CHAPTER XXI.
Country about Pedir—“White Lions”—The rajah’s habits—A decision—Ornaments for the ear—Female curiosity—The rajah’s horses—War between the rajah of Acheen and the rajah of Trumong—A native’s account of the quarrel—Purchase of betel-nut—The Areka-nut—Trade in that article—Anecdote—A Chittagong brig—Dried fish—Beautiful appearance of the Golden Mountain—Assemblage of the mountains—Tornados—The fire king and his demons—Yamora—Burial-ground—Large tree—Small crabs—Game called Mein Achu—Leprosy—Party of natives—The Viverra musanga—Applications for medicine—Rajah of Putu—His retinue—Object of his visit.
The country about Pedir, as far as I had an opportunity of seeing it, was very picturesque, abounding in a luxuriant, natural vegetation, as well as in a state of cultivation. The native habitations are almost hidden by cocoa-nut, plantain, areka, eju, jack, and other trees; fragrant odours were exhaled from the multitude of flowers which strewed the surface of the ground; and a variety of profuse vegetation was spread over the face of nature. The soil is rich, and the numerous vegetables (among which the purple and white yams are abundant) planted in the gardens of the natives, are most prolific.[152] The habitations, as I have before noticed, are raised upon posts, which I should suppose, in these marshy situations, are intended to guard against the miasmata which must rise from the surface of the ground after the rains, and to the influence of which the inhabitants would be much exposed, if their dwellings were not placed on an elevated site. The plain is beautiful, and the back-ground of the landscape is terminated by mountains, varying in elevation, and extending in a direction principally from east to west;[153] sometimes covered by fleecy clouds, and at others, glowing in the varying and beautiful tints of a setting sun, which cast its expiring rays, undimmed by a cloud, over the towering masses.
After walking in the vicinity of the village,—for our guides evinced no desire of taking us further inland,—we were desired to enter a house to rest ourselves: by an invitation to enter, is only meant being seated in the verandah; for we did not, or rather were not permitted to, intrude ourselves into any other parts of the dwelling. At this place cocoa-nut water was again offered as a refreshment. We requested to be taken further in the interior of the country; but, although a refusal was never given, yet we found we were invariably taken, by other paths, back to the place from whence we came. We became at last, from this and other circumstances, convinced that our Moor friends were fearful of exposing themselves to the krisses of the “Hill people,” from whom they appear to have conquered some portion of the country, establishing themselves as traders.
We returned after a short ramble, and were conducted into the bazaar, and seated with a semicircle of the natives before us, all staring quietly and decorously at the “white lions.” From this place we adjourned to the fort, near the rajah’s residence, where we waited for the appearance of his highness, who had not yet risen from his couch. The old minister gave us some account of the rajah’s habits; one of which was, that he lies in bed until three P.M., except when there is any particular business, such as the arrival of a ship, to induce him to rise earlier; and he does not retire to rest until three A.M., after smoking a pipe of opium. The old gentleman must have been guilty of an exaggeration, when he stated that the rajah would smoke a ball of opium in four days. His highness is only eighteen years of age, and has not at present the appearance of an opium smoker: it must have been the quantity consumed by the rajah and his numerous followers that was meant, the whole of which was placed to the rajah’s account. Pipes of opium were offered to us to regale ourselves, but of course were refused.[154]
After some delay, the rajah came to visit us, having just risen from his couch, unwashed, and attired in unclean garments. He shook hands, in the European manner, with the party; and then, having but little to say, from want of some other employment, he amused himself with my insect boxes, and the insects placed in them transfixed by pins: this led to an explanation of my professional pursuits, and its collateral branches; but as the subject was rather beyond his comprehension, he became attracted from it to a cloth cap worn by one of the party, about which there was much discussion, the result of which was, that the rajah and his followers came to the important decision, that it would make a very good pocket or case for containing betel-nut, and the accompanying articles required to be used with it. Being heartily tired, we were happy to escape from the royal presence; and the boat being ready, we returned on board.
