Nat the Navigator. A Life of Nathaniel Bowditch. For Young Persons

by Henry I. Bowditch

ARRIVAL AT SUMATRA.

VISIT TO ISLE OF FRANCE.

PEPPER ISLANDS.

On the 2d of May he arrived among the Pepper Islands, near the coast of Sumatra. He found several American captains there, all actively engaged in loading their vessels with pepper. He had considerable difficulty in making any arrangement with the Rajahs of different places; but at length, having touched, without success, at several ports, he began to load at Tally-Poo, on the 9th of May. There he continued until the 18th of July, when, by his Journal, it appears that, having wasted a number of days, expecting that more pepper would be brought to the shore, he at last was informed by the Rajah he would not be allowed any more. Knowing that he should meet with equal trouble at every place on the coast, he concluded to quit it, and call at the Isle of France on his homeward passage. During their voyage, amid the various shoals and islands which abound here, they met with no inconvenience and no interruption, save that they anchored once or twice, towards night, and on the 25th of July were obliged to heave to, under the fire of two English ships of war, one named the Royal George, the commander of which took the liberty of searching, for the purpose of seeing whether there were any Englishmen on board.[6] The officer on this occasion was very polite, and the Putnam soon resumed its course, and in seventy-two hours more was on the open sea, under full sail, with the aid of the steady trade-winds of that place and season. On the 24th of August the vessel was in sight of the Isle of France. He there met his old friend Bonnefoy, whom he had left there on his first voyage, in 1795, and likewise many American friends. After purchasing some bags of pepper, and taking on board some provisions, which employed his time for four days, he sailed, for the last time from any foreign port, on Wednesday, August 31, 1803. The voyage homeward was very disagreeable, in consequence of much severe weather. Nothing remarkable happened to enliven the scene; but Mr. Bowditch disregarded the storms and waves. His mind was calm and tranquil, for he was daily occupied with his “peaceful mathematics.” He wrote in his Journal but seldom. There is, however, the following account of the Pepper Islands. “There are several native ports on the north-western coast of Sumatra, where the Americans trade for pepper—Analaboo-Sooso, Tangar, Tally-Poo, Muckie, &c., and several smaller ports, including about fifty miles of the coast. On your arrival at any of these ports, you contract with the Datoo for the pepper, and fix the price. If more than one vessel is at the port, the pepper which daily comes to the scales is shared between them, as they can agree, or they take it day by day, alternately. Sometimes the Datoo contracts to load one vessel before any other one takes any, and he holds to his agreement as long as he finds it for his interest, and no longer; for a handsome present, or an increase in the price, will prevent any more pepper from being brought in for several days; and the person who has made the agreement must either quit the port or offer an additional price.

PEPPER TRADE.

“The pepper season commences in January, when they begin to take from the vines the small kernels at the bottom. In March, April, and May is the height of the crop, at which time the pepper taken from the top of the vines is larger and more solid than that gathered at an earlier period. Many suppose that the pepper is all gathered in May; but I was in some of the gardens in July, and found at the top of the vines large quantities which would be ripe in a few days. The young crop was in considerable forwardness at the bottom of the vines. Some calculate on two crops, but from the best information I could procure there is only one.

“The pepper is generally weighed with American scales and weights, one hundred and thirty-three and a third pounds to a peccul. What is weighed each day is paid for in the evening, the natives not being willing to trust their property in the hands of those they deal with. And they ought to be dealt with in the same manner, it not being prudent to pay in advance to the Datoo, as it would be often difficult to get either the pepper or the money again from him. Spanish dollars are the current coin, but they do not take halves or quarters. They have a pang or piece, of which we could get but eighty for a dollar at Tally-Poo, though at other places they give one hundred or one hundred and twenty for the same.”

NEARING THE COAST.

DANGERS OF THE COAST.