Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 3. The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century

Notwithstanding the excessive heat of the climate, the thermometer rising in the open air to 45°, and in the shade to 33°, and even to 35°, the commander and his officers carried on with unremitting zeal the observations and surveys which it was the object of the Expedition to make. A few fell victims to their own imprudence, for in defiance of the earnest warnings of Freycinet, some of the young officers and the seamen chose to sally forth in the middle of the day, and with the view of fortifying themselves against the injurious effects of their dangerous freak, drank and ate plentifully of cold water and sour fruits. The result was that in a short time five of the most imprudent were confined to their hammocks with dysentery. This necessitated a departure from Timor; so the Uranie weighed anchor and set sail on the 23rd October.

At first the corvette sailed rapidly along the north coast of Timor, for the purpose of making a survey, but when she had reached the narrowest part of the Channel of Ombay, she encountered such violent currents that – the winds being slight and contrary – it was only with great difficulty she was able to regain the course which she had lost during the calm. No less than nineteen days were wasted in this trying situation; though certain of the officers took advantage of the delay to land on the nearest point of the island of Ombay, where the coast had a very inviting appearance. They went on shore near a village called Bitouka, and advanced to meet a body of the natives, armed with shields and cuirasses made of buffalo-skin, and carrying bows, arrows, and daggers. Savages though they were, they had quite the air of warriors, and were not at all afraid of fire-arms; on the contrary, they argued that the loading of the gun caused loss of time, for while that operation was going on, they could fire off a great number of arrows.

Gaimard writes, "The points of the arrows were of hard wood, or of bone, and some of iron. The arrows themselves, displayed fan-wise, were fastened on the left side of the warrior to the belt of his sword or dagger. Most of these people wore bundles of palm-leaves, slit so as to allow red or black coloured strips of the same to be passed through to hold them together, which were attached to the belt or the right thigh. The rustling sound produced with every movement of the wearers of this singular ornament, increased by knocking against the cuirass or the buckler, with the addition of the tinkling of little bells, which also formed part of the warrior's equipment, altogether made such a jumble of discordant sounds that we could not refrain from laughing. Far from taking offence, our Ombayan friends joined heartily in our merriment. M. Arago¹¹ greatly excited their astonishment by performing some sleight-of-hand tricks. We then took our way straight to the village of Bitouka, which was situated on a rising ground. In passing one of their cottages we happened to see about a score of human jawbones suspended from the roof, and anxious to get possession of one or two, I offered the most valuable articles I had about me in exchange. The answer was, 'palami,' they are sacred. We ascertained afterwards that these were the jawbones of their enemies, preserved as trophies of victory."

This excursion derived greater interest from the circumstance of the island of Ombay having been up to that time rarely visited by Europeans; and the few vessels that had effected any landing brought mournful accounts of the warlike and ferocious temper of the natives, and even in some instances of their cannibal propensities. Thus in 1802 the merchant-ship Rose had her small boat carried off, and the crew were detained as prisoners by the savages. Ten years later, the captain of the ship Inacho, who landed by himself, received several arrow wounds. Again, in 1817, an English frigate sent the cutter ashore for the purpose of getting wood, when a scrimmage took place between the crew and the natives, which ended in the former being killed and eaten. The day after, an armed sloop was despatched in quest of the missing crew; but nothing was found save some fragments of the cutter and the bloody remains of the unfortunate men.

In view of these facts the French travellers must be congratulated on having escaped being entrapped by the savage cannibals, which would undoubtedly have been attempted had the Uranie stayed long enough at Ombay.

On the 17th of November the anchor was let go at Dili.

After the customary interchange of compliments with the Portuguese governor, Freycinet made known the requirements of the expedition, and received a friendly assurance that the necessary provisions should be instantly forthcoming. The reception given to all the members of the expedition was both hearty and liberal, and when Freycinet took his leave, the governor, wishing that he should carry away some souvenir of his visit, presented him with two boys and two girls, of the ages of six and seven, natives of Failacor, a kingdom in the interior of Timor. To insure the acceptance of this present, the governor, D. José Pinto Alcofarado d'Azevado e Souza, stated that the race to which the children belonged was quite unknown in Europe. In spite of all the strong and conclusive reasons that Freycinet gave to explain why he felt compelled to decline the present, he was obliged to take charge of one of the little boys, who subsequently received the name of Joseph Antonio in baptism, but when sixteen years old died of some scrofulous disease at Paris.

