The Creature Was Much Hacked About, And The
Two Hind Feet Almost Cut Off; But It Was The Largest And
Finest
specimen of the kind I had seen; and after an hour's hard work I
handed over the body to
The owners, who immediately cut it up and
roasted it for supper.
As this was a very good place for birds, I determined to remain a
month longer, and took the opportunity of a native boat going to
Dobbo, to send Ali for a fresh supply of ammunition and
provisions. They started on the 10th of April, and the house was
crowded with about a hundred men, boys, women, and girls,
bringing their loads of sugar-cane, plantains, sirih-leaf, yams,
&c.; one lad going from each house to sell the produce and make
purchases. The noise was indescribable. At least fifty of the
hundred were always talking at once, and that not in the low
measured tones of the apathetically polite Malay, but with loud
voices, shouts, and screaming laughter, in which the women and
children were even more conspicuous than the men. It was only
while gazing at me that their tongues were moderately quiet,
because their eyes were fully occupied. The black vegetable soil
here overlying the coral rock is very rich, and the sugar-cane
was finer than any I had ever seen. The canes brought to the boat
were often ten and even twelve feet long, and thick in
proportion, with short joints throughout, swelling between the
knots with the, abundance of the rich juice. At Dobbo they get a
high price for it, 1d. to 3d. a stick, and there is an insatiable
demand among the crews of the praus and the Baba fishermen. Here
they eat it continually. They half live on it, and sometimes feed
their pigs with it. Near every house are great heaps of the
refuse cane; and large wicker-baskets to contain this refuse as
it is produced form a regular part of the furniture of a house.
Whatever time of the day you enter, you are sure to find three or
four people with a yard of cane in one hand, a knife in the
other, and a basket between their legs, hacking, paring, chewing,
and basket-filling, with a persevering assiduity which reminds
one of a hungry cow grazing, or of a caterpillar eating up a
leaf.
After five days' absence the boats returned from Dobbo, bringing
Ali and all the things I had sent for quite safe. A large party
had assembled to be ready to carry home the goods brought, among
which were a good many cocoa-nut, which are a great luxury here.
It seems strange that they should never plant them; but the
reason simply is, that they cannot bring their hearts to bury a
good nut for the prospective advantage of a crop twelve years
hence. There is also the chance of the fruits being dug up and
eaten unless watched night and day.
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