How They
Managed It Was A Mystery To Me, But They Know Grass Must Be Had,
And They Get It.
One lame woman had charge of a flock of ducks.
Twice a day she took them out to feed
In the marshy places, let
them waddle and gobble for an hour or two, and then drove them
back and shut them up in a small dark shed to digest their meal,
whence they gave forth occasionally a melancholy quack. Every
night a watch was set, principally for the sake of the horses -
the people of Goa, only two miles off, being notorious thieves,
and horses offering the easiest and most valuable spoil. This
enabled me to sleep in security, although many people in Macassar
thought I was running a great risk, living alone in such a
solitary place and with such bad neighbours.
My house was surrounded by a kind of straggling hedge of roses,
jessamines, and other flowers, and every morning one of the women
gathered a basketful of the blossoms for Mr. Mesman's family. I
generally took a couple for my own breakfast table, and the
supply never failed during my stay, and I suppose never does.
Almost every Sunday Mr. M. made a shooting excursion with his
eldest son, a lad of fifteen, and I generally accompanied him;
for though the Dutch are Protestants, they do not observe Sunday
in the rigid manner practised in England and English colonies.
The Governor of the place has his public reception every Sunday
evening, when card-playing is the regular amusement.
On December 13th I went on board a prau bound for the Aru
Islands, a journey which will be described in the latter part of
this work.
On my return, after a seven months' absence, I visited another
district to the north of Macassar, which will form the subject of
the next chapter.
CHAPTER XVI.
CELEBES.
(MACASSAR. JULY TO NOVEMBER, 1857.)
I REACHED Macassar again on the 11th of July, and established
myself in my old quarters at Mamajam, to sort, arrange, clean,
and pack up my Aru collections. This occupied me a month; and
having shipped them off for Singapore, had my guns repaired, and
received a new one from England, together with a stock of pins,
arsenic, and other collecting requisites. I began to feel eager
for work again, and had to consider where I should spend my time
until the end of the year; I had left Macassar seven months
before, a flooded marsh being ploughed up for the rice-sowing.
The rains had continued for five months, yet now all the rice was
cut, and dry and dusty stubble covered the country just as when
I had first arrived there.
After much inquiry I determined to visit the district of Maros,
about thirty miles north of Macassar, where Mr. Jacob Mesman, a
brother of my friend, resided, who had kindly offered to find me
house-room and give me assistance should I feel inclined to visit
him. I accordingly obtained a pass from the Resident, and having
hired a boat set off one evening for Maros. My boy Ali was so ill
with fever that I was obliged to leave him in the hospital, under
the care of my friend the German doctor, and I had to make shift
with two new servants utterly ignorant of everything. We coasted
along during the night, and at daybreak entered the Maros river,
and by three in the afternoon reached the village. I immediately
visited the Assistant Resident, and applied for ten men to carry
my baggage, and a horse for myself. These were promised to be
ready that night, so that I could start as soon as I liked in the
morning. After having taken a cup of tea I took my leave, and
slept in the boat. Some of the men came at night as promised, but
others did not arrive until the next morning. It took some time to
divide my baggage fairly among them, as they all wanted to shirk
the heavy boxes, and would seize hold of some light article and
march off with it, until made to come back and wait until the whole
had been fairly apportioned. At length about eight o'clock all
was arranged, and we started for our walk to Mr. M.'s farm.
The country was at first a uniform plain of burned-up rice-
grounds, but at a few miles' distance precipitous hills appeared,
backed by the lofty central range of the peninsula. Towards these
our path lay, and after having gone six or eight miles the hills
began to advance into the plain right and left of us, and the
ground became pierced here and there with blocks and pillars of
limestone rock, while a few abrupt conical hills and peaks rose
like islands. Passing over an elevated tract forming the
shoulder of one of the hills, a picturesque scene lay before us.
We looked down into a little valley almost entirely surrounded by
mountains, rising abruptly in huge precipices, and forming a
succession of knolls and peaks aid domes of the most varied and
fantastic shapes. In the very centre of the valley was a large
bamboo house, while scattered around were a dozen cottages of
the same material.
I was kindly received by Mr. Jacob Mesman in an airy saloon
detached from the house, and entirely built of bamboo and
thatched with grass. After breakfast he took me to his foreman's
house, about a hundred yards off, half of which was given up to
me until I should decide where to have a cottage built for my own
use. I soon found that this spot was too much exposed to the wind
and dust, which rendered it very difficult to work with papers or
insects. It was also dreadfully hot in the afternoon, and after a
few days I got a sharp attack of fever, which determined me to
move. I accordingly fixed on a place about a mile off, at the
foot of a forest-covered hill, where in a few days Mr. M. built
for me a nice little house, consisting of a good-sized enclosed
verandah or open room, and a small inner sleeping-room, with a
little cookhouse outside.
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