On a first examination it would appear that the population of Timor belonged altogether to the Asiatic race; but so far as any reliance can be placed upon somewhat extended researches, there is reason to think that in the unfrequented mountains in the centre of the island there exists a race of negroes with woolly hair, and savage manners, of the type of the indigenous races of New Guinea and New Ireland, whom one is led to consider the primitive population. This line of research, commenced at the close of the eighteenth century by an Englishman of the name of Crawford, has been in our time carried forward with striking results by the labours of the learned Doctors Broca and E. Hamy, to the latter of whom the reading public are indebted for the pleasing and instructive papers on primitive populations which have appeared in Nature and in the journals of the Royal Geographical Society.

After leaving Timor the Uranie proceeded towards the Strait of Bourou, and in passing between the islands of Wetter and Roma got sight of the picturesque island of Gasses, clothed in the brightest and thickest verdure imaginable. The corvette was then drifted by currents almost as far as the island of Pisang, near which she fell in with three dhows, manned by natives of the island of Gueby. These people have an olive complexion, broad flat noses, and thick lips; some are strong, looking robust and athletic, others are slender and weakly in appearance; and others, again, thickset and repulsive-looking. The only clothing worn by the majority at this time was a pair of drawers fastened with a handkerchief round the waist.

A landing was effected on the little island of Pisang. It was found to be of volcanic origin, and the soil, formed from the decomposition of trachytic lava, was evidently very fertile. From Pisang the corvette made her way among islands, till then scarcely known, to Rawak, where she cast anchor at noon on the 16th of December. This island, though small, is inhabited; but though our navigators were often visited by the natives of Waigiou, opportunities for studying this species of the human family have been rare. Moreover, it ought to be mentioned that through ignorance of the language of the indigenous tribes, and the difficulty of making them understand through the medium of Malayan, of which they know only a few words, even those few opportunities have not been turned to much account. As soon as a suitable position was found, the instruments were set up, and the usual physical and astronomical observations were made in conjunction with geographical researches

The islands which Freycinet calls the islands of the Papuans are Rawak, Boni, Waigiou, and Manouran, which are situated almost immediately below the equator. The largest of these, Waigiou, is not less than seventy-two miles from one side to the other; the low shorage consists mainly of swamp and morass, while the banks, which run up steeply, are surrounded by coral reefs, and are full of small caves hollowed out by the waves. All the islets are clothed with vegetation of surprising beauty. They abound with magnificent trees, amongst which the "Barringtonia" may be recognized, with its voluminous trunk always leaning towards the sea, allowing the tips of the branches to touch the water; the "scoevola lobelia," fig-trees, mangroves, the casuarinæ, with their straight and slender stems shooting up to the height of forty feet, the rima, the takanahaka, with its trunk more than twenty feet in circumference; the cynometer, belonging to the family of leguminous plants, bright from its topmost to its lowest branches with pale red flowers and golden fruits; and besides these rarer trees, palms, nutmeg-trees, roseapple-trees, banana-trees, flourish in the low and moist ground.

The fauna, however, has not attained to the same exceptionally fine development as the flora. At Rawak the phalanger and the sheepdog in a wild state were the only quadrupeds met with. In Waigiou, the boar called barberossa, and a diminutive of the same race were found. But as to the feathered tribe, they were not so numerous as one might have supposed; the plants yielding grain necessary for the sustenance of birds not being able to thrive in the dense shade of the forests. Hornbills are here met with, whose wings, furnished with long feathers separated at the tips, make a very loud noise when they fly; great quantities of parrots, kingfishers, turtle-doves, piping-crows, brown hawks, crested pigeons, and possibly also birds of paradise, though the travellers did not see any specimens.

