The Malay Archipelago

b >> by Alfred Russell Wallace >> The Malay Archipelago

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During the latter part of my stay in New Guinea the weather was
very wet, my only shooter was ill, and birds became scarce, so
that my only resource was insect-hunting. I worked very hard
every hour of fine weather, and daily obtained a number of new
species. Every dead tree and fallen log was searched and searched
again; and among the dry and rotting leaves, which still hung on
certain trees which had been cut down, I found an abundant
harvest of minute Coleoptera. Although I never afterwards found
so many large and handsome beetles as in Borneo, yet I obtained
here a great variety of species. For the first two or three
weeks, while I was searching out the best localities, I took
about 30 different kinds of beetles n day, besides about half
that number of butterflies, and a few of the other orders. But
afterwards, up to the very last week, I averaged 49 species a
day. On the 31st of May, I took 78 distinct sorts, a larger
number than I had ever captured before, principally obtained
among dead trees and under rotten bark. A good long walk on a
fine day up the hill, and to the plantations of the natives,
capturing everything not very common that came in my way, would
produce about 60 species; but on the last day of June I brought
home no less than 95 distinct kinds of beetles, a larger number
than I ever obtained in one day before or since. It was a fine
hot day, and I devoted it to a search among dead leaves, beating
foliage, and hunting under rotten bark, in all the best stations
I had discovered during my walks. I was out from ten in the
morning till three in the afternoon, and it took me six hours'
work at home to pin and set out all the specimens, and to
separate the species. Although T had already been working this
shot daily for two months and a half, and had obtained over 800
species of Coleoptera, this day's work added 32 new ones. Among
these were 4 Longicorns, 2 Caribidae, 7 Staphylinidae, 7
Curculionidae, 2 Copridae, 4 Chrysomelidae, 3 Heteromera, 1
Elates, and 1 Buprestis. Even on the last day I went out, I
obtained 10 new species; so that although I collected over a
thousand distinct sorts of beetles in a space not much exceeding
a square mile during the three months of my residence at Dorey, I
cannot believe that this represents one half the species really
inhabiting the same spot, or a fourth of what might be obtained
in an area extending twenty miles in each direction.

On the 22d of July the schooner Hester Helena arrived, and five
days afterwards we bade adieu to Dorey, without much regret, for
in no place which I have visited have I encountered more
privations and annoyances. Continual rain, continual sickness,
little wholesome food, with a plague of ants and files,
surpassing anything I had before met with, required all a
naturalist's ardour to encounter; and when they were
uncompensated by great success in collecting, became all the more
insupportable. This long thought-of and much-desired voyage to
New Guinea had realized none of my expectations. Instead of being
far better than the Aru Islands, it was in almost everything much
worse. Instead of producing several of the rarer Paradise birds,
I had not even seen one of them, and had not obtained any one
superlatively fine bird or insect. I cannot deny, however, that
Dorey was very rich in ants. One small black kind was excessively
abundant. Almost every shrub and tree was more or less infested
with it, and its large papery nests were everywhere to be seen.
They immediately took possession of my house, building a large
nest in the roof, and forming papery tunnels down almost every
post. They swarmed on my table as I was at work setting out my
insects, carrying them off from under my very nose, and even
tearing them from the cards on which they were gummed if I left
them for an instant. They crawled continually over my hands and
face, got into my hair, and roamed at will over my whole body,
not producing much inconvenience till they began to bite, which
they would do on meeting with any obstruction to their passage,
and with a sharpness which made me jump again and rush to undress
and turn out the offender. They visited my bed also, so that
night brought no relief from their persecutions; and I verily
believe that during my three and a half months' residence at
Dorey I was never for a single hour entirely free from them. They
were not nearly so voracious as many other kinds, but their
numbers and ubiquity rendered it necessary to be constantly on
guard against them.

