held in hisleft hand and hugged against his breast; the right hand was kept free anddirected his movements in swimming. Each diver seldom remained underwater more than one minute, and on coming to the surface he would take a"spell" of perhaps a quarter of an hour before going down again.
As fast as each man brought his shells into the boat, they were put intoa separate little pile, which was respected absolutely, and alwaysrecognised as belonging to its owner. The bed of the sea at thesepearling grounds is usually coral, with innumerable holes of differentdepths and sizes dotted all over it. It was in these recesses that thebest shells were mostly found.
The marine vegetation down in these seas was always of extreme beauty;there were stately "trees" that waved backwards and forwards, as thoughunder the influence of a gentle breeze; there were high, luxuriantgrasses, and innumerable plants of endless variety and colour. The coralrocks, too, were of gorgeous hues--yellow, blue, red, and white; but apeculiar thing was that the moment you brought a piece of this rock up tothe surface, the lovely colour it possessed whilst in the water graduallyfaded away. Some of the coral I saw had curious little shoots hangingfrom its numerous projections bearing a striking resemblance tobluebells.
The illusion of a submarine forest was further heightened by the drovesof gaily-coloured fish that flitted in and out among the branches.Perhaps the most beautiful of all were the little dolphins. The divingexpeditions went away from the ship with the ebb tide, and returned withthe flow. Sometimes their search would take them long distances away,and on one occasion they were working fully ten miles from the_Veielland_. When the water suddenly became rough, rendering the diversunable to paddle their own little skiffs back to the ship, they madetheir way to the whale-boat, clambered aboard, and returned in her,trailing their own craft at the stern. The boats, however, were notalways brought back to the ship at night; as a rule they were buoyed nearthe pearling beds, whilst the divers returned to their quarters aboard. Imight here explain that the sleeping accommodation for the Malays wasboth ample and comfortable. A large room in which the casks of freshwater were stored was set apart for their use. These casks were turnedon end and a deck of planks placed over them, on which the Malays laidtheir sleeping mats and little wooden pillows. They ranged themselvestwenty a side. But you may be asking, what was _I_ doing during thesepearling expeditions? Well, I was intrusted with the important duty ofreceiving the shells from the men, and crediting each with the number hedelivered. Thus I was nearly always left alone on the ship--save for thedog; because even the two Malay women frequently went out diving, andthey were credited for work done precisely as the men were.
If I had no shells to open whilst the d
ivers were absent, I filled in mytime by sewing sails, which Jensen himself would cut to the requiredshape--and reading, &c. My library consisted of only five books--a copyof the Bible, and a four-volume medical work in English by Bell, which Ihad purchased at Singapore. I made quite a study of the contents of thiswork, and acquired much valuable information, which I was able to put togood use in after years, more particularly during my sojourn amongst theBlacks. Bruno generally sat by my side on deck when I was alone,--infact he was nearly always with me. He took to me more than to Jensenfrom the first. Jensen rarely tried to bully me, though of course I wasnow very much in his power, as he emphatically illustrated one day. AMalay diver had very much annoyed him, and in his fury he picked up aheavy broom with a stick fully four feet long, and felled the poor fellowsenseless to the deck with it. I was shocked at such awful brutality,and ventured to protest against it. "Captain," I said, "don't doanything like that again whilst I am aboard." Turning round in a greatpassion he ordered me to keep my own counsel, otherwise he would have meput in irons. But for all that Jensen never again let his temper get thebetter of him to such an extent in my presence. He was always very gruffin his manner, and looked upon me as the "darndest fool he had ever met."