The Papuans themselves are positively repulsively ugly. To quote the words of Odet-Pellion, "a flat skull, a facial angle of 75°, a large mouth, eyes small and sunken, a thick nose, flat at the end and pressed down on the upper lip, a scanty beard, a peculiarity of the people of those regions already noticed, shoulders of a moderate size, a prominent belly, and slight lower limbs; these are the chief characteristics of the Papuans. Their hair both in its nature and mode of arrangement varies a good deal. Most commonly it is dressed with great pains into a matted structure not less than eight inches in height; composed of a mass of soft downy hair curling naturally; or it is frizzed up, till it positively bristles, and with the assistance of a coating of grease, is plastered round the skull in the shape of a globe. A long wooden comb of six or seven teeth is also often stuck in, not so much to aid in keeping the mass together as to give a finishing touch of ornament."

These unfortunate people are afflicted with the terrible scourge of leprosy, which is so prevalent that at least a tenth part of the population are infested with the disease. The cause of this dreadful malady must be sought in the insalubrity of the climate, the miasma from the marshes, which are overflowed with sea-water every flood tide, the neighbourhood of the burial-places, which are badly kept, and perhaps also to the consumption of shell-fish which these natives devour greedily.

All the houses, whether inland or on the coast, are built on piles. Many of these dwellings are erected in places extremely difficult of access. They are made by thrusting stakes into the earth, to which transverse beams are fastened with ropes made of fibre, and on these a flooring is laid of palm-leaves, trimmed and strongly intertwined one with another. These leaves, made to lap over in an artistic fashion, are also used for the roof of the house, which has only one door. Should the dwellings be built over the water, communication is carried on between them and the shore by means of a kind of bridge resting upon trestles, the movable flooring of which can be quickly taken up. Every house is also surrounded by a kind of balcony furnished with a balustrade.

The travellers could not obtain any information as to the friendly disposition of these natives. Whether the whole tribe consists of large communities united under one chief or several, whether each community obeys only its own proper head, whether the population is numerous or not, are all points which could not be ascertained. The name by which they call themselves is Alfourous. They appeared to talk in several distinct dialects, which differ remarkably from Papuan or Malay.

The inhabitants of this group seem to be a very industrious race. They manufacture all sorts of fishing apparatus very cleverly; they are expert in finding their way through the forests; they know how to prepare the pith of the sago-plant, and to make ovens for the cooking of the sago; they can turn pottery ware, weave mats, carpets, baskets, and can also carve idols and figures. In the harbour of Boni on the coast of Waigiou, MM. Quoy and Gaimard noticed a statue moulded in white clay, under a sort of canopy close to a tomb. It represented a man standing upright, of the natural height, with his hands raised towards heaven. The head was of wood, with the cheeks and eyes inlaid with small pieces of white shell.

On the 6th of January, 1819, having taken in supplies at Rawak, the Uranie proceeded on her voyage, and soon came in sight of the Ayou islands, mere sand-banks surrounded by breakers, of which few geographical details had been known up to that time. There was much to be done in the way of accurate survey, but unfortunately the hydrographers were sorely hindered in their work by the fever which they and some forty of the crew had contracted at Rawak. Sailing on, the Anchoret Islands came in sight on the 12th of February, and on the day following the Amirantes, but the Uranie did not attempt to make for the land. Shortly after passing the Amirantes, the corvette sighted St. Bartholomew, which the inhabitants call Poulousouk. It belongs to the Caroline archipelago. A busy trade, always attended with much uproar, was soon set on foot with the indigenous people, who resisted all persuasion to come on board, conducting all their transactions, nevertheless, with admirable good faith, in no instance showing any dishonest tendencies. One after another Poulouhat, Alet, Tamatam, Allap, Tanadik, all islands belonging to this archipelago, passed before the admiring gaze of the French navigators. At length, on the 17th of March, 1819, just eighteen months from the time of quitting France, Freycinet got sight of the Marianne Islands, and cast anchor in the roads of Umata on the coast of Guam. Just as the officers of the expedition were ready to go on shore, the governor of the island, D. Medinilla y Pineda, accompanied by his lieutenant, Major D. Luis de Torrès, came on board to bid them welcome. These gentlemen showed a polite anxiety to learn what the explorers stood in need of, and engaged that all their wants should be supplied with the least possible delay.

