The Malay Archipelago

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

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Having written to the Assistant Resident of Saparua (who has
jurisdiction over the opposite part of the coast of Ceram) for a
boat to pursue my journey, I received one rather larger than
necessary with a crew of twenty men. I therefore bade adieu to my
kind friend Captain Van der Beck, and left on the evening after
its arrival for the village of Elpiputi, which we reached in two
days. I had intended to stay here, but not liking the appearance
of the place, which seemed to have no virgin forest near it, I
determined to proceed about twelve miles further up the bay of
Amahay, to a village recently formed, and inhabited by indigenes
from the interior, and where some extensive cacao plantations
were being made by some gentlemen of Amboyna. I reached the place
(called Awaiya) the same afternoon, and with the assistance of
Mr. Peters (the manager of the plantations) and the native chief,
obtained a small house, got all my things on shore, and paid and
discharged my twenty boatmen, two of whom had almost driven me to
distraction by beating tom-toms the whole voyage.

I found the people here very nearly in a state of nature, and
going almost naked. The men wear their frizzly hair gathered into
a flat circular knot over the left temple, which has a very
knowing look, and in their ears cylinders of wood as thick as
one's finger, and coloured red at the ends. Armlets and anklets
of woven grass or of silver, with necklaces of beads or of small
fruits, complete their attire. The women wear similar ornaments,
but have their hair loose. All are tall, with a dark brown skin,
and well marked Papuan physiognomy. There is an Amboyna
schoolmaster in the village, and a good number of children attend
school every morning. Such of the inhabitants as have become
Christians may be known by their wearing their hair loose, and
adopting to some extent the native Christian dress-trousers and a
loose shirt. Very few speak Malay, all these coast villages
having been recently formed by inducing natives to leave the
inaccessible interior. In all the central part of Ceram there new
remains only one populous village in the mountains. Towards the
east and the extreme west are a few others, with which exceptions
all the inhabitants of Ceram are collected on the coast. In the
northern and eastern districts they are mostly Mahometans, while
on the southwest coast, nearest Amboyna, they are nominal
Christians. In all this part of the Archipelago the Dutch make
very praiseworthy efforts to improve the condition of the
aborigines by establishing schoolmasters in every village (who
are mostly natives of Amboyna or Saparua, who have; been
instructed by the resident missionaries), and by employing native
vaccinators to prevent the ravages of smallpox. They also
encourage the settlement of Europeans, and the formation of new
plantations of cacao and coffee, one of the best means of raising
the condition of the natives, who thus obtain work at fair wages,
and have the opportunity of acquiring something of European
tastes and habits.

My collections here did not progress much better than at my
former station, except that butterflies were a little more
plentiful, and some very fine species were to be found in the
morning on the sea-beach, sitting so quietly on the wet sand that
they could be caught with the fingers. In this way I had many
fine specimens of Papilios brought me by the children. Beetles,
however, were scarce, and birds still more so, and I began to
think that the handsome species which I had so often heard were
found in Ceram must be entirely confined to the eastern extremity
of the island.

A few miles further worth, at the head of the Bay of Amahay, is
situated the village of Makariki, from whence there is a native
path quite across the island to the north coast. My friend Mr.
Rosenberg, whose acquaintance I had made at New Guinea, and who
was now the Government superintendent of all this part of Ceram,
returned from Wahai, on the north coast, after I had been three
weeks at Awaiya, and showed me some fine butterflies he had
obtained on the mountain streams in the interior. He indicated a
spot about the centre of the island where he thought I might
advantageously stay a few days. I accordingly visited Makariki
with him the next day, and he instructed the chief of the village
to furnish me with men to carry my baggage, and accompany me on
my excursion. As the people of the village wanted to be at home
on Christmas-day, it was necessary to start as soon as possible;
so we agreed that the men should be ready in two days, and I
returned to make my arrangements.

