Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owe - Volume 1 by John MacGillivray (recommended reading txt) 📖

of cultivated ground-where among other plants we could distinguish the banana and sugar-cane-attested the fertility of the soil. The western, and at present the leeward side of the island, as viewed from our anchorage exhibits the appearance of a broken ridge on its southern half with several eminences topped by immense detached blocks of rock, partially concealed by the trees-to this, in the centre, succeeds a break occupied by a very low irregular cliff behind a bay with a sandy beach-afterwards the land rises suddenly to form a hill, 665 feet in height, with a steep face to the north-west, and a gradual slope backwards-and beyond this another hill, not so high (386 feet) but somewhat similar in form, shut out our further view in that direction. The mainland of New Guinea filled the background with a broken outline of ridges of wooded hills along the coast in front of a more distant and nearly continuous range of high mountains covered with trees up to their very summits.

NATIVES AND CATAMARANS.

Next morning we were visited by a party of natives from the neighbouring island, consisting of six men in a canoe, and one on a catamaran or raft. They were perfectly unarmed and came boldly alongside with a quantity of yams and coconuts for barter; when their stock was exhausted, they returned for more, and, accompanied by others, repeated the visit several times during the day. Although there was no obvious difference between these natives and those of the southern portion of the Louisiade, yet the catamaran was quite new to us, and the canoe differed considerably from any which we had seen before.

CATAMARANS AND CANOES.

The first catamaran was only nine feet long-it consisted of three thick planks lashed together, forming a sort of raft, which one man sitting a little behind the middle, with his legs doubled under him, managed very dexterously with his paddle. We afterwards saw others of a larger size, some of them capable of carrying a dozen people with their effects. One of this description is made of three logs-rarely two or four-laid side by side, and firmly secured to each other with strips of rattan at each end, and in two or three other places. The upper surface is smoothed down flat, and the central piece projects a little way at each end which usually shows some rude carving touched up with red and white paint. As the sea washes over a catamaran during rough weather, on such an occasion a small temporary stage is sometimes erected in the centre, and on this the cargo is secured with strips of cane.

The canoe of this part of New Guinea is usually about twenty-five feet in length, and carries seven or eight people. It is made of the trunk of a tree, hollowed out like a long trough, roundly pointed at each end, a foot and a half in extreme width, with the sides bulging out below and falling in at top, leaving only eight inches between the gunwales which are strengthened by a pole running along from end to end. The ends-which are alike-are carved like those of the catamaran in imitation of the head of a turtle or snake, but more elaborately. The outrigger consists of a float as long as the canoe, attached by small sticks or pegs let into the wood to eight or nine notches in both gunwales, and are secured there. A portion, or the whole of this framework, is carefully covered over with planks or long sticks, and occasionally a small stage is formed on the opposite side, over the centre of the canoe, projecting a little outwardly, with room upon it for two people to sit and paddle. The canoes of this description which we saw were not provided with any other sail than a small temporary one, made by interlacing the leaflets of the cocoa-palm, and stuck up on poles when going with the wind free. The paddles used here are similar in shape to those seen in the Louisiade Archipelago, with spear-shaped blades and slender handles, but are larger-measuring six feet in length-and of neater construction, the end of the handle being carved into some fanciful device.

BRUMER ISLANDERS.

About sunset, and when about to leave us, one of the Brumer Islanders, standing on a large catamaran alongside, put himself into a grotesque attitude, and commenced beating with his hand upon a large tin can which someone had given him, at the same time going through some of the motions of a dance. He seemed to be a most amusing vagabond, for, upon our drummer being set to work in the chains, after joining with the other natives in the first exclamations of surprise, he listened attentively for a little, and then struck up on his own extempore drum, keeping very good time and causing roars of laughter by his strange grimaces and antics. The effect of this pantomime was heightened by the style of painting adopted by the actor whose face had been blackened with charcoal, variegated by a white streak along the eyebrows turned down at the ends, and another along the cheeks passing round the chin.

NATIVES ON BOARD.

August 18th.

