Travels in the East Indian archipelago

by Albert S. Bickmore

CHAPTER XIV.
RETURN TO PADANG.

Back of Siboga rises a high peak, and from its summit I was confident that I could enjoy a magnificent view over the whole bay. A native engaged to show me the way to its top, but after we had travelled a long distance I found he had even less idea of how we were to reach the desired spot than I had myself. Other natives gave me directions, but that day was too far spent for such a journey, and I therefore made my pretended guide travel with me the next day for nothing, as a punishment for his lying. Following up a stream back of the settlement, we took a minor valley to the south, and discovered a narrow path by which the Battas sometimes come down from the interior. This led up through a thick forest to a large place where that people had partially cleared the land by burning down the trees. In the irregular spaces between the stumps they had planted pine-apples and yams, which were both thriving remarkably well. When we had gained that place I found the desired peak still above us. My attendant now begged me not to attempt to reach it, less, as I afterward learned, from his fear of the Battas than from his fear of the evil spirit who is said to inhabit that high point, and whom he believed we should certainly meet. But we gained the summit without meeting any unearthly intruders. There I found the whole bay and its shores spread out before me like a map. The broad coral banks bordering several of the points and islands were of a light-clay color in the dark-blue water, which was only here and there ruffled by the light morning breezes then moving over its limpid surface. This bay is said to closely resemble the bay of Rio Janeiro by those who have seen both. To the north it has a long arm, but on the south its boundary is sharply defined when viewed from the lofty point where I stood, while off the mouth of the bay was the high island of Mensalla, its hills making a sharply-serrated line against the sky.

On another occasion I made an excursion in a boat some six miles toward the northern end of the bay to look at some layers of coal. Leaving the boat we went a short distance up the side of a range of hills on the northwest side of the bay, and, crossing two small ridges that ran down to the shore, found the bed of a brook, which at that season was dry. In one of its sides were seen the layers of coal, approximately parallel to the surface of the hills, and resting on clay schists, to which they appeared perfectly conformable. Crossing another low ridge, we came down into the bed of another brook, where the same strata were again seen. The coal here is very impure, except near the middle layers, and appears to be of little commercial value; neither is the prospect flattering for finding other strata of a better quality beneath those seen at the surface. Although I looked carefully, I could detect no leaves or stems of plants, or any organic remains, by which the geological age of this coal could be determined; but the position of the layers parallel to the surface, or last folding the strata have undergone, agrees with its mineral characters in placing it, like the other coals of Sumatra, in the tertiary period.

As I came to Siboga from the south, over the low land around the bay, I noticed on my right a high, perpendicular cliff composed of recent strata that were horizontal, and which must have been deposited beneath the ocean, because the opposite side of the valley is open to the sea, with only hills at intervals along its shore, and even their forms indicate that they are of the same sedimentary origin. This cliff the natives call in Malay the Ruma Satan, or “the Devil’s Dwelling.” It was on the western declivity of the mountains which sweep round parallel to the shore. The Resident gave orders to the rajah of Sibuluan, a native village about four miles south of Siboga, to go with me and show me the way. When I came to that village I found the rajah was a young man, and evidently afraid of such an undertaking. In the first place, we must be exposed to the cannibal Battas, and even travel among them; but I assured him that that, so far from making me desire to turn back, only made me the more anxious to go on, for I liked to see all kinds of people, and I had no fear that the Battas would eat me. Finding he could not induce me to give up what he evidently considered a most venturesome journey, he summoned the largest man in his kampong and armed him with a long, rusty sword. Several others were also ordered to accompany us, though the rajah seemed to rely chiefly on the brave who carried his arms. As for me, the only weapon with which I was provided was a pocket-knife, but I think now that I underrated the danger then, and that if I were going on the same excursion again I should take a revolver at least. From Sibuluan our course was along a large stream. Soon we came to a Batta village, where a capala and two men joined us, to act as our guides and also to increase my body-guard, which, even then, would have been far from formidable if any real danger had presented itself, and they had had a good opportunity to run away. The rough path that we were following came to a stream which I was compelled to wade, and found so deep that it rose to my arms. Besides, the current was so strong that I was glad to have the assistance of a native on either side. The sand and sharp gravel were thus washed into my shoes; and as I learned we should have to cross that stream some ten times, for such a road do these wild cannibals use, I quickly prepared myself to go barefoot.