All the women had the lobes of the ears enormously distended, from wearing, when very young, round pieces of wood, polished and ornamented, or rolls of leaves in them: the richer classes wear large ornaments of gold and silver: the old women have the lobes hanging down to a great length, but without ornament; that they formerly had placed them in the lobes was evident by the distended orifices, which, having lost their elasticity, prevented their retention as before. The poorer classes are content with neatly polished and ornamented round pieces of wood, or a roll of the plantain or some other kind of leaf, as a substitute for those of gold and silver worn by the higher and richer classes. The lower class of females were usually attired in cotton cloth sarongs, and the cabaya, passing over the head, of a black colour, or other dark patterns. As we passed their dwellings, they came forth, with the usual feminine curiosity, to view the strangers: indeed, we appeared to be as much objects of curiosity among them, as I had before been when landing upon many of the unfrequented islands of the Polynesian Archipelago; and the natives, that arrived in the boats with Areka-nut, from the villages on the coast, seemed to regard us as wonders, and surrounded the entrance of the poop-cuddy at meal-times, as if to satisfy themselves how such animals fed.
We had an offer of some of the rajah’s horses to ride about the village: at first it was thought that some dun cows, with horns cut off close to the head, and a preternatural erection of the ears, were the animals offered; but it appears they were real ponies: if we had ridden them, however, it must have been without any saddle or bridle, for there were no articles of that description to be procured at Pedir.
The barque at present at anchor in Pedir roads, under the Acheenese flag, was captured from the rajah of Trumong, on the west coast of Sumatra, by the man-of-war grab belonging to the rajah of Acheen: the cause of it was this:—the Trumong rajah is tributary to the king, or rajah, of Acheen: he had not paid tribute for three years; and on its being demanded, the Trumong rajah returned for answer, that he intended paying it with iron balls; war was therefore declared against this rebellious rajah, and the barque was captured by the following stratagem: the commander of his Acheenese majesty’s grab fell in with the barque at sea, assured her commander that all differences had been adjusted between the two rajahs, and requested him to come on board. The captain of the barque unsuspectingly accepted the invitation, taking presents with him. On stepping upon the deck of the grab, himself, crew, and presents were detained, and a boat, with a number of men well armed, sent on board the barque; and having secured the guns, hauled down the Trumong rajah’s colours, and hoisted those of his Acheenese majesty, the vessels will sail, in company, for Acheen in a few days.
A Madras native, who spoke a little English, amused us with his version of the affair. “I belong, and barque belong, to the rajah of Trumong. Acheen rajah and my rajah make war; Trumong rajah plenty dollars, and go buy ships at Pulo Penang, to fight rajah Acheen. Acheen rajah very poor, one day buy ship, in a month want sell, because very poor—Acheen rajah no good, no pay Lascars—Trumong rajah, my king, pay well, plenty dollars. My barque got seven guns and twelve Lascar men. The grab send a boat and ask ‘whose barque this?’ My captain say, ‘rajah Trumong’s;’ then grab’s men take prisoners, and say, ‘barque belong now to Acheen rajah;’ so he pull down colours—our colours before white and black—now Acheen colours red and white.”
The quantity of betel-nut agreed for (three thousand peculs) was sent on board; and a further agreement entered into for three thousand peculs more, to be delivered in a few days after. Opium, at nine hundred dollars the chest, was taken in part payment: this was a high price, but netted to the sellers a profit of only ninety-five Java rupees, or forty-seven dollars; from the large quantity in the market at this place, it was with the greatest difficulty it could be disposed of even at that price: the dollars to be given in addition must have been the principal inducement, for opium had been purchased from the Penang brig, “Calder Bux,” at seven hundred and seventy dollars the chest; but we afterwards found only one dollar the pecul, or rather laxar, had been paid by that vessel, which will account for their giving in barter a higher price for the opium.
On the second agreement being made, the rajah and suite came on board to ratify it, which, after some disputes and discussions with all parties, was effected by the supercargo of the ship.
