“Yesterday,” (Friday,) said my amusing Malay informant, “I washed this bird, (the one then before us,) and gave him his physic.” He was so highly pleased at my taking an interest in his birds, that he presented me with a pair of the cream-coloured doves, which, he observed, “Would speak like a clock, every hour.”[137] The smaller species was the one, however, possessed of the preserving qualities against fire and flood. He apologized for not making me a present of it, and gave, in my opinion, the best of reasons that a married man could, which was—“his wife would not let him part with it.”
I, however, so pleased my Malay friend, that he regretted I was about to leave Batavia so soon, as he would otherwise have shown me some more curiosities, and given me plenty of information on Javanese things, (probably, I thought, of a similar stamp to the foregoing, that is, more amusing than instructive). He brought me a dried specimen of the Hippocampus, carefully wrapped in paper; it was named Ecan Kudu, or horse-fish, (Ecan, signifying a fish, and Kudu, horse,) by the Malays, from its being regarded by them as an excellent medicine for horses; they place it (without being pounded, or otherwise prepared) in the water, the horses drink, and consider it an excellent tonic for them.
I saw at Batavia a species of Gibbon, which is indigenous to Java, and had just been purchased, it was the Pithecus leuciscus, Desm., or Simia leucisca, Schreb. The natives call it the white ape, or Woa, woa, puteh; the fur being of a light greyish colour; face and ears, black; no tail; long arms; and a prehensile power of the feet.
The Sumpitan, or blow-pipe, is an instrument upwards of six feet long; with which the Javanese propel small clay pellets from the mouth with such force as to kill birds and other animals; they are likewise used by the Javanese in warfare, to shoot the small poisoned arrows, (damhák,) which are about a foot in length, armed at one extremity with pith, and are propelled with surprising accuracy of aim.
CHAPTER XIX.
Leave Batavia and anchor off Hoorn Island—Islands about the Bengal Passage—Gingiong roads—Lofty aspect of the land—The coast—The golden mountain—Island of Sumatra—Aspect of the country—The lover’s leap—Village of Pedir—Ships of the Acheenese Rajah—Visit to the Rajah—Dense vegetation—Buffaloes—Ba Assan trees—Hall of reception—Interview with his Highness—Commercial negociations—Curiosity of the natives—The Areka or Betel-nut—Flowering shrubs and plants—Rice-planting—Return to the ship—A prohibition.
At daylight, on the 2nd of June, I left Batavia for the Pedir Coast, on the north-east part of the large island of Sumatra; and, about noon, it being calm, anchored off Hoorn Island, in the Great Channel. This island is a mere reef, or sand-bank, with trees of some elevation upon it, which impart a higher aspect to it than on landing it is in reality found to possess. The passage, by the western coast of Sumatra, was tedious; light and variable winds and calms being very often experienced, although we kept some hundred of miles from the coast;[138] it was, therefore, not until the morning of the 28th of June, that elevated land was seen, being the islands about the “Bengal Passage,” which we entered about half past ten o’clock, A.M., having on one side the lofty wooded island of “Pulo Brasse,”[139] and “Pulo Nancie,” and opposite to them, the elevated island, rich in vegetation, of “Pulo Way.” “Pulo Rondo” was also visible in the distance.
Our progress through the passage was but slow, with a moderate south wind; and a strong westerly current considerably impeded the vessel. On entering further in the passage, we became more under the influence of the high land, and the breeze diminished. The weather was showery and unsettled, and the ship anchored in the evening in “Gingiong roads,” in eleven fathoms, about five or six miles distant from the wooded coast.
The land had a lofty aspect, abounding in profuse vegetation, and was possessed of much romantic and picturesque beauty. Since we entered the passage, and proceeded along the coast, the mountains rose in peaked and various fantastic groups, forming the back view of the landscape; the low land, near the beach, was covered with timber; hills rose gradually one beyond another, terminated by lofty mountains, towering in the distance; the whole covered by a dense vegetation. At this time, the view was occasionally impeded by fleecy clouds passing over, giving afterwards an increased, animated appearance to the scene, by the refreshing showers they produced. At some distance from the main land, straggling rocks were sometimes seen, either rising solitary, or in clusters from the ocean’s depths; some covered with a scanty vegetation, whilst the bare summits and declivities of others had a volcanic character: around their bases, the breakers dashed furiously, and the white foam raged against those rugged sides, which had stood the violence of a thousand tempests, serving as a place of refuge for boobies, tropic, and other oceanic birds, which here congregate and rear their progeny, free from molestation.