We had now come into a deep gorge; the sun poured down his most scorching rays; the rocks and sand were so hot that it seemed they would blister my feet, and even the Malays complained. The next ford was just above a series of rapids. I was clad in a suit of blue flannel, which absorbed so much water that I found I was in great danger of being swept away by the torrent. I concluded that I had better adopt the costumes of the Malays. The rajah wore a new pair of chilanas, of the prevailing pattern, made in Achin. They are short-legged trousers, fastened at the waist and reaching nearly to the knee. I proposed that we exchange, but he declined to do that, and insisted on my keeping possession of my own habit, and using the article I desired, and in that costume I travelled till I came back to his village. In one place the torrent rolled up against a high precipice, but there chanced to be a horizontal crevice some distance above the water, and there, where scarcely a monkey would think of venturing, we were obliged to crawl along as best we could. This danger passed, we had to cross back and forth over rapids by leaping from rock to rock, some of which were above and some just beneath the surface of the boiling torrent. Then we came to an area of high grass. The tall native, in accordance with the rajah’s orders, marching ahead with the sword grasped in his right hand, and its naked, rusty blade resting on his bare arm, was, indeed, the personification of bravery; but, as I had little faith in the necessity of such a doughty warrior, I began to ridicule his appearance to the rajah, when suddenly our brave gave an ugly nasal grunt, and, brandishing his sword high over his head, brought it down with a heavy cutting stroke on some object in front of him. “What is the matter?” every one asked. “A great snake was crossing the road!” an agreeable thing to hear, considering that I had no clothing on below the knee; but, while he was flourishing his weapon and getting ready to strike, the reptile had glided away in the tall grass.

The rajah now showed me a spot by the wayside where a Batta, who had been guilty of adultery, had been killed and eaten by his fellows not long before. All the others in the party confirmed the story in every particular. A little farther on was a Batta village consisting of four houses on high posts. One was small and stood apart from the others, and in that they stored their rice. To prevent the mice from reaching it, large projecting pieces of planks were placed on the tops of the posts. The walls, floor, and gable-ends of the dwelling-houses were made of plank, and the roof was a thatching of grass or straw. Having some curiosity to see the internal arrangements of a Batta house, I climbed up a ladder of five or six rounds at one end of the building, and took a place assigned me on the floor. There was no bench nor stool, nor any thing of the kind, so, according to Batta etiquette, I rested my back against the side of the house. The whole building was in one room, without a shadow of any partition. From the number of the inmates, I saw that probably four families dwelt in this single apartment, and this suspicion was strengthened when I noticed a rude fire-place, without any chimney, in each corner. On inquiry, I was informed that my conjectures were true. “But how do you know,” I asked, “what part belongs to one family and what to another? Where is your partition?” One of them, who could understand a little Malay, gravely rose, and, coming to my side in answer to my query, pointed to a crack in the floor.

From this place the rajah had said I could obtain an unobstructed view of the cliff, but when we arrived there a neighboring hill completely hid it from view. He then excused himself by saying that he had never been there before; and, when I informed him that I must go on until I could see it perfectly, the tears actually stood in his eyes from fear, he was so certain we should meet with the Evil Spirit. One of the Battas, who knew the way, offered to be my guide, and I released the rajah from the Resident’s order to accompany me as far as I wished to go, and continued on, for I had no fear of meeting Apollyon in the next valley.

Two sections at right angles showed that the strata of this cliff were nearly horizontal, and composed of a light-colored clay, containing many coarse crystals of quartz. These materials had recently been formed by the decomposition of the adjoining syenitic rocks, and had been arranged into layers by the action of water. The height to the top of the cliff from the bed of the brook I judge to be eight hundred feet, and that is at least fifty feet above the level of the sea, making the whole elevation which this part of the island has recently undergone to be eight hundred and fifty feet.