The principal article of exportation from this coast is Areka-nut, and a small quantity of rice; the latter, however, appeared of an inferior quality, and one-and-a-half dollar a pecul was demanded as the lowest price; the vessel would be required to furnish bags for the rice, as there are none manufactured on the coast, and a delay of the vessel would be also required to procure it. Areka-nut must, therefore, be regarded as the principal article of trade, as it is to be purchased cheap, and of a quality as excellent as in any part of the Eastern islands, or Cochin China.
The Areka palm is the Areka catechu of botanists; it is a palm of elegant growth, rising with a very erect and small stem to the height of forty or even sixty feet, the summit terminating in a tuft of dark-green foliage; the circumference of the trunk is seldom more than one-and-a-half to two feet, when of early growth of dark-green, and when old of a dark-grey colour; the circles formed by the clasping petioles of the fronds being very visible upon it: the tree bears fruit only once during the year, at which period the tree, with its long bunches of orange oval-shaped fruit, pendent from the upper part of the trunk, contrasted by the dark-green foliage, has a beautiful appearance. The Areka-nut, when planted, takes three years to arrive at a sufficient size to produce fruit; the wood of this palm is used at this place for a variety of purposes.
The fruit grows in long pendulous clusters, each about the size of a small hen’s egg; the external covering is thick, fibrous, covered by an orange-coloured epidermis; and on the thick fibrous husk being cleared away, the nut is discovered surrounded by its own immediate epidermis, which often proves difficult of removal. The nut is conical, but varies in some, having an elevated apex and small base, and others a large base and very slightly elevated apex. One nut is the natural produce of each fruit, although sometimes double or triple nuts are found, anomalies often met with in the vegetable kingdom.[155]
Many of the common drinking and baling utensils in the boats are made from the spathe of the Areka palm; and I have frequently seen a vessel for holding water made from it, which was not dissimilar to those made by the Australian natives from the bark of the Eucalypti trees; they use the flower spathe also for nailing upon the bottoms of their boats. May, June, and July, are the months for collecting the nuts. They had loaded nine ships this season; but forty vessels, of all sizes, have been freighted in one season, for Pinang, &c., from whence it is exported to China, Madras, and other parts of continental India.
The nuts vary in size; their quality, however, does not at all depend upon this property, but upon their internal appearance when cut, intimating the quantity of astringent matter contained in them. If the white, or medullary portion, which intersects the red or astringent part be small, has assumed a bluish tinge, and the astringent part is very red, the nut is considered of good quality; but when the medullary portion is in large quantity, the nut is considered more mature, and not possessing so much astringency, is not esteemed so valuable.
The quantity of nut produced on this coast is stated to be eighty thousand peculs. When there is no immediate demand for this article, it is not shelled, but preserved in the husk, as it is considered not to be so liable to be destroyed by the worm in that state; but although this is the opinion of the natives on the coast, yet I have seen nuts destroyed totally by the worm while in the husk, in the space of two months. The produce of the first month, or month-and-a-half, amounting usually to forty thousand peculs, the natives informed us is exported; and the second gathering, amounting to about the same quantity, is consumed in the country. The nuts were brought on board the ship in large boats, (originally built and employed as fishing vessels, except when required for this employment, they are from three to four tons burthen each, and are to be purchased for twenty or twenty-five dollars,) in bulk, and Manilla mat-bags, and are taken on board the ships in bulk. The quantity of Areka-nut imported by the Chinese, amounts to forty-five or forty-eight thousand peculs annually, exclusive of that brought from Cochin China, the amount of which is not known; in 1832, from a failure of the usual supply of nuts from Cochin China, forty-eight thousand peculs, imported from other places, sold so high as four dollars and three-quarters the pecul; the price it usually fetches in the China market is from two to three and three-quarter dollars the pecul. The principal consumption of the nut as a masticatory (in conjunction with the leaf called betel, produced from a vine, the Piper betel) is in the provinces of Quang, ton, (Canton, of Europeans,) Quang, si, and Che, keang, and may be seen, exposed for sale, on little stalls about the suburbs of Canton, with the other additional articles used in the preparation; it is also used as a mordant for coarse dyes. The Areka-nuts brought from Cochin China are considered by the Chinese the best imported. This may, however, arise from prejudice in favour of the production of a country so nearly allied to them, to that introduced by foreigners. In the central provinces of Hoo, kwang, and Kang, si, the nut is, after being bruised and pounded, mixed with the green food of horses as a preventive against a diarrhœa, to which that kind of food sometimes subjects them. It was likewise mentioned to me by a Chinese, that it is used as a domestic medicine in the north of China, small pieces being boiled; the decoction is administered in various visceral affections.