The flies that troubled me most were a large kind of blue-bottle
or blow-fly. These settled in swarms on my bird skins when first
put out to dry, filling their plumage with masses of eggs, which,
if neglected, the next day produced maggots. They would get under
the wings or under the body where it rested on the drying-board,
sometimes actually raising it up half an inch by the mass of eggs
deposited in a few hours; and every egg was so firmly glued to
the fibres of the feathers, as to make it a work of much time and
patience to get them off without injuring the bird. In no other
locality have I ever been troubled with such a plague as this.

On the 29th we left Dorey, and expected a quick voyage home, as
it was the time of year when we ought to have had steady
southerly and easterly winds. Instead of these, however, we had
calms and westerly breezes, and it was seventeen days before we
reached Ternate, a distance of five hundred miles only, which,
with average winds, could have been done in five days. It was a
great treat to me to find myself back again in my comfortable
house, enjoying milk to my tea and coffee, fresh bread and
butter, and fowl and fish daily for dinner. This New Guinea
voyage had used us all up, and I determined to stay and recruit
before I commenced any fresh expeditions. My succeeding journeys
to Gilolo and Batchian have already been narrated, and if; now
only remains for me to give an account of my residence in
Waigiou, the last Papuan territory I visited in search of Birds
of Paradise.

CHAPTER XXXV.

VOYAGE FROM CERAM TO WAIGIOU.

(JUNE AND JULY 1860.)

IN my twenty-fifth chapter I have described my arrival at Wahai,
on my way to Mysol and Waigiou, islands which belong to the
Papuan district, and the account of which naturally follows after
that of my visit to the mainland of New Guinea. I now take up my
narrative at my departure from Wahai, with the intention of
carrying various necessary stores to my assistant, Mr. Allen, at
Silinta, in Mysol, and then continuing my journey to Waigiou. It
will be remembered that I was travelling in a small prau, which I
had purchased and fitted up in Goram, and that, having been
deserted by my crew on the coast of Ceram, I had obtained four
men at Wahai, who, with my Amboynese hunter, constituted my crew.

Between Ceram and Mysol there are sixty miles of open sea, and
along this wide channel the east monsoon blows strongly; so that
with native praus, which will not lay up to the wind, it requires
some care in crossing. In order to give ourselves sufficient
leeway, we sailed back from Wahai eastward, along the coast of
Ceram, with the land-breeze; but in the morning (June 18th) had
not gone nearly so far as I expected. My pilot, an old and
experienced sailor, named Gurulampoko, assured me there was a
current setting to the eastward, and that we could easily lay
across to Silinta, in Mysol. As we got out from the land the wind
increased, and there was a considerable sea, which made my short
little vessel plunge and roll about violently. By sunset -we had
not got halfway across, but could see Mysol distinctly. All night
we went along uneasily, and at daybreak, on looking out
anxiously, I found that we had fallen much to the westward during
the night, owing, no doubt, to the pilot being sleepy and not
keeping the boat sufficiently close to the wind. We could see the
mountains distinctly, but it was clear we should not reach
Silinta, and should have some difficulty in getting to the
extreme westward point of the island. The sea was now very
boisterous, and our prau was continually beaten to leeward by the
waves, and after another weary day we found w e could not get to
Mysol at all, but might perhaps reach the island called Pulo
Kanary, about ten miles to the north-west. Thence we might await
a favourable wind to reach Waigamma, on the north side of the
island, and visit Allen by means of a small boat.

