“If, oh, Sahib! thy servant hath spoken falsely, let him die the death of a dog; but, if truly, let him live.”
“A bargain!” cried Martin; and so the conference ended, to the satisfaction of all parties.
When, however, the boat had been made seaworthy, there arose a dispute between my brother, Prabu, and me, as to who should undertake the somewhat dangerous service of seeking the prahu. Indeed, we could only settle it by casting lots, when the duty fell to my brother, who thereupon left the island by the wooded side, taking with him his rifle, all the ammunition we could spare, and some fruits.
The remainder of that day we patiently awaited another attack, but it came not. The Balinese contented themselves with keeping watch along the opposite shores—a matter, by the way, of small consolation to us, for it was evident they were only awaiting reinforcements from the interior, and, in all probability, fresh boats, and should these auxiliaries arrive before the coming of the prahu, we were hopelessly lost. Then, again, now that the excitement of the fighting was past, our men lay about in all directions in a state of exhaustion, with no other refreshment than the fruits of the cocoanut-tree and the gomuti palm; indeed, but for these two edibles, we should have died from mere exhaustion, as between them they afforded us both meat and drink. Apropos of the latter, it is not only one of the most singular members of the vegetable world in the Indian islands, but adapted to such a variety of uses, that my readers may fairly excuse me for giving them a description of it.
The gomuti (Borassus gomutus) is the thickest of all the palms, but shorter than the cocoa-nut. The fruits, which are about the size of a medlar, and of a triangular form, grow from the shoots of fructification on long strings of three or four feet, and that, too, in such abundance, that the quantity depending from a single shoot is more than a load for a man. The fleshy outer covering affords a juice of so highly stimulating and corrosive a nature, that, when applied to the skin, it occasions great pain and inflammation. Then, from the interior of the fruit, the Chinese prepare a sweetmeat, and the Indian islanders distil a spirit or toddy, which they use upon going into action, and which excites them in such a degree, that the Dutch not inappropriately denominate it hell-fire. This is the principal production of the gomuti palm, and it is extracted in the following ingenious manner:—
One of the shoots of fructification is, on the first appearance of fruit, beaten for three successive days with a small stick; the shoot is then cut off a little way from the root, and the liquor which pours forth is received in pots. One palm will, at the age of nine years, yield for two years at the average of three quarts a day. From this liquor, again, a sugar is made by boiling it to a syrup, and is sold in all the markets. The Chinese also use it in the composition of the celebrated Batavian arrack.
Another production of great value, and which resembles black horsehair, is found between the trunk and branches, in a matted form, interspersed with long, hard, woody twigs of the same color. When freed from the latter, it is used for any purpose of cordage. The small twigs found in the hair-like material are used by all the tribes who write on paper as pens, and for the manufacture of the poisoned arrows, which are blown from tubes. Beneath this hair-like material is found a third species, of a soft, gossamer-like texture, which is used by the Chinese in large quantities as oakum in calking the beams of ships, and as tinder for kindling fires. Lastly, like the true sago-palm, the gomuti affords a medullary matter, from which a farina is formed, and which is used throughout Java in considerable quantities. But to resume my story.
Hour after hour having passed without bringing an attack from the Balinese, I began to entertain some hope that the severe loss they had already sustained from our fire-arms, but more especially the rifles, had so sickened them that they would make no other attempt—at least until we had been reinforced by the prahu. These hopes, however, were dissipated when, at the dead of night, as I lay stretched across our earthworks with rifle in hand, I heard a confused noise, a splashing in the water, and saw torchlights dancing among the trees on the banks. Having awakened Prabu, he watched and listened for a few minutes, and then said:
“They have been reinforced from the town, Sahib. They have horsemen among them; I can hear the trampling of their hoofs—nay, listen, that was the neighing of a horse!”
“True,” I said; for I had distinctly made out the same sound.