A cargo of this article generates so much heat as to raise the thermometer in the hold forty degrees above that on the deck; and from this circumstance, and the quantity of steam generated, the crew are prevented from sleeping between decks.
The Areka-nut is commonly known by the very prevailing Malay name of Pinang, or Pinong, but in the Acheenese language it is called Pénu, and the tree Ba, penu; Ba, signifying tree, is usually prefixed to the specific name, as Un, signifying plant, is prefixed to the name of a plant.
The ripe Areka-nut is called also Pénu, massa, and the green Pénu, mudr; the Gambir, used with the Betel, Gambé; the Betel-leaf, Ránu; the Chunam, Gapu; the tobacco, Bákun.
The rajah of Pedir claims ten per cent. as a duty levied in kind upon all the Areka-nut disposed of to ships arriving in his territory; and, besides this, his subjects are obliged to dispose of the nuts to the ship, at the price he or his ministers have agreed upon with the supercargo.[156]
The red colour, produced by chewing the Betel-leaf, in combination with the Areka-nut, lime, &c., is not produced by them when used separately. The mastication of the “Betel” is considered very wholesome by those who are in the habit of using it: it may be so, but the black appearance it gives to the teeth, although it is said to be an excellent preserver of them, together with the brick-red lips and mouth, give any thing but an agreeable appearance.[157] Its use certainly does not impart additional beauty to the native females, who habituate themselves to an equal extent to those of the opposite sex.[158]
There was an old native of Madras, a Moorman, forming one of the rajah’s attendants on board, whose duty it was to visit ships, and report their arrival to his highness, and also to attend the ship daily to see the cargo taken on board; this individual had one of his hands rendered useless by a blow from a Klawang, or Malay sword. Besides the scar resulting from this wound, there was an unreduced dislocation of the carpal extremity of the ulna, and a fracture of the radius, which, being disunited, an artificial joint had been formed: the cause of this personal injury, he said, proceeded from an attack made upon a vessel he was in, by one belonging to the rajah of Acheen, in which several people were killed. This individual, being on board one morning, although professing in external appearances the Mahometan creed, expressed a desire of having a tumbler of the stimulating beverage denominated “grog,” if it could be administered without its being seen; proving that his religious scruples were not so strong in private as his veneration for public opinion, or a fear of losing caste. A stiff glass of grog was, therefore, prepared for him, which the old withered disciple of Mahometanism regarded with glittering eyes. There was also on board another Mussulman, whose duty it was to take account of the cargo as it came to the ship, and report the quantity to the rajah; the sinner was about to raise the glass to his mouth, exclaiming, “What would the other man say if he was to see me now?” when the old saying was verified, of “there is many a slip between the cup and the lip;” for the scribe was, at the same instant, seen descending, and there was only time to conceal the glass before he was close to him. The old fellow stroked his whiskers, and began seriously to talk about opium; and as the white turbaned man saw him clear out from below, the long-sought enjoyment was obliged to be postponed.
A Chittagong brig, commanded by a black Portuguese, anchored in the roads, on the 10th of July, from the Maldive islands, bound to Penang, with a cargo of dried fish and some tortoiseshell, which had been procured in exchange for rice; his object was to dispose of his cargo in exchange for dollars and Betel-nut at this place. The dried fish was the Bonito cut into small pieces. The Maldive natives prepare it in the following manner:—A long slice is cut from each side of the fish, and these again are divided into two parts, so that each fish is divided into four pieces; it is then boiled for a short time in salt water, after which it is smoked and placed in the sun to dry; it then becomes extremely hard, and resembles, when broken, a piece of wood, having a reddish appearance at the fractured parts: after it has been soaked, it is used for curries and other native dishes.