These divers, by the way, never seemed to trouble about the value of thetreasure they were constantly bringing to the surface. They thoughtthemselves well paid if they were given plenty of rice and fish, turtles'eggs and fowls, in addition to such luxuries as spices, coffee, and"Brummagem" jewellery, of a kind which is too well known to needdescription. At the same time it must be admitted that in addition totheir wages, which were paid them when they were discharged from theship, the Malays had practically no opportunity of being dishonest, eventhough they might have been inclined that way. They never came intoactual contact with the pearls; they were rewarded according to thenumber of shells brought to the surface, and not the value of the pearlsthey might contain. All the shells were opened by me. A healthy spiritof rivalry was maintained among the divers, and the man who had the bestrecord of shells each week was rewarded with an extra allowance of rum ortobacco; a choice of some article of jewellery, or anything else hefancied from among the stock we had on board. A bottle of chutney orpickles was considered a specially valuable delicacy. No money was evergiven to the divers as wages whilst at sea, remuneration in kind beingalways given instead. Each expedition would be absent perhaps six hours,and on its return each diver generally had between twenty and fortyshells to hand over to me. These I arranged in long rows on the deck,and allowed them to remain there all night. Next day I cleaned them byscraping off the coral from the shells, and then opened them with anordinary dinner-knife. Of course, every oyster did not produce a pearl;in fact, I have opened as many as a hundred consecutive shells withoutfinding a single pearl. The gems are hidden away in the fleshy part ofthe oyster, and have to be removed by pressure of the thumb. The emptyshells are then thrown in a heap on one side, and afterwards carefullystowed away in the hold, as they constitute a valuable cargo inthemselves, being worth--at that time, at any rate (1864)--from 200 to250 pounds, and even 350 pounds a ton. All the pearls I found I placedin a walnut jewel-case, measuring about fourteen inches by eight inchesby six inches. The value of the treasure increased day by day, until itamounted to many thousands of pounds; but of this more hereafter. I didnot know much of the value of pearls then--how could I, having had noprevious experience?
Captain Jensen, however, assured me at the end of the season that we hadsomething like 50,000 pounds worth of pearls aboard, to say nothing aboutthe value of the shells, of which we had about thirty tons. It must beclearly understood that this is Captain Jensen's estimate--I am utterlyunable to give one. The oysters themselves we found very poor eating,and no one on board cared about them. Some of the shells contained onepearl, others two, three, and even four. One magnificent specimen I cameacross produced no fewer than a dozen fine pearls, but that of course wasvery exceptional. The largest gem I ever found was shaped just like abig cube, more than an inch square. It was, however, comparativelyworthless. Actually the finest specimen that passed through my hands wasabout the size of a pigeon's egg, and of exquisite colour and shape. Someof the pearls were of a beautiful rose colour, others yellow; but mostwere pure white.
The greatest enemy the divers had to fear in those waters was the dreadedoctopus, whose presence occasioned far greater panic than the appearanceof a mere shark.
These loathsome monsters--call them squids, or devil-fish, or what youwill--would sometimes come and throw their horrible tentacles over theside of the frail craft from which the divers were working, and actuallyfasten on to the men themselves, dragging them out into the water. Atother times octopuses have been known to attack the divers down below,and hold them relentlessly under water until life was extinct. One ofour own men had a terribly narrow escape from one of these fearfulcreatures. I must explain, however, that occasionally when the diversreturned from pearl-fishing, they used to rope all their little skiffstogether and let them lie astern of the schooner. Well, one night thewind rose and rain fell heavily, with the result that next morning allthe little boats were found more or less water-logged. Some of theMalays were told off to go and bale them out. Whilst they were at workone of the men saw a mysterious-looking black object in the sea, which soattracted his curiosity that he dived overboard to find out what it was.He had barely reached the water, however, when an immense octopus roseinto view, and at once made for the terrified man, who instantly saw hisdanger, and with great presence of mind promptly turned and scrambledback into the boat.
The terrible creature was after him, however, and to the horror of theonlookers it extended its great flexible tentacles, enveloped the entireboat, man and all, and then dragged the whole down into the clear depths.The diver's horrified comrades rushed to his assistance, and an attemptwas made to kill the octopus with a harpoon, but without success. Severalof his more resourceful companions then dived into the water with a bignet made of stout twine, which they took right underneath the octopus,entangling the creature and its still living prey. The next step was todrag up both man and octopus into the whale-boat, and this done, theunfortunate Malay was at length seized by his legs, and dragged by sheerforce out of the frightful embrace, more dead than alive, as you maysuppose. However, we soon revived him by putting him into a very hotbath, the water being at such a temperature as actually to blister hisskin. It is most remarkable that the man was not altogether drowned, ashe had been held under water by the tentacles of the octopus for rathermore than two minutes. But, like all the Malays of our party, this mancarried a knife, which he used to very good purpose on the monster's bodywhen first it dragged him under the water. These repeated stabs causedthe creature to keep rolling about on the surface, and the unhappy manwas in this way enabled to get an occasional breath of air; otherwise hemust infallibly have been drowned. It was a horrible-looking creature,with a slimy body, and a hideous cavity of a mouth. It is the tentaclesof the creature that are so dreaded, on account of the immense suckingpower which they possess.
After this incident the divers always took a tomahawk with them on theirexpeditions, in order to lop off the tentacles of any octopus that mighttry to attack them in the boats. And, by the way, we saw manyextraordinary creatures during our cruise. I myself had a serious frightone day whilst indulging in a swim.