No time was lost in looking for a place suited for conversion into a temporary hospital, and one being found, the sick on board, to the number of twenty, were removed to it for treatment the very next day.

A dinner to the staff of the expedition was given by the governor, and all the officers assembled in his house at the appointed hour. They found a table covered with light cakes and fruits, in the midst of which were two bowls of hot punch. Some surprise escaped the guests, in private remarks to one another, at this singular kind of banquet. Could it be a fast-day? Why did no one sit down? But as there was no interpreter to clear up these points, and as it would have been unbecoming to ask for an explanation, they kept their difficulties for solution among themselves, and paid attention to the good things before them. Soon a fresh surprise came; the table was cleared and covered with various sorts of prepared dishes – in short, a substantial and sumptuous dinner was served. The collation which had been taken at the commencement, called in the language of the country "Refresco," had been intended only to whet the appetites of the guests for what was to follow.

After this, luxurious dinners became quite the rage at Guam. Two days subsequent to the governor's banquet, the officers found themselves at a dinner-party of fifty guests, where no less than forty-four separate dishes were served at each of the three courses of which the dinner consisted. Freycinet, from information he had received, relates that "this dinner cost the lives of two oxen and three fat pigs, to say nothing of poultry, game, and fish. Such a slaughter, I should think, has not been known since the marriage-feast of Gamache. No doubt our host considered that persons who had undergone so many privations during a protracted voyage ought to be compensated with an unusually profuse entertainment. The dessert showed no falling off either in abundance or in variety; it was succeeded by tea, coffee, creams, liqueurs of every description; and as the 'Refresco' had been served as usual an hour previous to dinner, it will be admitted without question that at Guam the most intrepid gourmand could find no other cause for disappointment but the limited capacity of the human stomach."

However, the objects of the mission were not interfered with by all this dining and festivity. Natural history excursions, magnetical observations, the geographical survey of the island of Guam, entrusted to Duperrey, were all being pushed forward simultaneously. But in the meantime the corvette had got to moorings in the deep water off the port of St. Louis, while the chief of the Staff, as well as the sick, were housed at Agagna, the capital of the island and the seat of government. At that place, in honour of the French visitors, cock-fights took place, a kind of sport very popular in all the Spanish possessions in Oceania; dances also were given, the figures in which, it was said, contained allusions to events in the history of Mexico. The dancers, students of the Agagna college, were dressed in rich silks, imported a long time previously by the Jesuits from New Spain. Then came combats with sticks in which the Carolins took part; which again were succeeded, almost uninterruptedly by other amusements. But what Freycinet considered of most value was the mass of information concerning the customs and manners of the former inhabitants of the islands, which he obtained through Major D. Luis Torrès; who, himself born in the country, had made a constant study of this subject. Of this interesting information use will be made when the subject is presently resumed, but first some notice must be taken of an excursion to the islands Rota and Tinian, the latter of which had already become known to us through the narratives of former travellers.

On the 22nd April a small fleet of eight proas conveyed MM. Berard, Gaudichaud, and Jacques Arago to Rota, where their arrival occasioned great surprise and alarm, explained by the fact that a report had gained currency in the island that the corvette was manned with rebels from America.

Beyond Rota the proas reached Tinian, where the arid plains recalled to the travellers the desolate coasts of the land of Endracht, testifying to the considerable changes that must have taken place there since the time when Lord Anson described the place as a terrestrial Paradise.

The Marianne archipelago was discovered by Magellan on the 6th March, 1521, and at first received the name of Islas de las velas latinas, the Isles of the lateen sails, but subsequently that of the Ladrones, or the Robbers. If one may trust Pigafetta, the illustrious admiral saw no islands but Tinian, Saypan, and Agoignan. Five years later they were visited by the Spaniard Loyasa, whose cordial reception was quite a contrast to that of Magellan; and in 1565 the islands were declared to be Spanish territory by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. It was not, however, until 1669 that they were colonized and evangelized by Father Sanvitores. It will be understood that we should not follow Freycinet's narrative of past events in the history of this archipelago, were it not that the manuscripts and works of every kind which he was permitted to consult enabled him to treat the subject de novo, and throw upon it the light of real knowledge.

