They Had Come From
The Other Side Of The Island On Some Question Of Trespass Or
Boundary, And Were Prepared For War If Peaceable Negotiations
Should Fail.
While at Manowolko I had purchased for 100 florins £9.) a small
prau, which was brought over the next day, as I was informed it
was more easy to have the necessary alterations made in Goram,
where several Ke workmen were settled.
As soon as we began getting my prau ready I was obliged to give
up collecting, as I found that unless I was constantly on the
spot myself very little work would be clone. As I proposed making
some long voyages in this boat, I determined to fit it up
conveniently, and was obliged to do all the inside work myself,
assisted by my two Amboynese boys. I had plenty of visitors,
surprised to see a white man at work, and much astonished at the
novel arrangements I was making in one of their native vessels.
Luckily I had a few tools of my own, including a small saw and
some chisels, and these were now severely tried, cutting and
fitting heavy iron-wood planks for the flooring and the posts
that support the triangular mast. Being of the best London make,
they stood the work well, and without them it would have been
impossible for me to have finished my boat with half the
neatness, or in double the time. I had a Ke workman to put in new
ribs, for which I bought nails of a Bugis trader, at 8d. a pound.
My gimlets were, however, too small; and having no augers we were
obliged to bore all the holes with hot irons, a most tedious and
unsatisfactory operation.
Five men had engaged to work at the prau till finished, and then
go with me to Mysol, Waigiou, and Ternate. Their ideas of work
were, however, very different from mine, and I had immense
difficulty with them; seldom more than two or three coming
together, and a hundred excuses being given for working only half
a day when they did come. Yet they were constantly begging
advances of money, saying they had nothing to eat. When I gave it
them they were sure to stay away the next day, and when I refused
any further advances some of them declined working any more. As
the boat approached completion my difficulties with the men
increased. The uncle of one had commenced a war, or sort of
faction fight, and wanted his assistance; another's wife was ill,
and would not let him come; a third had fever and ague, and pains
in his head and back; and a fourth had an inexorable creditor who
would not let him go out of his sight. They had all received a
month's wages in advance; and though the amount was not large, it
was necessary to make them pay it back, or I should get ago men
at a11. I therefore sent the village constable after two, and
kept them in custody a day, when they returned about three-
fourths of what they owed me.
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