On the 3d we were off the point called Tanjung api, and on the following day stood over in the direction of the islands called Natunas, the more southern of which we were in sight of, and even close to. Their vegetation seemed to be quite peculiar. We were at one time within two hundred yards of one of these islands; and could observe along the beach several handsome scitamineous plants, and a considerable number of Palms. In this part of our passage, we found the weather, though rather damp, and for the most part cloudy, remarkably agreeable. The thermometer did not rise above 80°, nor sink below 78°, in the course of twenty-four hours, during our passage from the coast of Borneo to that of Cambodia.
An hourly register of the barometer, kept day and night, indicated a double tide in the column of mercury. At ten A.M., it was generally at its height, which on successive days, varied at this hour from 29.98 inches, to 30.1 inches, the barometer being suspended about eighteen feet above the sea. From five to six P.M., it had attained its lowest level, varying on successive days from 29.86 inches to 29.95. From this period it continued to rise till about midnight, when it had again obtained its maximum, and from four to five a.m. was at its minimum.
About three P.M. on the 11th of March, we came abreast of the island of Pulo Ubi, in lat. 8° 25´ N., long. 104° 50´ E., off the southern extremity of Cambodia, and cast anchor in a bay on the N.E. side of it, and prepared to land. In the same bay a Chinese junk lay at anchor.
As we approached the beach, we could observe one or two huts in a plot of tall grass, overshadowed by a solitary cocoa-nut tree, and several persons walking about. Our books had stated the place to be inhabited, but the dreary appearance of the island, the stunted form of its vegetation, its steril and forbidding aspect, and above all, the total absence of every thing calculated to remind us of humanity, soon destroyed the hopes we had cherished of mingling so soon in the concerns of our fellow-creatures, and of observing society under circumstances which might be supposed to confer on it a peculiar interest. We were therefore not a little gratified to observe these traces. We were still more pleased to observe one of the inhabitants walk towards the point we were approaching, and thence concluded that they must have been in some degree accustomed to the advent of strangers. This person proved to be a slender, but healthy and active old man. He wore a blue cloak, and an ample blue turban, and had a thin, scanty, long beard. His appearance was not unlike that of an Arab. He saluted us with respect, and though none of our party could understand his language, we could easily perceive that he was not displeased with our visit. We accompanied him to his house close by, which we found to be a sort of temple. On a rude altar of wood, raised about three feet from the ground, and covered with mats, was placed a small earthen image, of a reverend, though rather grotesque looking old man, in a contemplative attitude, his countenance not altogether destitute of a certain air of benignity and conscious innocence. He wore a long flowing beard and loose garments. On his left stood a smaller figure of more humble pretensions; probably the attendant of the former, or minister of his will. The first was different from the figure or image (Joss,) the more common object of the worship of the lower orders of Chinese.
Before them were placed various offerings of fruit, sugar and sweet-meats. The altar was tawdrily ornamented with pieces of tinsel, shreds of gilt paper, and painted silks.
Before the shrine was placed a low platform over which a mat was thrown, on which the old man invited us to sit down. In one end of the room were placed baskets of rice, a few small wax tapers, and some yams. We found that two families lived on this spot, and one or two Chinese. The latter had come for the purpose of collecting the gelatinous Fucus, agar-agar. The former had, it would appear, lived here for several years. Their subsistence had probably been chiefly obtained from Chinese mariners, to whom this lofty island affords an admirable land-mark, for which they always make in their coasting voyages. They look upon the place as peculiarly sacred, and never pass it without offering up prayers and praises for their success in having made it. On this occasion they leave behind them a painted board, on which is written the name of their junk, the date of their arrival, the port they have left, &c. At this time several boards of this description were in the keeping of the old man.
If we were pleased with the civility and attention of our first acquaintance, we had reason to be no less so with the other members of this little community. It was altogether an interesting spectacle to see them crowd round, without the least fear or apprehension, and only anxious to shew us kindness, and to treat us with hospitality. A middle aged woman, of rather handsome appearance, after she had gratified her curiosity by a hasty glance at the strangers, made us some excellent tea, which she gave to us in small cups, in the usual manner of the Chinese. A man, about her own age, and apparently her husband, lay the wretched victim of that most distressing and horrible disease, elephantiasis. Our appearance for a moment seemed to rouse him from the moody melancholy which accompanies this complaint. Two handsome boys and a girl made up the family.
We were forcibly struck with the difference in the vegetation of this island from any that we had hitherto seen; a difference which, as it is not easily to be accounted for by its geographical position, is more probably owing to an unusually scanty supply of moisture, and perhaps in part also to the peculiar nature of the soil, which being very thin, and not retentive of moisture, must be unfavourable. The vegetation here could scarcely be termed arborescent. It was low, scanty and bushy. The Erythrina corallodendrum was among its stoutest, and the Caryota mitis, of Loureiro, among its tallest, trees. Various species of Dioscorea were common on the sloping sides of the hills, where also the wild plantain (Musa sapientum) grew in abundance. We had the good fortune to find this splendid herbaceous plant in flower. Unlike, however, to that luscious and most delicious fruit raised by the hand of man, the fruit of the wild plantain contains scarce any pulp whatever. Its leathery sheath encloses numerous series of large black seeds, attached to a pithy central stem, and immersed in a gummy substance resembling birdlime. It appeared by our systematic works, that the seeds of this most useful plant have been but rarely seen by botanists. Hence doubts had been expressed upon the subject. In none of the cultivated varieties are there any seeds discoverable, though at times we may observe minute black points in the pulp, disposed in longitudinal rows. These are probably the feeble traces of seeds not yet quite extinguished by cultivation, the black perisperm being the last to disappear.
We had now, therefore, a favourable opportunity of examining this matter. The seeds were numerous, covered with a thick, black, brittle shell, and as large as those of the custard-apple, but of a more irregular shape. We collected numbers of them. There is no necessity to refer, as Willdenow does, the origin of all the cultivated varieties, and of all the species enumerated by botanists, to the Musa troglodytarum, a native of the Molucca Islands, as the parent stock. Our specimens accorded with the descriptions given of Musa sapientum. The seeds were in all respects perfect, and apparently capable of propagating the plant. Indeed its existence on these islands, so rarely frequented by man, and altogether unfit for cultivation, can be accounted for on no other principle than the fertility of the seeds. It appears, therefore, that we ought to refer to this plant the origin of the cultivated species, which are probably no other than simple varieties of it.
The Yams found on this island are remarkably large. The green tuberosities commonly found on the stem of the plant were eagerly sought after by our Chinese followers, who regard them as a valuable medicine. The Erythrina mentioned above was now in flower, and made a handsome, shewy appearance. It was frequented by considerable numbers of a large and beautiful species of pigeon, a circumstance the more remarkable, as the birds we had hitherto seen in these latitudes were of solitary habits, few in number, and not gregarious. This bird was extremely handsome; its body was of a snow-white colour; its wings, and the extremity of its tail, tipped with black. It appeared to be about twice the size of our domestic pigeon. Though we shot one, we were not so fortunate as to procure it.