The “Golden Mountain” is a very conspicuous and beautiful object from the anchorage; but it ought to be mentioned, that, from this position, two mountains are seen to the westward, one towering to a peak, and densely wooded, the other, anterior to it, is a lofty rounded hill: the first is the one known to Europeans as the “Golden Mountain;” the second, or rounded mountain, is not named in the charts, but it may be called the “Pedir Mountain.” The “Golden Mountain” is called by the natives Yamori, and the other Yamora; the first the natives designate as the father, the second the mother (probably of all the little mountains about them).
The natives state, that once every year the mountains come together, occasioning rain, thunder, lightning, earthquakes, and violent storms; the Urong Salle, or Fire King, then sits upon the mountain, surrounded by hideous demons, enjoying the noise and uproar occasioned by the conflict of the elements; the winds blow in violent tornados; the thunder is so loud as to occasion the earth to tremble under the feet of the terrified inhabitants: the rain causes tremendous mountain torrents, inundating habitations and plantations, carrying all before them in their impetuous course, and spreading devastation around. In the midst of this dreadful conflict of the elements, the mountains meet with a horrible crash. As the forked lightning plays around them, the Urong Salle, or Fire King, surrounded by his satellites, laughs and sports in the scene; the mountains remain united for a minute, when they again separate, regaining their former position. No person dare ascend the hill at any time, for there sits the Fire King and his demons, and should any mortal cast his eyes upon him, that instant he would be struck with blindness.
Yamora is stated to be distant, inland from Pedir, two days’ journey travelling on foot, and Yamori is the same distance from the other mountain; not, however, as the crow flies, but it would take that period of time to reach it, from the winding and difficulties of the road. From this account there is every reason to suppose that earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are occasionally felt upon this coast. As far as we could ascertain, there was no appearance of a burning volcano existing in either of the mountains just mentioned; they were both densely clothed with vegetation, more especially the “Golden Mountain.”
Near the banks of the river, a short distance up, is an uninclosed native burial-ground; the graves had a stone or piece of wood placed both at the head and foot: there were several trees of Hibiscus tiliaceus, Tamarindus Indica, and a very large one, called Ba, Glumpong by the natives, (Sterculia fœtida, Linn.) which was described by them as being poisonous, producing violent vomiting and pains in the head, if the fruit be eaten. I subsequently saw it, planted about the fences in the village. There were two of these fine, lofty, and spreading trees in the burial-ground, and I procured specimens both of the flowers and fruit: the former grew in clusters upon erect spikes, with the corolla of a dark red, mixed with yellowish green. They have a handsome appearance, but diffuse so fœtid a smell around, as soon to fill a room with the exceedingly disagreeable effluvia. The fruit is kidney-shaped; the trees were sixty or seventy feet in height, and from eight to ten feet in circumference.
A piece of sandal wood, of good quality, was brought off to the ship by one of the natives; he stated that large quantities of it could be procured, as the tree grew abundantly in the mountains. He gave it the usual Indian appellation of Chandana.[159]
In some brackish pools I collected several small living species of the Cerethium; and about the banks a great number of a small crab, remarkable from one of the claws being greatly disproportioned to the size of the other parts of the animal, and entirely different in colour. When I first beheld them, I mistook them for small crabs running away with the claws of larger ones. They are difficult to catch, from the exceeding rapidity of their motions, and escape, on the slightest movement or noise being made, into their subterraneous dwellings in the sand. The body and feet of the animal are bluish black, with a few white marks across, and the large claw is of a light or occasional darker red colour. The natives call them Biong, po. They are seen in great numbers about the pools, but are not eaten by the natives. I procured several specimens, which I preserved in spirits. On being placed in strong rum, they survived for the space of full three minutes; and if more than one was placed in the same bottle, they would fight and pull the claws off each other in their death agonies.