I put up the smallest quantity of baggage possible for a six
days' trip, and on the morning of December 18th we left Makariki,
with six men carrying my baggage and their own provisions, and a
lad from Awaiya, who was accustomed to catch butterflies for me.
My two Amboyna hunters I left behind to shoot and skin what birds
they could while I was away. Quitting the village, we first
walked briskly for an hour through a dense tangled undergrowth,
dripping wet from a storm of the previous night, and full of mud
holes. After crossing several small streams we reached one of the
largest rivers in Ceram, called Ruatan, which it was necessary to
cross. It was both deep and rapid. The baggage was first taken
over, parcel by parcel, on the men's heads, the water reaching
nearly up to their armpits, and then two men returned to assist
me. The water was above my waist, and so strong that I should
certainly have been carried off my feet had I attempted to cross
alone; and it was a matter of astonishment to me how the men
could give me any assistance, since I found the greatest
difficulty in getting my foot down again when I had once moved it
off the bottom. The greater strength and grasping power of their
feet, from going always barefoot, no doubt gave them a surer
footing in the rapid water.

After well wringing out our wet clothes and putting them on, we
again proceeded along a similar narrow forest track as before,
choked with rotten leaves and dead trees, and in the more open
parts overgrown with tangled vegetation. Another hour brought us
to a smaller stream flowing in a wide gravelly bed, up which our
road lay. Here w e stayed half an hour to breakfast, and then
went on, continually crossing the stream, or walking on its stony
and gravelly banks, till about noon, when it became rocky and
enclosed by low hills. A little further we entered a regular
mountain-gorge, and had to clamber over rocks, and every moment
cross and recross the water, or take short cuts through the
forest. This was fatiguing work; and about three in the
afternoon, the sky being overcast, and thunder in the mountains
indicating an approaching storm, we had to loon out for a camping
place, and soon after reached one of Mr. Rosenberg's old ones.
The skeleton of his little sleeping-hut remained, and my men cut
leaves and made a hasty roof just as the rain commenced. The
baggage was covered over with leaves, and the men sheltered
themselves as they could till the storm was over, by which time a
flood came down the river, which effectually stopped our further
march, even had we wished to proceed. We then lighted fires; I
made some coffee, and my men roasted their fish and plantains,
and as soon as it was dark, we made ourselves comfortable for the
night.

Starting at six the next morning, we had three hours of the same
kind of walking, during which we crossed the river at least
thirty or forty times, the water being generally knee-deep. This
brought us to a place where the road left the stream, and here we
stopped to breakfast. We then had a long walk over the mountain,
by a tolerable path, which reached an elevation of about fifteen
hundred feet above the sea. Here I noticed one of the smallest
and most elegant tree ferns I had ever seen, the stem being
scarcely thicker than my thumb, yet reaching a height of fifteen
or twenty feet. I also caught a new butterfly of the genus
Pieris, and a magnificent female specimen of Papilio gambrisius,
of which I had hitherto only found the males, which are smaller
and very different in colour. Descending the other side of the
ridge, by a very steep path, we reached another river at a spot
which is about the centre of the island, and which was to be our
resting place for two or three days. In a couple of hour my men
had built a little sleeping-shed for me, about eight feet by
four, with a bench of split poles, they themselves occupying two
or three smaller ones, which had been put up by former
passengers.

The river here was about twenty yards wide, running over a pebbly
and sometimes a rocky bed, and bordered by steep hills with
occasionally flat swampy spots between their base and the stream.
The whole country was one dense, Unbroken, and very damp and
gloomy virgin forest. Just at our resting-place there was a
little bush-covered island in the middle of the channel, so that
the opening in the forest made by the river was wider than usual,
and allowed a few gleams of sunshine to penetrate. Here there
were several handsome butterflies flying about, the finest of
which, however, escaped me, and I never saw it again during my
stay. In the two days and a half which we remained here, I
wandered almost all day up and down the stream, searching after
butterflies, of which I got, in all, fifty or sixty specimens,
with several species quite new to me. There were many others
which I saw only once, and did not capture, causing me to regret
that there was no village in these interior valleys where I could
stay a month. In the early part of each morning I went out with
my gun in search of birds, and two of my men were out almost all
day after deer; but we were all equally unsuccessful, getting
absolutely nothing the whole time we were in the forest. The only
good bird seen was the fine Amboyna lory, but these were always
too high to shoot; besides this, the great Moluccan hornbill,
which I did not want, was almost the only bird met with. I saw
not a single ground-thrush, or kingfisher, or pigeon; and, in
fact, have never been in a forest so utterly desert of animal
life as this appeared to be. Even in all other groups of insects,
except butterflies, there was the same poverty. I bad hoped to
find some rare tiger beetles, as I had done in similar situations
in Celebes; but, though I searched closely in forest, river-bed,
and mountain-brook, I could find nothing but the two common
Amboyna species. Other beetles there were absolutely none.