The boisterous state of the weather did not prevent the natives from repeatedly coming off to us with various articles of barter; and we were even visited by a party of seven men from Tissot Island, who paddled up on a catamaran five or six miles to windward against a strong breeze and current. After some little persuasion, several of them were induced to come on board and were shown round the ship, presented with various articles, and dressed out with scraps of clothing of every description. At first they showed symptoms of uneasiness, and made frequent protestations of friendship, as if the circumstance of our repeating them gave increased confidence. Their mode of salutation or expression of friendship consists in first touching the nose with the forefinger and thumb of one hand, and then pinching the skin on each side of the navel with the other, calling out at the same time, magasuga! This habit resembles on one hand that of rubbing noses, so general in Polynesia-and on the other, the custom of pinching the navel and repeating the name for that part, practised by the islanders of Torres Strait. At length our visitors withdrew, well pleased with their reception, during which their common exclamation indicative of surprise and delight, an ao long drawn out, was in constant requisition.

August 19th.

A quantity of cooked yams in baskets and large earthen pots was brought off today by a party of natives, as if in acknowledgment of our civility to those whom we had invited on board yesterday. Nothing was asked for in return-a very unusual circumstance-and that it was intended as a present was further shown by their leaving a proportionate share on board the Bramble, and immediately pushing off for the Rattlesnake with the remainder, explaining that it was intended for us and could not be sold.

The weather being now favourable for communication with the shore, the two cutters were manned and armed for this purpose, and sent away in charge of Lieutenant Simpson, and, as usual, I was one of the volunteers who joined the party. Two of the natives gladly went in one of the boats-the same two who had previously invited us onshore, as if to return our hospitality and point out the fresh water about which we had made repeated inquiries, our stock of that all-essential article being now much reduced, and the ship's company on an allowance of six pints each per diem.

LAND ON THE LARGE BRUMER ISLAND.

We landed at a little bay near the centre of the western side of the nearest and largest of the Brumer group. Although perfectly sheltered from the wind, a heavy swell broke upon the margin of a fringing coral reef running out fifty or sixty yards from the sandy beach and stretching across the bay. The boats were backed in from their anchors, and, after seven of us had got onshore by watching an opportunity to jump out up to the middle in water, and cross the reef, hauled out again to await our return.

Some women on the beach retired as we were about to land, but a number of boys and a few men received us, and after a preliminary halt to see that our guns were put to rights after the ducking, we all started together by a narrow path winding up a rugged wall of basaltic rock, fifty feet in height. From the summit a steep declivity of a couple of hundred yards brought us to the village of Tassai, shaded by coconut-trees, and beautifully situated on a level space close to the beach on the windward side of the island, here not more than a quarter of a mile in width. No canoes were seen here, and a heavy surf broke on the outer margin of a fringing reef.

FRIENDLY RECEPTION.

On the outskirts of the village we met the women and remainder of the people, and were received without any signs of apprehension. One of our friends immediately got hold of a drum*-a hollow cylinder of palm-wood two feet and a half in length, and four inches in diameter, one end covered over with the skin of a large lizard-and commenced beating upon it very vigorously with the palm of the hand, singing and dancing at the same time, as if in honour of our arrival.

(*Footnote. Represented in the uppermost figure.)

VILLAGE OF TASSAI.

Each of us joined in the merriment as he came up, and in a short time the whole of Tassai was in an uproar. Among the natives everyone seemed pleased, bustling about, watching our motions, examining our dress, and laughing and shouting immoderately as each new object was presented to his view. Meanwhile I wandered about the village, accompanied by some women and children, picking up at the same time materials for my vocabulary. One old dame brought me a coconut shell full of water which I returned after drinking some, but she pressed me in a very motherly way to put it into my bag, having doubtless imagined from our inquiries after water, that even a little constituted a valuable present. We had seen neither stream nor well upon the island, and besides, it is probable that the great abundance of coconuts enables them to subsist with very little water. We distributed among them some iron-hoop, knives, fish-hooks, and calico, to which I added a quantity of useful seeds,* which last were eagerly sought after when their use had been explained and understood.

(*Footnote. Part of a large supply procured at Hobart Town by Captain Stanley from the Government garden there. They were placed under my charge, and were sown wherever circumstances appeared favourable for their growth, chiefly on uninhabited islands, there seldom having been an opportunity of distributing them among the natives of the shores we visited.)

PATTERNS OF TATOOING.

The women showed an unusual amount of curiosity, and were much pleased at the notice taken of them, for, on examining the curious tattooing of one, others immediately pressed forwards to show me theirs, directing particular attention to the difference of patterns. This practice of tattooing the body-or marking it with colouring matter introduced into the skin by means of punctures or incisions-is rarely exhibited by the men, and in them is usually confined to a few blue lines or stars upon the right breast; in some instances, however, the markings consisted of a double series of large stars and dots stretching from the shoulder toward the pit of the stomach. Among the women the tattooing extends over the face, fore part of the