A Long Time Ago, They Said,
Some Strangers Came To Aru, And Came Here To Wanumbai, And The
Chief Of
The Wanumbai people did not like them, and wanted them
to go away, but they would not go, and so
It came to fighting,
and many Aru men were killed, and some, along with the chief,
were taken prisoners, and carried away by the strangers. Some of
the speakers, however, said that he was not carried away, but
went away in his own boat to escape from the foreigners, and went
to the sea and never came back again. But they all believe that
the chief and the people that went with him still live in some
foreign country; and if they could but find out where, they would
send for them to come back again. Now having some vague idea that
white men must know every country beyond the sea, they wanted to
know if I had met their people in my country or in the sea. They
thought they must be there, for they could not imagine where else
they could be. They had sought for them everywhere, they said - on
the land and in the sea, in the forest and on the mountains, in
the air and in the sky, and could not find them; therefore, they
must be in my country, and they begged me to tell them, for I
must surely know, as I came from across the great sea. I tried to
explain to them that their friends could not have reached my
country in small boats; and that there were plenty of islands
like Aru all about the sea, which they would be sure to find.
Besides, as it was so long ago, the chief and all the people must
be dead. But they quite laughed at this idea, and said they were
sure they were alive, for they had proof of it. And then they
told me that a good many years ago, when the speakers were boys,
some Wokan men who were out fishing met these lost people in the
sea, and spoke to them; and the chief gave the Wokan men a
hundred fathoms of cloth to bring to the men of Wanumbai, to show
that they were alive and would soon come back to them, but the
Wokan men were thieves, and kept the cloth, and they only heard
of it afterwards; and when they spoke about it, the Wokan men
denied it, and pretended they had not received the cloth; - so
they were quite sure their friends were at that time alive and
somewhere in the sea. And again, not many years ago, a report
came to them that some Bu0gis traders had brought some children
of their lost people; so they went to Dobbo to see about it, and
the owner of the house, who was now speaking to me, was one who
went; but the Bugis roan would not let them see the children, and
threatened to kill them if they came into his house. He kept the
children shut up in a large box, and when he went away he took
them with him. And at the end of each of these stories, they
begged me in an imploring tone to tell them if I knew where their
chief and their people now were.
By dint of questioning, I got some account of the strangers who
had taken away their people. They said they were wonderfully
strong, and each one could kill a great many Aru men; and when
they were wounded, however badly, they spit upon the place, and
it immediately became well. And they made a great net of rattans,
and entangled their prisoners in it, and sunk them in the water;
and the next day, when they pulled the net up on shore, they made
the drowned men come to life again, and carried them away.
Much more of the same kind was told me, but in so confused and
rambling a manner that I could make nothing out of it, till I
inquired how long ago it was that all this happened, when they
told me that after their people were taken away the Bugis came in
their praus to trade in Aru, and to buy tripang and birds' nests.
It is not impossible that something similar to what they related
to me really happened when the early Portuguese discoverers first
carne to Aru, and has formed the foundation for a continually
increasing accumulation of legend and fable. I have no doubt that
to the next generation, or even before, I myself shall be
transformed into a magician or a demigod, a worker of miracles,
and a being of supernatural knowledge. They already believe that
all the animals I preserve will come to life again; and to their
children it will be related that they actually did so. An unusual
spell of fine weather setting in just at my arrival has made them
believe I can control the seasons; and the simple circumstance of
my always walking alone in the forest is a wonder and a mystery
to them, as well as my asking them about birds and animals I have
not yet seen, and showing an acquaintance with their form,
colours, and habits. These facts are brought against me when I
disclaim knowledge of what they wish me to tell them. "You must
know," say they; "you know everything: you make the fine weather
for your men to shoot, and you know all about our birds and our
animals as well as we do; and you go alone into the forest and
are not afraid." Therefore every confession of ignorance on my
part is thought to be a blind, a mere excuse to avoid telling
them too much. My very writing materials and books are to them
weird things; and were I to choose to mystify them by a few
simple experiments with lens and magnet, miracles without end
would in a few years cluster about me; and future travellers,
penetrating to Wanumbai, world h hardly believe that a poor
English naturalist, who had resided a few months among them,
could have been the original of the supernatural being to whom so
many marvels were attributed.
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