The Island Of Batchian Possesses No Really Indigenous
Inhabitants, The Interior Being Altogether Uninhabited; And There
Are Only A Few
Small villages on various parts of the coast; yet
I found here four distinct races, which would wofully mislead an
Ethnological traveller unable to obtain information as to their
origin, first there are the Batchian Malays, probably the
earliest colonists, differing very little from those of Ternate.
Their language, however, seems to have more of the Papuan
element, with a mixture of pure Malay, showing that the
settlement is one of stragglers of various races, although now
sufficiently homogeneous. Then there are the "Orang Sirani," as
at Ternate and Amboyna. Many of these have the Portuguese
physiognomy strikingly preserved, but combined with a skin
generally darker than the Malays. Some national customs are
retained, and the Malay, which is their only language, contains a
large number of Portuguese words and idioms. The third race
consists of the Galela men from the north of Gilolo, a singular
people, whom I have already described; and the fourth is a colony
from Tomóre, in the eastern peninsula of Celebes. These people
were brought here at their own request a few years ago, to avoid
extermination by another tribe. They have a very light
complexion, open Tartar physiognomy, low stature, and a language
of the Bugis type. They are an industrious agricultural people,
and supply the town with vegetables. They make a good deal of
bark cloth, similar to the tapa of the Polynesians, by cutting
down the proper trees and taping off large cylinders of bark,
which is beaten with mallets till it separates from the wood. It
is then soaked, and so continuously and regularly beaten out that
it becomes as thin and as tough as parchment. In this foam it is
much used for wrappers for clothes; and they also make jackets of
it, sewn neatly together and stained with the juice of another
kind of bark, which gives it a dark red colour and renders it
nearly waterproof.
Here are four very distinct kinds of people who may all be seen
any day in and about the town of Batchian. Now if we suppose a
traveller ignorant of Malay, picking up a word or two here and
there of the "Batchian language," and noting down the "physical
and moral peculiarities, manners, and customs of the Batchian
people" - (for there are travellers who do all this in four-and-
twenty hours) - what an accurate and instructive chapter we should
have' what transitions would be pointed out, what theories of the
origin of races would be developed while the next traveller might
flatly contradict every statement and arrive at exactly opposite
conclusions.
Soon after I arrived here the Dutch Government introduced a new
copper coinage of cents instead of doits (the 100th instead of
the 120th part of a guilder), and all the old coins were ordered
to be sent to Ternate to be changed. I sent a bag containing
6,000 doits, and duly received the new money by return of the
boat. Then Ali went to bring it, however, the captain required a
written order; so I waited to send again the next day, and it was
lucky I did so, for that night my house was entered, all my boxes
carried out and ransacked, and the various articles left on the
road about twenty yards off, where we found them at five in the
morning, when, on getting up and finding the house empty, we
rushed out to discover tracks of the thieves. Not being able to
find the copper money which they thought I had just received,
they decamped, taking nothing but a few yards of cotton cloth and
a black coat and trousers, which latter were picked up a few days
afterwards hidden in the grass. There was no doubt whatever who
were the thieves. Convicts are employed to guard the Government
stores when the boat arrives from Ternate. Two of them watch all
night, and often take the opportunity to roam about and commit
robberies.
The next day I received my money, and secured it well in a strong
box fastened under my bed. I took out five or six hundred cents
for daily expenses, and put them in a small japanned box, which
always stood upon my table. In the afternoon I went for a short
walk, and on my return this box and my keys, which I had
carelessly left on the table, were gone. Two of my boys were in
the house, but had heard nothing. I immediately gave information
of the two robberies to the Director at the mines and to the
Commandant at the fort, and got for answer, that if I caught the
thief in the act I might shoot him. By inquiry in the village, we
afterwards found that one of the convicts who was on duty at the
Government rice-store in the village had quitted his guard, was
seen to pass over the bridge towards my house, was seen again
within two hundred yards of my house, and on returning over the
bridge into the village carried something under his arm,
carefully covered with his sarong. My box was stolen between the
hours he was seen going and returning, and it was so small as to
be easily carried in the way described. This seemed pretty clear
circumstantial evidence. I accused the man and brought the
witnesses to the Commandant. The man was examined, and confessed
having gone to the river close to my house to bathe; but said he
had gone no farther, having climbed up a cocoa-nut tree and
brought home two nuts, which he had covered over, _because he was
ashamed to be seen carrying them!_ This explanation was thought
satisfactory, and he was acquitted. I lost my cash and my box, a
seal I much valued, with other small articles, and all my keys-
the severest loss by far. Luckily my large cash-box was left
locked, but so were others which I required to open immediately.
There was, however, a very clever blacksmith employed to do
ironwork for the mines, and he picked my locks for me when I
required them, and in a few days made me new keys, which I used
all the time I was abroad.
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