About nine o'clock at night, greatly to my satisfaction, we got
under the lea of this island, into quite smooth water--for I had
been very sick and uncomfortable, and had eaten scarcely anything
since the preceding morning. We were slowly nearing the shore,
which the smooth dark water told us we could safely approach; and
were congratulating ourselves on soon being at anchor, with the
prospect of hot coffee, a good supper, and a sound sleep, when
the wind completely dropped, and we had to get out the oars to
row. We were not more than two hundred yards from the shore, when
I noticed that we seemed to get no nearer although the men were
rowing hard, but drifted to the westward, and the prau would not
obey the helm, but continually fell off, and gave us much trouble
to bring her up again. Soon a laud ripple of water told us we
were seized by one of those treacherous currents which so
frequently frustrate all the efforts of the voyager in these
seas; the men threw down the oars in despair, and in a few
minutes we drifted to leeward of the island fairly out to sea
again, and lost our last chance of ever reaching Mysol! Hoisting
our jib, we lay to, and in the morning found ourselves only a few
miles from the island, but wit, such a steady wind blowing from
its direction as to render it impossible for us to get back to
it.

We now made sail to the northward, hoping soon to get a more
southerly wind. Towards noon the sea was much smoother, and with
a S.S.E. wind we were laying in the direction of Salwatty, which
I hoped to reach, as I could there easily get a boat to take
provisions and stores to my companion in Mysol. This wind did
not, however, last long, but died away into a calm; and a light
west wind springing up, with a dark bank of clouds, again gave us
hopes of reaching Mysol. We were soon, however, again
disappointed. The E.S.E. wind began to blow again with violence,
and continued all night in irregular gusts, and with a short
cross sea tossed us about unmercifully, and so continually took
our sails aback, that we were at length forced to run before it
with our jib only, to escape being swamped by our heavy mainsail.
After another miserable and anxious night, we found that we had
drifted westward of the island of Poppa, and the wind being again
a little southerly, we made all sail in order to reach it. This
we did not succeed in doing, passing to the north-west, when the
wind again blew hard from the E.S.E., and our last hope of
finding a refuge till better weather was frustrated. This was a
very serious matter to me, as I could not tell how Charles Allen
might act, if, after waiting in vain for me, he should return to
Wahai, and find that I had left there long before, and had not
since been heard of. Such an event as our missing an island forty
miles long would hardly occur to him, and he would conclude
either that our boat had foundered, or that my crew had murdered
me and run away with her. However, as it was physically
impossible now for me to reach him, the only thing to be done was
to make the best of my way to Waigiou, and trust to our meeting
some traders, who might convey to him the news of my safety.

Finding on my map a group of three small islands, twenty-five
miles north of Poppa, I resolved, if possible, to rest there a
day or two. We could lay our boat's head N.E. by N.; but a heavy
sea from the eastward so continually beat us off our course, and
we made so much leeway, that I found it would be as much as we
could do to reach them. It was a delicate point to keep our head
in the best direction, neither so close to the wind as to stop
our way, or so free as to carry us too far to leeward. I
continually directed the steersman myself, and by incessant
vigilance succeeded, just at sunset, in bringing our boat to an
anchor under the lee of the southern point of one of the islands.
The anchorage was, however, by no means good, there being a
fringing coral reef, dry at low water, beyond which, on a bottom
strewn with masses of coral, we were obliged to anchor. We had
now been incessantly tossing about for four days in our small
undecked boat, with constant disappointments and anxiety, and it
was a great comfort to have a night of quiet and comparative
safety. My old pilot had never left the helm for more than an
hour at a time, when one of the others would relieve him for a
little sleep; so I determined the next morning to look out for a
secure and convenient harbour, and rest on shore for a day.