Near the village, several boys were playing a game with Areka-nuts, called Mein-achu, in some degree resembling our game at marbles. Four nuts were piled up in form of a pyramid, twelve such forming a row; a nut was then fillipped off with some degree of force against the heaps, from a distance of about three yards. If the thrower succeeds in destroying one of the pyramids, he renews his throw at the others, always at the distance where his nut remained, until he misses, when the next player takes his turn: the game thus continuing until all the pyramids are thrown down.
I was much surprised a few days since, while passing a house in the vicinity of the village, to see apparently a European lad, of about six years of age; and on examining him closer, found his skin of a white colour, thinly scattered over with small light-brown patches. On passing the same house again, I made inquiry on the subject, and then had an opportunity of seeing two others, who were females,—one about sixteen or eighteen years of age, the other an infant just able to run about. They were described to us as children of native Malay parents, of the usual colour of their race; but we did not see them, as they had gone a short distance into the country. The children were named Ceté, Theté, and Cebreté. They had a plump appearance; flaxen hair, light-blue eyes; and the boy and young woman were slightly covered with scattered small brown patches; but the infant had not a blemish on its integument. The natives could give no reason for this variety; they looked upon it as curious, but did not seem, as far as I could ascertain, to regard it as a disease. They have the flat nose of the Malay, but otherwise would be considered the offspring of European parents, the skin being in some degree freckled. It ought certainly to be regarded as a variety of, if not actually the disease called, leprosy.[160]
I met several natives going into the interior; they were all well armed with krisses, klawangs or Malay swords, spears, and blunderbusses or musquets; the country in the interior being described as in a very unsettled state. Some of the spears were about six feet long, resembling walking-staves, covered above by a wooden sheath, similar to the other part of the weapon, and ornamented with rims of silver; the upper part, or sheath, being taken off, displays the head of the spear.
I purchased a specimen of the Viverra musanga, similar to one I had before procured at Java, for half a rupee; although very wild with strangers, it was exceedingly domesticated with its master, following him like a cat, as he walked along the path: they called him, on this coast, as at Java, “Mussang.”
This specimen was very little larger than one I had before procured; but they attain, I was informed, the size of our domestic cat, living, in the wild state, upon the summits of the trees, eating fruit, and catching birds as their food. The animal is very fond of sugar-cane, plantain, rice, and the flesh of fowls, and will also kill and eat those troublesome insects, the cock-roaches. It, however, became so very savage on board, that I was obliged at last to destroy it.
I was frequently applied to by the natives, when sick, to administer medicines to them. There were several suffering from different kinds of tumours; one, near the nose, I offered to remove; but although the person promised to come on board for the purpose, I afterwards heard he was afraid, and altered his mind. Among many patients was a little girl, belonging to a Moorman, suffering from Diarrhœa mucosa: her body had been rubbed entirely over with a mixture of turmeric, sandal-wood, and oil, as a remedy for the disease. The yellow appearance—the usual indication of sickness—was not the result, as may have been expected, of some disease, but merely a daubing over the body of the above-mentioned composition,—this being the remedy for all diseases. The common Hindoo application of cow-dung and turmeric is frequent for external wounds or bruises, and considered a very efficacious remedy. Cutaneous diseases were very numerous, and the native applications proved very inefficacious in removing them.
I had an opportunity of seeing another rajah—the rajah of Putu (a village and district not far distant, on the sea coast). He was ill-looking in person, and carried with him the appearance of being addicted to opium-smoking. He was attired in a sarong of a handsome pattern, the borders of which were woven with gold threads. These sarongs are the manufacture of the country, and are sold at high prices. The rajah was tall and young, and was attended by a numerous retinue, attired in red cloth jackets ornamented with gold lace, and handsome sarongs: others could only wear a cotton baju, or jacket. They were armed with spears, klawangs, krisses, and old rusty blunderbusses. The object of his visit to this place, was to pay his respects to the old queen (grandmother of the present rajah) of Acheen, who was residing at Pedir, and was about to embark in a few days in the Acheenese grab for Acheen, and was described as being an excellent old lady.