The vessels employed by the natives of these islands differ from each other considerably. Those employed for war are long and narrow, lying low in the water and lightly built, a stage projecting from the sides, on which the rowers take their station. A house is erected in the middle for the fighting portion of the crew, on the flat roof of which their chief warriors perform the war-dance. Across the forepart of the vessel is placed a thick barricade made of light wood, provided with ports, through which the lelahs or great guns are pointed, thus affording protection to the rowers from musket shots, as the attack is always made stem on, the sides of the vessel having no bulwarks. The vessels employed by them for commercial purposes are large paduakans, with a smaller description of prahu, short and broad, with high stems and sterns, and covered with a roof of atap, which are engaged chiefly in the trade with Banda and Amboyna. Maritime pursuits occupy most of the time of the natives of these islands, and when a stoppage is put to commerce they resort to piracy. The cost for the maintenance of the crew is very small, these being Papuan slaves, whose food consists chiefly of sago and a sort of periwinkle, with a little dried fish, the latter being much esteemed by the negroes of New Guinea.
The principal branch of commerce carried on by these islanders is the trade with Bali (an island adjoining the east end of Java), to which are taken many of the products of the coast of New Guinea. The Raja of Kilwari is deeply engaged in this, and frequently proceeds in person to Bali, where the government of a village has been conferred upon him by the king of that island, as a reward for his having purchased and brought back to their homes some Balinese princes, who had been captured by pirates. The Bughis traders from Celebes also resort to the Ceram-Laut Islands, the produce of their voyages being mostly carried to Singapore. The most important articles exported from this group consist of slaves, nutmegs, trepang, tortoise-shell, and edible birds'-nests, in return for which they take powder and shot, muskets, small cannon, calicoes, China-ware, iron-work, &c. The commerce of the entire chain of islands, extending from Ceram to New Guinea, is of the same description. The articles exported are, for the most part, obtained from the coast of New Guinea, which is annually resorted to by a large number of vessels from Ceram-Laut. The natives of the various islands forming the group assume the exclusive right of trading on particular parts of the coast, a breach of which on the part of their neighbours, instantly gives rise to warfare. Neither will the Papuas carry on a trade with any but those who are in the habit of visiting them. The places resorted to by the traders of Ceram-Laut lie to the westward of Lakahia, a bay on the coast, situated directly north from the Arru Islands. The extent of the trade may be imagined from the fact, that twenty-five jonkos resort annually to Karrats-key and Owin from Enekka, a village on Goram, alone. Several of the Ceramese chiefs have married Papuan wives, and they have also succeeded in converting the natives of several places on the coast to the Mohammedam religion; but, nevertheless, the former dare not place much confidence in them. They contrive to keep the Papuas in awe by their superior skill in the use of arms, and this feeling is increased by the negroes being continually at war with their neighbours, the Ceramese rather endeavouring to promote this state of affairs than otherwise.
The monopoly of the trade on the coast is so strict, that should a foreign trader wish to proceed there with his vessel, it would be absolutely necessary for him to take some of the people of the islands with him, (natives of Enekka, for example, should he wish to visit Onion), otherwise his endeavours would be fruitless. These pilots obtain the use of a portion of the vessel, in which to deposit their goods, as a reward for their services, thirty piculs (about two tons) being the usual tonnage allowed. According to the information of the natives, an English vessel, having pilots from Enekka on board, carried on a brisk trade with the coast in the year 1824. I heard that the English, subsequently, suffered some punishment from the Ceramese for this breach of their right of monopoly, but I was unable to ascertain the particulars of this occurrence.
The English whalers occasionally visit the islands to the eastward of Ceram, where they obtain spices and other productions in exchange for arms, ammunition, calicoes, &c. I was assured that the Raja of Kilwari engaged deeply in this unlawful trade.
The people of Papua-Oni and of Amalas, two places on the coast of New Guinea directly east from Ceram-Laut, send out every year from one hundred to one hundred and twenty small vessels on piratical excursions, and proceed to a considerable distance from their homes. Their mode of warfare is rude in the extreme; their weapons consisting only of bows, arrows and spears. I have been assured, that they devour the prisoners they take during these excursions. They entertain considerable dread of the Ceramese, and carefully avoid doing them or theirs any injury.
According to the information I received from some inhabitants of Ceram-Laut, the natives of New Guinea are divided into two tribes, mountaineers and dwellers on the coast, who are continually waging war with each. The people occupying the sea-coast form by far the smaller portion, but from their warlike habits they find no difficulty in maintaining a superiority. The captives taken by the latter from the inferior tribes are sold to the foreign traders, by whom they are held in great esteem, so much so that their price is higher even than that given for slaves of Bali, Lombok, or Sumbawa. The women from Koby, Ay, and Karres, are considered the most attractive, and are often kept as inferior wives by the Ceramese; the Raja of Kilwari, among others, having a wife born in the Papuan village of Atti-Atti. The price given for a slave on the coast is usually two pieces of white calico, valued at from eight to ten Spanish dollars, from sixty to seventy rupees (five to six pounds sterling) being obtained by the traders for them at Bali, and other places in that direction. Natives worthy of belief have assured me, that if a Papua of the coast is struck by a desire to obtain any articles brought by the foreign trader, for which he has no productions to give in exchange, he will not hesitate to barter one or two of his children for them; and if his own are not at hand, he will ask the loan of those of his neighbour, promising to give his own in exchange when they come to hand, this request being rarely refused. This appeared to me to be almost incredible, but the most trustworthy natives were unanimous evidence to its truth. The mountaineers themselves sometimes sell their children also. In other places, I have known parents sell their children when their maintenance became too heavy a burthen for them to bear, without heeding whether they would ever see them again. Such a total absence of feeling certainly brings these savage people below the level of dumb animals!
FOOTNOTES:
[42] Note by the Translator.—Among the numerous benefits likely to be conferred on the natives of this part of the world, by the proposed occupation by the British of the north coast of Australia, will be that of an asylum being afforded to those who, by misfortunes or oppression, are forced to leave their native country. Singapore, at the opposite extreme of the Indian Archipelago, has already been very beneficial in this respect, and the fact of their subjects being able so readily to obtain the protection of the British, has forced the native chiefs to behave towards them with more consideration.
CHAPTER XVIII.
GORAM AND THE ARRU ISLANDS.