In the morning, finding it would be necessary for us to get round
a rocky point, I wanted my men to go on shore and cut jungle-
rope, by which to secure us from being again drafted away, as the
wind was directly off shore. I unfortunately, however, allowed
myself to be overruled by the pilot and crew, who all declared
that it was the easiest thing possible, and that they would row
the boat round the point in a few minutes. They accordingly got
up the anchor, set the jib, and began rowing; but, just as I had
feared, we drifted rapidly off shore, and had to drop anchor
again in deeper water, and much farther off. The two best men, a
Papuan and a Malay now swam on shore, each carrying a hatchet,
and went into the jungle to seek creepers for rope. After about
an hour our anchor loosed hold, and began to drag. This alarmed
me greatly, and we let go our spare anchor, and, by running out
all our cable, appeared tolerably secure again. We were now most
anxious for the return of the men, and were going to fire our
muskets to recall them, when we observed them on the beach, some
way off, and almost immediately our anchors again slipped, and we
drifted slowly away into deep water. We instantly seized the
oars, but found we could not counteract the wind and current, and
our frantic cries to the men were not heard till we had got a
long way off; as they seemed to be hunting for shell-fish on the
beach. Very soon, however, they stared at us, and in a few
minutes seemed to comprehend their situation; for they rushed
down into the water, as if to swim off, but again returned on
shore, as if afraid to make the attempt. We had drawn up our
anchors at first not to check our rowing; but now, finding we
could do nothing, we let them both hang down by the full length
of the cables. This stopped our way very much, and we drifted
from shore very slowly, and hoped the men would hastily form a
raft, or cut down a soft-wood tree, and paddle out, to us, as we
were still not more than a third of a mile from shore. They
seemed, however, to have half lost their senses, gesticulating
wildly to us, running along the beach, then going unto the
forest; and just when we thought they had prepared some mode of
making an attempt to reach us, we saw the smoke of a fire they
had made to cook their shell-fish! They had evidently given up
all idea of coming after us, and we were obliged to look to our
own position.

We were now about a mile from shore, and midway between two of
the islands, but we were slowly drifting out, to sea to the
westward, and our only chance of yet saving the men was to reach
the opposite shore. We therefore sot our jib and rowed hard; but
the wind failed, and we drifted out so rapidly that we had some
difficulty in reaching the extreme westerly point of the island.
Our only sailor left, then swam ashore with a rope, and helped to
tow us round the point into a tolerably safe and secure
anchorage, well sheltered from the wind, but exposed to a little
swell which jerked our anchor and made us rather uneasy. We were
now in a sad plight, having lost our two best men, and being
doubtful if we had strength left to hoist our mainsail. We had
only two days' water on board, and the small, rocky, volcanic
island did not promise us much chance of finding any. The conduct
of the men on shore was such as to render it doubtful if they
would make any serious attempt to reach us, though they might
easily do so, having two good choppers, with which in a day they
could male a small outrigger raft on which they could safely
cross the two miles of smooth sea with the wind right aft, if
they started from the east end of the island, so as to allow for
the current. I could only hope they would be sensible enough to
make the attempt, and determined to stay as long as I could to
give them the chance.

We passed an anxious night, fearful of again breaking our anchor
or rattan cable. In the morning (23d), finding all secure, I
waded on shore with my two men, leaving the old steersman and the
cook on board, with a loaded musketto recall us if needed. We
first walked along the beach, till stopped by the vertical cliffs
at the east end of the island, finding a place where meat had
been smoked, a turtle-shell still greasy, and some cut wood, the
leaves of which were still green, showing that some boat had been
here very recently. We then entered the jungle, cutting our way
up to the top of the hill, but when we got there could see
nothing, owing to the thickness of the forest. Returning, we cut
some bamboos, and sharpened them to dig for water in a low spot
where some sago -trees were growing; when, just as we were going
to begin, Hoi, the Wahai man, called out to say he had found
water. It was a deep hole among the Sago trees, in stiff black
clay, full of water, which was fresh, but smelt horribly from the
quantity of dead leaves and sago refuse that had fallen in.
Hastily concluding that it was a spring, or that the water had
filtered in, we baled it all out as well as a dozen or twenty
buckets of mud and rubbish, hoping by night to have a good supply
of clean water. I then went on board to breakfast, leaving my two
men to make a bamboo raft to carry us on shore and back without
wading. I had scarcely finished when our cable broke, and we
bumped against the rocks. Luckily it was smooth and calm, and no
damage was done. We searched for and got up our anchor, and found
teat the cable had been cut by grating all night upon the coral.
Had it given way in the night, we might have drifted out to sea
without our anchor, or been seriously damaged. In the evening we
went to fetch water from the well, when, greatly to our dismay,
we found nothing but a little liquid mud at the bottom, and it
then became evident that the hole was one which had been made to
collect rain water, and would never fill again as long as the
present drought continued. As we did not know what we might
suffer for want of water, we filled our jar with this muddy stuff
so that it might settle. In the afternoon I crossed over to the
other side of the island, and made a large fire, in order that
our men might see we were still there.