The constant walking in water, and over rocks and pebbles, quite
destroyed the two pair of shoes I brought with me, so that, on my
return, they actually fell to pieces, and the last day I had to
walk in my stockings very painfully, and reached home quite lame.
On our way back from Makariki, as on our way there, we had storm
and rain at sea, and we arrived at Awaiya late in the evening,
with all our baggage drenched, and ourselves thoroughly
uncomfortable. All the time I had been in Ceram I had suffered
much from the irritating bites of an invisible acarus, which is
worse than mosquitoes, ants, and every other pest, because it is
impossible to guard against them. This last journey in the forest
left me covered from head to foot with inflamed lumps, which,
after my return to Amboyna, produced a serious disease, confining
me to the house for nearly two months, a not very pleasant
memento of my first visit to Ceram, which terminated with the
year 1859.

It was not till the 24th of February, 1860, that I started again,
intending to pass from village to village along the coast,
staying where I found a suitable locality. I had a letter from
the Governor of the Moluccas, requesting all the chiefs to supply
me with boats and men to carry me on my journey. The first boat
took me in two days to Amahay, on the opposite side of the bay to
Awaiya. The chief here, wonderful to relate, did not make any
excuses for delay, but immediately ordered out the boat which was
to carry me on, put my baggage on hoard, set up mast and sails
after dark, and had the men ready that nigh; so that we were
actually on our way at five the next morning,--a display of
energy and activity I scarcely ever saw before in a native chief
on such an occasion. We touched at Cepa, and stayed for the night
at Tamilan, the first two Mahometan villages on the south coast
of Ceram. The next day, about noon, we reached Hoya, which was as
Far as my present boat and crew were going to take me. The
anchorage is about a mile east of the village, which is faced by
coral reefs, and we had to wait for the evening tide to move up
and unload the boat into the strange rotten wooden pavilion kept
for visitors.

There was no boat here large enough to take my baggage; and
although two would have done very well, the Rajah insisted upon
sending four. The reason of this I found was, that there were
four small villages under his rule, and by sending a boat from
each he would avoid the difficult task of choosing two and
letting off the others. I was told that at the next village of
Teluti there were plenty of Alfuros, and that I could get
abundance of Tories and other birds. The Rajah declared that
black and yellow Tories and black cockatoos were found there; but
I am inclined to think he knew very well he was telling me lies,
and that it was only a scheme to satisfy me with his plan of
taking me to that village, instead of a day's journey further on,
as I desired. Here, as at most of the villages, I was asked for
spirits, the people being mere nominal Mahometans, who confine
their religion almost entirely to a disgust at pork, and a few
other forbidden articles of food. The next morning, after much
trouble, we got our cargoes loaded, and had a delightful row
across the deep bay of Teluti, with a view of the grand central
mountain-range of Ceram. Our four boats were rowed by sixty men,
with flags flying and tom-toms beating, as well as very vigorous
shouting and singing to keep up their spirits. The sea way
smooth, the morning bright, and the whole scene very
exhilarating. On landing, the Orang-kaya and several of the chief
men, in gorgeous silk jackets, were waiting to receive us, and
conducted me to a house prepared for my reception, where I
determined to stay a few days, and see if the country round
produced anything new.

My first inquiries were about the lories, but I could get very
little satisfactory information. The only kinds known were the
ring-necked lory and the common red and green lorikeet, both
common at Amboyna. Black Tories and cockatoos were quite unknown.
The Alfuros resided in the mountains five or six days' journey
away, and there were only one or two live birds to be found in
the village, and these were worthless. My hunters could get
nothing but a few common birds; and notwithstanding fine
mountains, luxuriant forests, and a locality a hundred miles
eastward, I could find no new insects, and extremely few even of
the common species of Amboyna and West Ceram. It was evidently no
use stopping at such a place, and I was determined to move on as
soon as possible.