We had anchored in about five fathoms, and as I was proceeding leisurelyaway from the vessel at a slow breast stroke, a monstrous fish, fullytwenty feet long, with an enormous hairy head and fierce, fantasticmoustaches, suddenly reared up out of the water, high into the air. Imust say that the sight absolutely unmanned me for the moment, and whenthis extraordinary creature opened his enormous mouth in my direction, Igave myself up for lost. It did not molest me, however, and I got backto the ship safely, but it was some little time before I recovered fromthe terrible fright.
Occasionally too we were troubled with sharks, but
the Malays did notappear to be very much afraid of them. Their great dread was the groundshark, which lay motionless at the bottom of the sea, and gave noindication of his presence. The result was that occasionally the diverswould sink down to their work quite unknowingly almost by the side of oneof these fearful creatures, and in such cases the diver rarely escapedwithout injury of some kind. With regard to the ordinary shark, however,our divers actually sought them. Their method of capturing them wasalmost incredible in its simplicity and daring. Three or four of ourdivers would go out in a boat and allow themselves to drift into a bigschool of sharks. Then one man, possessed of more nerve than the rest,would bend over the side and smartly prick the first one he came acrosswith a spear taken out for the purpose. The moment he had succeeded inthis the other occupants of the boat would commence yelling and howlingat the top of their voices, at the same time beating the water with theirpaddles, in order to frighten away the sharks. This invariablysucceeded, but, amazing to relate, the shark that had been pricked alwayscame back alone a few minutes later to see what it was that had prickedhim. Care has to be taken not to inflict a very severe wound, becausethe moment the other sharks taste the blood of a wounded companion, theywill immediately turn upon him and eat him. When the inquisitive sharkis seen coming in the direction of the boat, the Malay who has accostedhim in this way quietly jumps overboard, armed only with his small knifeand a short stick of hard wood, exactly like a butcher's skewer, aboutfive inches in length, and pointed at each end.
The man floats stationary on the surface of the sea, and, naturally, theshark makes for him. As the creature rolls over to bite, the wily Malayglides out of his way with a few deft strokes of the left hand, whilstwith the right he deliberately plants the pointed skewer in an uprightposition between the open jaws of the expectant monster. The result issimple, but surprising. The shark is, of course, unable to close itsmouth, and the water just rushes down his throat and chokes him, inconsequence of the gills being forced back so tightly as to prevent theescape of water through them in the natural way. Needless to remark, itrequires the greatest possible coolness and nerve to kill a shark in thisway, but the Malays look upon it as a favourite recreation and anexciting sport. When the monster is dead its slayer dexterously climbson to its back, and then, digging his knife into the shark's head toserve as a support and means of balance, the conqueror is towed back tothe ship astride his victim by means of a rope hauled by his companionsin their boats.
After many adventures and much luck in the way of getting pearls, ourfood and water supply began to give out. This induced Captain Jensen tomake for the New Guinea main in order to replenish his stores. We soonreached a likely spot on the coast, and obtained all that we wanted fromthe natives by means of barter.
We gave them tomahawks, knives, hoop-iron, beads, turtles, and bright-coloured cloth. Indeed, so friendly did our intercourse become thatparties of our divers often went ashore and joined the Papuans in theirsports and games. On one of these occasions I came across a curiousanimal that bore a striking resemblance to a kangaroo, and yet was notmore than two feet high. It could climb trees like an opossum and was ofthe marsupial family. The pigeons, too, which were very plentiful inthese parts, were as large as a big fowl. The headman, or chief, tookquite an interest in me, and never seemed tired of conversing with me,and pointing out the beauties of the country. He even showed me acertain boundary which he advised us not to pass, as the natives beyondwere not under his control. One day, however, a party of our Malays,accompanied by myself, imprudently ventured into the forbidden country,and soon came to a native village, at which we halted. The people herewere suspicious of us from the first, and when one of my men indiscreetlyoffended a native, half the village rose against us, and we had to beat aretreat. We were making the best of our way to the coast again, when thefriendly chief came and met us. He interceded with the indignanttribesmen on our behalf, and succeeded in pacifying them. On reachingthe ship, which was anchored within a mile of the coast, Jensencomplained to me ominously that he was getting fairly swamped withnatives, who persisted in coming on board with fruit and vegetables forbarter. He said he was getting quite nervous about the crowds thatswarmed over the vessel, the natives going up and down as though they hada perfect right to do so.