The next day (24th) I determined to have another search for
water; and when the tide was out rounded a rocky point and went
to the extremity of the island without finding any sign of the
smallest stream. On our way back, noticing a very small dry bed
of a watercourse, I went up it to explore, although everything
was so dry that my men loudly declared it was useless to expect
water there; but a little way up I was rewarded by finding a few
pints in a small pool. We searched higher up in every hole and
channel where water marks appeared, but could find not a drop
more. Sending one of my men for a large jar and teacup, we
searched along the beach till we found signs of another dry
watercourse, and on ascending this were so fortunate as to
discover two deep sheltered rock-holes containing several gallons
of water, enough to fill all our jars. When the cup came we
enjoyed a good drink of the cool pure water, and before we left
had carried away, I believe, every drop on the island.

In the evening a good-sized prau appeared in sight, making
apparently for the island where our men were left, and we had
some hopes they might be seen and picked up, but it passed along
mid-channel, and did not notice the signals we tried to make. I
was now, however, pretty easy as to the fate of the men. There
was plenty of sago on our rocky island, and there world probably
be some on the fiat one they were left on. They had choppers, and
could cut down a tree and make sago, and would most likely find
sufficient water by digging. Shell-fish were abundant, and they
would be able to manage very well till some boat should touch
there, or till I could send and fetch them. The next day we
devoted to cutting wood, filling up our jars with all the water
we could find, and making ready to sail in the evening. I shot a
small lory closely resembling a common species at Ternate, and a
glossy starling which differed from the allied birds of Ceram and
Matabello. Large wood-pigeons and crows were the only other birds
I saw, but I did not obtain specimens.

About eight in the evening of June 25th we started, and found
that with all hands at work we could just haul up our mainsail.
We had a fair wind during the night and sailed north-east,
finding ourselves in the morning about twenty miles west of the
extremity of Waigiou with a number of islands intervening. About
ten o'clock we ran full on to a coral reef, which alarmed us a
good deal, but luckily got safe off again. About two in the
afternoon we reached an extensive coral reef, and were sailing
close alongside of it, when the wind suddenly dropped, and we
drifted on to it before we could get in our heavy mainsail, which
we were obliged to let run down and fall partly overboard. We had
much difficulty in getting off, but at last got into deep water
again, though with reefs and islands all around us. At night we
did not know what to do, as no one on board could tell where we
were or what dangers might surround us, the only one of our crew
who was acquainted with the coast of Waigiou having been. left on
the island. We therefore took in all sail and allowed ourselves
to drift, as we were some miles from the nearest land. A light
breeze, however, sprang up, and about midnight we found ourselves
again bumping over a coral reef. As it was very dark, and we knew
nothing of our position, we could only guess how to get off
again, and had there been a little more wind we might have been
knocked to pieces. However, in about half an hour we did get off,
and then thought it best to anchor on the edge of the reef till
morning. Soon after daylight on the 7th, finding our prau had
received no damage, we sailed on with uncertain winds and
squalls, threading our way among islands and reefs, and guided
only by a small map, which was very incorrect and quite useless,
and by a general notion of the direction we ought to take. In the
afternoon we found a tolerable anchorage under a small island and
stayed for the night, and I shot a large fruit-pigeon new to me,
which I have since named Carpophaga tumida. I also saw and shot
at the rare white-headed kingfisher (Halcyon saurophaga), but did
not kill it. The next morning we sailed on, and having a fair
wind reached the shores of the large island of Waigiou. On
rounding a point we again ran full on to a coral reef with our
mainsail up, but luckily the wind had almost died away, and with
a good deal of exertion we managed get safely off.