The village of Teluti is populous, but straggling and very dirty.
Sago trees here cover the mountain side, instead of growing as
usual in low swamps; but a closer examination shows that they
grow in swampy patches, which have formed among the loose rocks
that cover the ground, and which are kept constantly full of
moisture by the rains, and by the abundance of rills which
trickle down among them. This sago forms almost the whole
subsistence of the inhabitants, who appear to cultivate nothing
but a few small patches of maize and sweet potatoes. Hence, as
before explained, the scarcity of insects. The Orang-kaya has
fine clothes, handsome lamps, and other expensive European goods,
yet lives every day on sago and fish as miserably as the rest.

After three days in this barren place I left on the morning of
March 6th, in two boats of the same size as those which had
brought me to Teluti. With some difficulty I had obtained
permission to take these boats on to Tobo, where I intended to
stay a while, and therefore got on pretty quickly, changing men
at the village of Laiemu, and arriving in a heavy rain at
Ahtiago. As there was a good deal of surf here, and likely to be
more if the wind blew hard during the night, our boats were
pulled up on the beach; and after supping at the Orang-kaya's
house, and writing down a vocabulary of the language of the
Alfuros, who live in the mountains inland, I returned to sleep in
the boat. Next morning we proceeded, changing men at Warenama,
and again at Hatometen, at both of which places there was much
surf and no harbour, so that the men had to go on shore and come
on board by swimming. Arriving in the evening of March 7th at
Batuassa, the first village belonging to the Rajah of Tobo, and
under the government of Banda, the surf was very heavy, owing to
a strong westward swell. We therefore rounded the rocky point on
which the village was situated, but found it very little better
on the other side. We were obliged, however, to go on shore here;
and waiting till the people on the beach had made preparations,
by placing a row of logs from the water's edge on which to pull
up our boats, we rowed as quickly as we could straight on to
them, after watching till the heaviest surfs had passed. The
moment we touched ground our men all jumped out, and, assisted by
those on shore, attempted to haul up the boat high and dry, but
not having sufficient hands, the surf repeatedly broke into the
stern. The steepness of the beach, however, prevented any damage
being done, and the other boat having both crews to haul at it,
was got up without difficulty.

The next morning, the water being low, the breakers were at some
distance from shore, and we had to watch for a smooth moment
after bringing the boats to the water's edge, and so got safely
out to sea. At the two next villages, Tobo and Ossong, we also
took in fresh men, who came swimming through the surf; and at the
latter place the Rajah came on board and accompanied me to
Kissalaut, where he has a house which he lent me during my stay.
Here again was a heavy surf, and it was with great difficulty we
got the boats safely hauled up. At Amboyna I had been promised at
this season a calm sea and the wind off shore, but in this case,
as in every other, I had been unable to obtain any reliable
information as to the winds and seasons of places distant two or
three days' journey. It appears, however, that owing to the
general direction of the island of Ceram (E.S.E. and W.N.W.),
there is a heavy surf and scarcely any shelter on the south coast
during the west monsoon, when alone a journey to the eastward can
be safely made; while during the east monsoon, when I proposed to
return along the north coast to Wahai, I should probably find
that equally exposed and dangerous. But although the general
direction of the west monsoon in the Banda sea causes a heavy
swell, with bad surf on the coast, yet we had little advantage of
the wind; for, owing I suppose to the numerous bays and
headlands, we had contrary south-east or even due east winds all
the way, and had to make almost the whole distance from Amboyna
by force of rowing. We had therefore all the disadvantages, and
none of the advantages, of this west monsoon, which I was told
would insure me a quick and pleasant journey.

I was delayed at Kissa-laut just four weeks, although after the
first three days I saw that it would be quite useless for me to
stay, and begged the Rajah to give me a prau and men to carry me
on to Goram. But instead of getting one close at hand, he
insisted on sending several miles off; and when after many delays
it at length arrived, it was altogether unsuitable and too small
to carry my baggage. Another was then ordered to be brought
immediately, and was promised in three days, but doable that time
elapsed and none appeared, and we were obliged at length to get
one at the adjoining village, where it might have been so much
more easily obtained at first. Then came caulking and covering
over, and quarrels between the owner and the Rajah's men, which
occupied more than another ten days, during all which time I was
getting absolutely nothing, finding this part of Ceram a perfect
desert in zoology. although a most beautiful country, and with a
very luxuriant vegetation. It was a complete puzzle, which to
this day I have not been able to understand; the only thing I
obtained worth notice during my month's stay here being a few
good land shells.