"I don't like it," said the captain, "and shall have to put my footdown."
Next morning, when the usual batch of native canoes came alongside, wedeclined to allow a single man on board. While we were explaining thisto them, our friend the chief himself arrived, accompanied byhalf-a-dozen notables, most of whom I knew, together with the nowfriendly dignitary whose wrath we had aroused the previous day. Theywere all full of dignity and anticipation. Captain Jensen, however, wasobdurate, and refused permission to any one to come aboard. That wasenough for the chiefs. They went away in high dudgeon, followedimmediately by all the other canoes and their occupants. When all haddisappeared, a curious stillness came over the ship, the sea, and thetropical coast, and a strange sense of impending danger seemed to oppressall of us. We knew that we had offended the natives, and as we could notsee a single one of them on the beach, it was pretty evident that theywere brooding over their grievance. We might have weighed anchor andmade for the open sea, only unfortunately there was a perfect calm, andour sails, which were set in readiness for a hasty departure, hung limpand motionless. Suddenly, as we stood looking out anxiously over theside in the direction of the shore, we were amazed to see at least twentyfully-equipped war-canoes, each carrying from thirty to forty warriors,rounding the headland, some little distance away, and making straight forour ship. Now my shrewd Dutch partner had anticipated a possible attack,and had accordingly armed all the Malays with tomahawks, in readiness forany attempt that might be made to board the schooner. We had also takenoff the hatches, and made a sort of fortification with them round thewheel.
Jensen and I armed ourselves with guns, loaded our little cannon, andprepared to make a desperate fight for our lives against the overwhelmingodds. In spite of the danger of our position, I could not help beingstruck with the magnificence of the spectacle presented by the greatfleet of boats now fast advancing towards us. The warriors had allassumed their fighting decorations, with white stripes painted roundtheir dusky bodies to strike terror into the beholder. Their head-dressconsisted of many-coloured feathers projecting from the hair, which theyhad matted and caused to stand bolt upright from the head. Each boat hada prow about three feet high, surmounted by a grotesquely carved figure-head. The war-canoes were propelled by twelve men, paddling on eitherside. When the first came within hailing distance I called out and madesigns that they were not to advance unless their intentions werepeaceful. By way of reply, they merely brandished their bows and arrowsat us. There was no mistaking their mission.
It was now quite evident that we should have to make a fight for it, andthe natives were coming to the attack in such numbers as easily tooverwhelm us if they once got on board. Our position was rendered stillmore awkward by the fact that all round the ship ropes were hanging downto the water, up which our divers used to climb on their return from theday's pearling. These ropes were attached to a sort of hawser runninground the outside bulwarks of the ship. We had not even time to haulthese up, and the enemy would certainly have found them very useful forboarding purposes had they been allowed to get near enough. It wastherefore very necessary that some decisive step should be taken at once.While we were debating what was best to be done, we were suddenly greetedby a shower of arrows from the leading war-canoe. Without waiting anylonger I fired at the leader, who was standing in the prow, and bowledhim over. The bullet went right through his body, and then bored a holelow down in the side of the canoe. The amazement of the warriors onhearing the report and seeing the mysterious damage done is quite beyonddescription; and before they could recover from their astonishment,Jensen sent a charge of grape-shot right into their midst, whichshattered several of the canoes and caused a gene
ral halt in the advance.
Again I made signs to them not to come nearer, and they seemed undecidedwhat to do. Jabbering consultations were held, but while they were thushesitating ten more canoes swung round the headland, and their appearanceseemed to give the advance-guard fresh courage.
Once more they made for our ship, but I was ready for them with thelittle cannon we had on board; it had been reloaded with grape after thefirst discharge. With a roar the gun belched forth a second deadly hailagainst the advancing savages, and the effect was to demoralise themcompletely. One of the canoes was shattered to pieces, and nearly allthe men in it more or less seriously wounded; whilst the occupants ofseveral other canoes received injuries.
Quite a panic now ensued, and the fleet of canoes got inextricably mixed.Several showers of arrows, however, descended on our deck, and some ofthem penetrated the sails, but no one was injured. The natives were toomuch afraid to advance any farther, and as a wind had now sprung up wedeemed it time to make a dash for liberty. We therefore quietly slippedour anchor and, heading the ship for the open sea, glided swiftly pastthe enemy's fleet, whose gaily decked, though sorely bewildered, warriorsgreeted us with a Parthian flight of arrows as we raced by. In anotherhalf-hour we were well out to sea, and able to breathe freely once more.