We now had to search for the narrow channel among islands, which
we knew was somewhere hereabouts, and which leads to the villages
on the south side ofWaigiou. Entering a deep bay which looked
promising, we got to the end of it, but it was then dusk, so we
anchored for the night, and having just finished all our water
could cook no rice for supper. Next morning early (29th) we went
on shore among the mangroves, and a little way inland found some
water, which relieved our anxiety considerably, and left us free
to go along the coast in search of the opening, or of some one
who could direct us to it. During the three days we had now been
among the reefs and islands, we had only seen a single small
canoe, which had approached pretty near to us, and then,
notwithstanding our signals, went off in another direction. The
shores seemed all desert; not a house, or boat, or human being,
or a puff of smoke was to be seen; and as we could only go on the
course that the ever-changing wind would allow us (our hands
being too few to row any distance), our prospects of getting to
our destination seemed rather remote and precarious. Having gone
to the eastward extremity of the deep bay we had entered, without
finding any sign of an opening, we turned westward; and towards
evening were so fortunate as to find a small village of seven
miserable houses built on piles in the water. Luckily the Orang-
kaya, or head man, could speak a little. Malay, and informed us
that the entrance to the strait was really in the bay we had
examined, but that it was not to be seen except when- close
inshore. He said the strait was often very narrow, and wound
among lakes and rocks and islands, and that it would take two
days to reach the large village of Muka, and three more to get to
Waigiou. I succeeded in hiring two men to go with us to Muka,
bringing a small boat in which to return; but we had to wait a
day for our guides, so I took my gun and made a little excursion
info the forest. The day was wet and drizzly, and I only
succeeded in shooting two small birds, but I saw the great black
cockatoo, and had a glimpse of one or two Birds of Paradise,
whose loud screams we had heard on first approaching the coast.
Leaving the village the next morning (July 1st) with a light
wind, it took us all day to reach the entrance to the channel,
which resembled a small river, and was concealed by a projecting
point, so that it was no wonder we did not discover it amid the
dense forest vegetation which everywhere covers these islands to
the water's edge. A little way inside it becomes bounded by
precipitous rocks, after winding among which for about two miles,
we emerged into what seemed a lake, but which was in fact a deep
gulf having a narrow entrance on the south coast. This gulf was
studded along its shores with numbers of rocky islets, mostly
mushroom shaped, from the `eater having worn away the lower part
of the soluble coralline limestone, leaving them overhanging from
ten to twenty feet. Every islet was covered will strange-looping
shrubs and trees, and was generally crowned by lofty and elegant
palms, which also studded the ridges of the mountainous shores,
forming one of the most singular and picturesque landscapes I
have ever seen. The current which had brought us through the
narrow strait now ceased, and we were obliged to row, which with
our short and heavy prau was slow work. I went on shore several
times, but the rocks were so precipitous, sharp, and honeycombed,
that Ifound it impossible to get through the tangled thicket with
which they were everywhere clothed. It took us three days to get
to the entrance of the gulf, and then the wind was such as to
prevent our going any further, and we might have had to wait for
days or weeps, when, much to my surprise and gratification, a
boat arrived from Muka with one of the head men, who had in some
mysterious manner heard I was on my way, and had come to my
assistance, bringing a present of cocoa-nuts and vegetables.
Being thoroughly acquainted with the coast, and having several
extra men to assist us, he managed to get the prau along by
rowing, poling, or sailing, and by night had brought us safely
into harbour, a great relief after our tedious and unhappy
voyage. We had been already eight days among the reefs and
islands of Waigiou, coming a distance of about fifty miles, and
it was just forty days since we had sailed from Goram.

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