At length, on April 4th, we succeeded in getting away in our
little boat of about four tons burthen, in which my numerous
boxes were with difficulty packed so as to leave sleeping and
cooling room. The craft could not boast an ounce of iron or a
foot of rope in any part of its construction, nor a morsel of
pitch or paint in its decoration. The planks were fastened
together in the usual ingenious way with pegs and rattans. The
mast was a bamboo triangle, requiring no shrouds, and carrying a
long mat sail; two rudders were hung on the quarters by rattans,
the anchor was of wood, and a long and thick rattan; served as a
cable. Our crew consisted of four men, whose pole accommodation
was about three feet by four in the bows and stern, with the
sloping thatch roof to stretch themselves upon for a change. We
had nearly a hundred miles to go, fully exposed to the swell of
the Banda sea, which is sometimes very considerable; but we
luckily had it calm and smooth, so that we made the voyage in
comparative comfort.

On the second day we passed the eastern extremity of Ceram,
formed of a group of hummocky limestone hills; and, sailing by
the islands of Kwammer and Keffing, both thickly inhabited, came
in sight of the little town of Kilwaru, which appears to rise out
of the sea like a rustic Venice. This place has really a most
extraordinary appearance, as not a particle of land or vegetation
can be seen, but a long way out at sea a large village seems to
float upon the water. There is of course a small island of
several acres in extent; but the houses are built so closely all
round it upon piles in the water, that it is completely hidden.
It is a place of great traffic, being the emporium for much of
the produce of these Eastern seas, and is the residence of many
Bugis and Ceramese traders, and appears to have been chosen on
account of its being close to the only deep channel between the
extensive shoals of Ceram-laut and those bordering the east end
of Ceram. We now had contrary east winds, and were obliged to
pole over the shallow coral reefs of Ceram-laut for nearly thirty
miles. The only danger of our voyage was just at its termination,
for as we were rowing towards Manowolko, the largest of the Goram
group, we were carried out so rapidly by a strong westerly
current, that I was almost certain at one time we should pass
clear of the island; in which case our situation would have been
both disagreeable and dangerous, as, with the east wind which had
just set in, we might have been unable to return for many days,
and we had not a day's water on board. At the critical moment I
served out some strong spirits to my men, which put fresh vigour
into their arms, and carried us out of the influence of the
current before it was too late.

MANOWOLKO, GORAM GROUP.

On arriving at Manowolko, we found the Rajah was at the opposite
island of Goram; but he was immediately sent for, and in the
meantime a large shed was given for our accommodation. At night
the Rajah came, and the next day I had a visit from him, and
found, as I expected, that I had already made his acquaintance
three years before at Aru. He was very friendly, and we had a
long talk; but when I begged for a boat and men to take me on to
Ke, he made a host of difficulties. There were no praus, as all
had gone to Ke or Aim; and even if one were found, there were no
men, as it was the season when all were away trading. But he
promised to see about it, and I was obliged to wait. For the next
two or three days there was more talking and more difficulties
were raised, and I had time to make an examination of the island
and the people.

Manowolko is about fifteen miles long, and is a mere; upraised
coral-reef. Two or three hundred yards inland rise cliffs of
coral rock, in many parts perpendicular, and one or two hundred
feet high; and this, I was informed, is characteristic of the
whole island, in which there is no other kind of rock, and no
stream of water. A few cracks and chasms furnish paths to the top
of these cliffs, where there is an open undulating country, in
which the chief vegetable grounds of the inhabitants are
situated.

The people here--at least the chief men--were of a much purer
Malay race than the Mahometans of the mainland of Ceram, which is
perhaps due to there having been no indigenes on these small
islands when the first settlers arrived. In Ceram, the Alfuros of
Papuan race are the predominant type, the Malay physiognomy being
seldom well marked; whereas here the reverse is the case, and a
slight infusion of Papuan on a mixture of Malay and Bugis has
produced a very good-looking set of people. The lower class of
the population consist almost entirely of the indigenes of the
adjacent island. They are a fine race, with strongly-marked
Papuan features, frizzly hair, and brown complexions. The Goram
language is spoken also at the east end of Ceram, and in the
adjacent islands. It has a general resemblance to the languages
of Ceram, but possesses a peculiar element which I have not met
with in other languages of the Archipelago.

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