Voyages of the Dutch brig of war Dourga

by D. H. Kolff

[48] This disgraceful information of the Ceramese was influenced, probably, by their envy and jealousy of the others.

CHAPTER XX.

NEW GUINEA.

Armed Boats sent on Shore.—Treacherous Attack of the Natives.—A Soldier killed.—Cowardly Conduct of the Officers in Charge of the Watering-Party.—The Author personally visits the Bay.—Causes of the Barbarism of the Natives of New Guinea.—Faithless and arbitrary Conduct of the Ceramese.—Profitable Nature of the Trade.—Departure from New Guinea.

The friendly meeting with the chiefs, coupled with the assurances of the interpreters, who had been in the habit of making yearly visits to the coast, determined me to obtain here a supply of water, this necessary of life having become scarce on board. On the morning of the 20th, therefore, I caused the empty casks to be put into the tender, which was armed with a one-pounder gun, and manned with an European warrant-officer and a seaman, eighteen rowers, and a corporal with six soldiers. The chief command was given to a midshipman, who, with six European and four native seamen, went in the jolly-boat in company with the tender.

The command of the armed party, who were to cover the waterers, was entrusted to the corporal, who had been highly recommended to me at Amboyna, and to whom I gave a written order to guide his proceedings. As I wished to superintend the watering in person, and also to visit the village, I caused another of the boats to be lowered, and sent, in the first place, to examine the depth of water to the north-east and north-west, the result proving the impossibility of approaching nearer to the land with the brig. An affection in the chest, with which I had been afflicted since my voyage to the Bay of Boni, being more than usually troublesome in the morning, forced me, however, to defer my visit to the afternoon.

About noon, hearing guns fired on shore, I sent an officer with an armed boat to enquire the cause, furnishing them with ammunition for the tender. When close to the island he encountered the boats returning, and remarked that great disorder prevailed among their crews, three of the number being badly wounded. They stated that all their cartridges being wet, and some of the soldiers having thrown away their arms, they had nothing remaining with which they could defend themselves. Although the officer sent to their assistance had with him a dozen good muskets, and cartridges both for them and for the small cannon, he thought it best to return on board, which I did not regret when I heard of the events that had occurred. It appeared that our people met with a friendly reception from the Papuas, who showed them the watering-place, while those who had visited the brig the previous night brought them presents of cocoa-nuts and sagoweer, or palm wine. On his first arrival the midshipman made arrangements according to his instructions, and had scarcely finished filling his casks in readiness to be put on board the tender, when the natives suddenly attacked our party with a shower of spears and arrows. The Javanese seamen, who had been stupid enough to leave their arms behind them, immediately left the water casks, and fled towards the tender, while the corporal, who should have been the last to retreat, left his post at the first shout of the Papuas, and throwing away his musket and sword, followed their example. The Javanese Mandor,[49] however, took up the musket and fired it at the attackers. The shameful flight of the corporal created great confusion among the covering party, to whom the former cried out that they were to follow him, which they did, after making a short stand. The Papuas naturally acquired fresh courage on seeing this, and fell on the hindmost, whom they could easily wound as they fled, while little opposition could be made on our side, as the tender had already shoved off, and the muskets of the people in the boat had become useless from their being wetted as their owners waded on board.

The soldiers and seamen made heavy complaints against the corporal, to whose cowardice the unfortunate result of the affair was to be attributed, he having caused the greatest confusion by cutting the grapnel rope of the tender, and shoving her off. Concerning the conduct of the midshipman I would rather be silent. On subsequent examination I discovered, alas! that my orders had not been followed, and that some had thought more of amusing themselves than of executing the duty on which they had been sent.

At the commencement of the attack, H. Smit, a seaman who was sentry at the well, was wounded by two spears, and Ziengo, a soldier, who had stoutly maintained his post, was dreadfully injured, being pierced with no less than two-and-twenty wounds; while another of the seamen, Van Grieken, was wounded slightly by an arrow in the shin-bone. The courageous Ziengo died immediately after his arrival on board, while under the hands of the doctor.

Several small casks, a couple of muskets, some cartridge-boxes, and a quantity of clothing, having been left on shore, I determined to send the tender (into which a carronade had now been placed) and an armed boat to bring them off, and to efface the shame which our people had brought upon them. Being still too unwell to leave the brig, I entrusted the command of the boats to one of the officers, with orders to obtain the last articles if possible; but should circumstances render this unadvisable, he was to keep the natives in check during the night, and await my arrival in the morning with additional force. A strong easterly wind, accompanied by heavy showers of rain, prevented them, however, from reaching the island; and at daylight the signal for their return to the brig was made, and they came alongside. The carronade was now taken out of the tender, and two one-pounder guns placed on board her in its stead, when we stood towards the island, the tender and the boat carrying in all thirty men. We soon reached the shore, when the spot on which the encounter had taken place was pointed out to me. I landed with a portion of the men, and reached the thick forest that bounded the path to the well, this being about a pistol-shot distant from the beach. Every thing that our party left on shore was found, but several of the casks were in pieces. Much blood was seen scattered about, especially near the well, where the natives had probably washed their wounds.