The admiration, still lingering in the minds of the travellers, which had been aroused by the incredible fertility of the Papuan Islands and the Moluccas was no doubt calculated to weaken the impression produced by any of the Marianne Islands. The forests of Guam, though well stocked, did not present the gigantic appearance common to forest scenery in the tropics. They extended over a large part of the island, yet there were also immense spaces devoted to pasturage, where not a breadfruit-tree nor a cocoa-nut palm was to be seen. In the depths of the forests, moreover, the conquerors of the islands had created artificial glades, in order that the herds of horned cattle which they had introduced might find food and also enjoy shelter from the sun.

Agoignan, an island with a very rocky coast, presented from a distance an arid and barren appearance, but is in reality thickly clothed with trees even to the summit of its highest mountains.

Rota is a regular jungle, an almost impenetrable mass of brushwood, above which rise thickets of rimas, tamarind, fig, and palm trees. Tinian, too, presents anything but an agreeable appearance. The French explorers altogether missed the charming scenes described in such glowing colours by their predecessors, but the appearance of the soil, and the immense number of dead trees, led them to the conclusion that old accounts were not altogether exaggerated, especially as the southern portion of the island is now rendered quite inaccessible by its dense forests.

At the time of Freycinet's visit the population of these islands was of a very mixed character, the aborigines being quite in the minority. The more highly born of the natives were formerly bigger, stronger, and better made than Europeans, but the race is degenerating, and the primitive type in its purity is now only to be met with in Rota.

Capital swimmers and divers, able to walk immense distances without fatigue, every man of them had to prove his proficiency in these exercises on his marriage; but although this proficiency has been in some measure kept up, the leading characteristic of the people of the Marianne group is idleness, or perhaps to be more strictly accurate, indifference.

Marriages are contracted at a very early age, the bridegroom being generally between fifteen and eighteen, the bride between twelve and fifteen. A numerous progeny is the result of these unions; instances being on record of twenty-two children born of one mother.

Not only do the people of Guam suffer from many diseases, such as lung complaints, smallpox, &c., introduced by Europeans; but also from some which seem to be endemic, or in any case to have assumed a type peculiar to the place and altogether abnormal. Such are elephantiasis and leprosy, three varieties of which are met with at Guam, differing from each other alike in their symptoms and their effects.

Before the conquest, the people of the Mariannes lived on the fruit of the rima or bread-tree, rice, sago, and other farinaceous plants. Their mode of cooking these articles was extremely simple, though not so much so as their style of dress, for they went about in a state of nature, unrelieved even by the traditional fig-leaf.

At the present time children still wear no clothing till they are about ten years old. Alluding to this peculiar custom, Captain Pages, writing at the close of last century, says, "I found myself near a house, in front of which an Indian girl, about eleven years old, was squatted on her heels in the full blaze of the sun, without a vestige of clothing on. Her chemise lay folded on the ground in front of her. When she saw me approaching, she got up quickly and put it on again. Although still far from decently clothed, for only her shoulders were covered by it, she now considered herself properly dressed, and stood before me quite unembarrassed."

Judging from the remains nearly everywhere to be met with, such as the ruins of dwellings originally supported by masonry pillars, it is plain that the population was formerly considerable. The earliest traveller who has made any reference to this subject is Lord Anson. He has given a somewhat fanciful description, which, however, the explorers in the Uranie were able to corroborate, as will be seen from the following extract.

"The description found in the narrative of Lord Anson's voyage is correct; but the ruins and the branches of the trees that have in some way twined themselves about the masonry pillars, wear now a very different aspect from what they did in his time. The sharp edges of the pillars have got rubbed away, and the half-globes that surmounted them have no longer their former roundness."

Of the structures of more recent date only a sixth part are of stone. At Agagna may be counted several buildings possessing some interest on account of their size, if not on that of their elegance, grandeur, or the fineness of their proportions. These are the College of St. John Lateran, the church, the clergy-house, the governor's palace, and the taverns.

