In The City Of Amboyna My Friends Doctors
Mohnike And Doleschall, As Well As Most Of The European Residents
And Traders, Made Exactly The Same Complaint, And Would Rather
Have Mahometans For Servants, Even If Convicts, Than Any Of The
Native Christians.
One great cause of this is the fact, that with
the Mahometans temperance is a part of their religion, and has
become so much a habit that practically the rule is never
transgressed.
One fertile source of want, arid one great
incentive to idleness and crime, is thus present with the one
class, but absent in the other; but besides this the Christians
look upon themselves as nearly the equals of the Europeans, who
profess the same religion, and as far superior to the followers
of Islam, and are therefore prone to despise work, and to
endeavour to live by trade, or by cultivating their own land. It
need hardly be said that with people in this low state of
civilization religion is almost wholly ceremonial, and that
neither are the doctrines of Christianity comprehended, nor its
moral precepts obeyed. At the same time, as far as my own
experience goes, I have found the better class of "Orang Sirani"
as civil, obliging, and industrious as the Malays, and only
inferior to them from their tendency to get intoxicated.
Having written to the Assistant Resident of Saparua (who has
jurisdiction over the opposite part of the coast of Ceram) for a
boat to pursue my journey, I received one rather larger than
necessary with a crew of twenty men. I therefore bade adieu to my
kind friend Captain Van der Beck, and left on the evening after
its arrival for the village of Elpiputi, which we reached in two
days. I had intended to stay here, but not liking the appearance
of the place, which seemed to have no virgin forest near it, I
determined to proceed about twelve miles further up the bay of
Amahay, to a village recently formed, and inhabited by indigenes
from the interior, and where some extensive cacao plantations
were being made by some gentlemen of Amboyna. I reached the place
(called Awaiya) the same afternoon, and with the assistance of
Mr. Peters (the manager of the plantations) and the native chief,
obtained a small house, got all my things on shore, and paid and
discharged my twenty boatmen, two of whom had almost driven me to
distraction by beating tom-toms the whole voyage.
I found the people here very nearly in a state of nature, and
going almost naked. The men wear their frizzly hair gathered into
a flat circular knot over the left temple, which has a very
knowing look, and in their ears cylinders of wood as thick as
one's finger, and coloured red at the ends. Armlets and anklets
of woven grass or of silver, with necklaces of beads or of small
fruits, complete their attire. The women wear similar ornaments,
but have their hair loose. All are tall, with a dark brown skin,
and well marked Papuan physiognomy. There is an Amboyna
schoolmaster in the village, and a good number of children attend
school every morning. Such of the inhabitants as have become
Christians may be known by their wearing their hair loose, and
adopting to some extent the native Christian dress-trousers and a
loose shirt. Very few speak Malay, all these coast villages
having been recently formed by inducing natives to leave the
inaccessible interior. In all the central part of Ceram there new
remains only one populous village in the mountains. Towards the
east and the extreme west are a few others, with which exceptions
all the inhabitants of Ceram are collected on the coast. In the
northern and eastern districts they are mostly Mahometans, while
on the southwest coast, nearest Amboyna, they are nominal
Christians. In all this part of the Archipelago the Dutch make
very praiseworthy efforts to improve the condition of the
aborigines by establishing schoolmasters in every village (who
are mostly natives of Amboyna or Saparua, who have; been
instructed by the resident missionaries), and by employing native
vaccinators to prevent the ravages of smallpox. They also
encourage the settlement of Europeans, and the formation of new
plantations of cacao and coffee, one of the best means of raising
the condition of the natives, who thus obtain work at fair wages,
and have the opportunity of acquiring something of European
tastes and habits.
My collections here did not progress much better than at my
former station, except that butterflies were a little more
plentiful, and some very fine species were to be found in the
morning on the sea-beach, sitting so quietly on the wet sand that
they could be caught with the fingers. In this way I had many
fine specimens of Papilios brought me by the children. Beetles,
however, were scarce, and birds still more so, and I began to
think that the handsome species which I had so often heard were
found in Ceram must be entirely confined to the eastern extremity
of the island.
A few miles further worth, at the head of the Bay of Amahay, is
situated the village of Makariki, from whence there is a native
path quite across the island to the north coast. My friend Mr.
Rosenberg, whose acquaintance I had made at New Guinea, and who
was now the Government superintendent of all this part of Ceram,
returned from Wahai, on the north coast, after I had been three
weeks at Awaiya, and showed me some fine butterflies he had
obtained on the mountain streams in the interior. He indicated a
spot about the centre of the island where he thought I might
advantageously stay a few days. I accordingly visited Makariki
with him the next day, and he instructed the chief of the village
to furnish me with men to carry my baggage, and accompany me on
my excursion. As the people of the village wanted to be at home
on Christmas-day, it was necessary to start as soon as possible;
so we agreed that the men should be ready in two days, and I
returned to make my arrangements.
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