Before the Spaniards established their sway in these islands, the natives were divided into three classes, the nobility, the inferior nobility, and the commonalty. These last, the Pariahs of the country, Freycinet remarks, though without citing his authority, were of a more diminutive stature than the other inhabitants. This difference of height is, however, scarcely a sufficient reason for pronouncing them to be of a different race from the other two classes; is it not more reasonable to conclude it to be the result of the degrading servitude to which they have been subjected? These plebeians could under no circumstances raise themselves to a higher class; and a seafaring life was forbidden to them. Each of the three castes had its own sorceresses and priestesses, or medicine-women, who each devoted her attention to the treatment of some one disorder; only no reason, however, for crediting them with any special skill in its cure.

The business of canoe-building was monopolized by the nobles; who, however, allowed the inferior nobles to assist in their construction. The making of canoes was to them a work of the utmost importance, and the nobles maintained it as one of their most valuable privileges. The language spoken in the Philippine group, though it has some affinity with the Malay and Tagala dialects, has all the same a distinctive character of its own. Freycinet's narrative also contains much information on the extremely singular customs of the former population of the Mariannes, which are beyond our province, though well worthy of the attention of the philosopher and historian.

The Uranie had been now more than two months at anchor. It was full time to resume the work of exploration. Freycinet and his staff, therefore, devoted the few remaining days of their stay to the task of paying farewell visits and expressing their gratitude for the hearty kindness which had been so profusely shown to them. The governor, however, not only declined to admit his claim to thanks from the French travellers for the hospitable attentions heaped upon them for upwards of two months; but also refused to accept any payment for the supplies which had been furnished for the refitting of the corvette. He even went so far as to write a letter of apology for the scantiness of the provisions, the result of the drought which had desolated Guam for the previous six months, and which had prevented him from doing things as he could have wished. The final farewell took place off Agagna. "It was impossible," says Freycinet, "to take leave of the amiable man, who had loaded us with so many proofs of his friendly disposition, without being deeply affected. I was too much moved to be able to find expression for the feelings with which my heart was filled; but the tears which filled my eyes must have been to him a surer evidence than any words could have been of my gratitude and my regret."

From the 5th to the 16th June the Uranie occupied in an exploring cruise round the north of the Marianne Islands, in the course of which were made the observations of which the substance has been given above. The commander, wishing to make a quick passage to the Sandwich Islands, then took advantage of a breeze to gain a higher latitude, where he hoped to meet with favourable winds. But as the explorers penetrated further and further into this part of the Pacific Ocean, cold and dense fogs wrapped them round, permeating the whole vessel with damp, equally unpleasant and injurious to health. However, the crew suffered no worse inconvenience than slight colds; in fact, the change had rather a bracing effect than otherwise on men now for some time accustomed to the enervating heat of the tropics.

On the 6th August the south point of Hawaï was doubled, and Freycinet made for the western side of the island, where he hoped to find a safe and convenient anchorage. A dead calm prevailing, the first and second days were spent in opening relations with the natives. The women came off in crowds immediately on the arrival of the ship, with the view of carrying on their usual trade, but the commander laid an interdict on their coming on board.

The first piece of news given to the captain by one of the Areois¹² was that King Kamahamaha was dead, and that his young son Rio Rio had succeeded him. Taking advantage of a change of wind the Uranie sailed on to the Bay of Karakakoa, and Freycinet was about to send an officer in advance to take soundings, when a canoe put off from the shore, having on board the governor of the island, Prince Kouakini, otherwise John Adams,¹³ who promised the captain that he would find boats suitable for the taking of the necessary supplies to the corvette. This young man, about nine and twenty years of age, almost a giant in stature, but well proportioned, surprised Freycinet by the extent of his information. On being informed that the corvette was on a voyage of discovery, he inquired, "Have you doubled Cape Horn or did you come round the Cape of Good Hope?" He then asked for the latest information about Napoleon, and wished to know whether it was true that the island of St. Helena had been swallowed up with all its inhabitants! A story he had evidently heard from some facetious whalemen, but had not entirely believed.