In the Eastern Seas

by William Henry Giles Kingston

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

  THE TREASURES OF OUR ISLAND.

  The next morning, as we took our way to the sago wood, our ears weresaluted by the loud cries of some of the birds of paradise; and lookingup, we saw a vast number of them collected on the tops of some loftytrees in the forest, having immense heads of wide-spreading brancheswith scanty foliage, though with large leaves. Suddenly the birds beganto move about in the most extraordinary manner, stretching out theirnecks, raising their beautifully-tinted plumes, and elevating theirwings, which they kept in a continual state of vibration. Now they flewfrom branch to branch backwards and forwards, so that the trees appearedfilled with waving plumes, and every variety of form and colour. "Why,they are dancing in the air!" exclaimed Oliver; and truly it seemed asif they were expressly performing a dance for our entertainment. Thewings appeared to be raised directly over the back. The head wasstretched out, bending downwards; and the long hinder feathers wereelevated and expanded, forming two superb golden fans, striped with deepred at the base, and fading away into the pale brown tint of the body.Their heads were yellow, their throat emerald-green--though even thebright tints were scarcely perceptible amid the rich golden glory whichwaved above them. They appeared to be of the size of crows, the bodiesbeing of a rich coffee brown. Their long gold and orange feathers,which form their most conspicuous ornament, spring from the sidesbeneath each wing; and I found afterwards, when I examined one of thebirds, that when in repose they are partly concealed by them.

  We could scarcely move from the spot, so delighted were we with thebeautiful appearance of these magnificent birds. Now and then, also,superb butterflies of gorgeous colours flew by us; while here and there,as the sunlight penetrated amongst the branches of the trees, we saw,creeping along the ground or up the stems, numbers of glitteringbeetles, of equally beautiful tints.

  At length, however, we repaired to our sago-tree. Macco used hisnewly-formed axe with as much judgment as at first; we as before workingaway at intervals with our knives. At length he exclaimed, "Me t'inktree fall now. You go to end of rope and haul, haul. Take care farenough off; and I cut, cut."

  Macco again shouted; and Oliver and I hauling with all our might, we sawthe lofty tree bending forward. We ran back even further than wasnecessary, and down it came with a crash upon the ground, which echoedthrough the forest, and startled several creatures, which went flying orleaping, it seemed to us, among the branches or over the ground. One,however, in a little time came back again, and we saw a curious blackface looking down upon us. "A monkey or baboon!" I cried out. Achattering cry was the answer, and the black face disappeared among thebranches.

  We could do little more towards preparing the sago that evening. Onpassing through a more open part of the forest, our eyes were gladdenedby seeing some large fruit hanging from the top of some palm-trees."Cocoa-nut!--cocoa-nut!" cried Macco. Yes; there was the long-covetedcocoa-nut; and apparently mature. Macco, as may be supposed, was veryquickly at the top of the tree, and engaged in throwing down the nuts.

  "Stay!" I cried out; "don't pick more than are necessary, and we mayhave them fresh."

  We had soon torn off the fibrous covering, and knocked a hole in one ofthe eyes. How deliciously cool and sweet did the juice inside themtaste!

  "That is refreshing!" exclaimed Oliver. "I am glad we have begun on thesago-tree, or we might have been lazy, and not have taken the trouble tocut it down."

  "Yes, indeed," I answered; "and remember the cocoa-nuts will only lastfor a time, whereas the sago will keep as long as we require it." Herewas another addition to our store of provisions, for which we had trulycause to be thankful.

  Next morning we set to work to cut off the leaves and leaf-stalks, andwe then took off a strip of bark from the upper part of the trunk. Wenow had the pithy matter exposed, which in the upper part is of snowywhiteness, and of the consistency of a hardish pear, with woody fibresrunning through it, a quarter of an inch from each other. We had seen,the pith removed by means of a club, with which it is pounded whilestill in the trunk. Our next work, accordingly, was to form a couple ofclubs for the purpose. It was a difficult matter, however, to cut apiece of hard wood suitable for our object. After hunting about forsome time, we could find nothing to suit us. At last it occurred to methat we might load the end of a stout piece of bamboo, which might, atall events, do better than nothing. We accordingly cut some pieces, andgoing to the shore, fixed in the bottom of each a lump of coral rock,which Macco managed to secure in a neat and at the same time thoroughmanner. With these we commenced operations, and though the process wasslower than it might otherwise have been, we found that we could manageto beat out a considerable quantity of sago pith.

  While Oliver and I were proceeding with this work, Macco who was farmore ingenious than we were, commenced the operation of the washingmachine. This he formed of the large sheathing bases of the leaves, inthe shape of a trough. The object is to strain the sago pith. With thefibrous covering from the leaf-stalks of the cocoa-nuts he soon twisteda net-like strainer. The trough, I should say, is deep in the centreand very shallow at the end; thus the starch which is dissolved sinksdown to the bottom of the trough, while the water runs away from theupper part. Macco made also some baskets out of the sheathing bases ofthe leaves, in which we might carry the sago.

  We now set out with our materials to our spring. There was not as muchwater as we should have desired, but still it seemed to come bubbling upin sufficient quantity for our purpose, without fear of exhausting thesupply. Macco, having formed a number of trestles of pieces of bamboosticks, rested the trough between the forks, the straining place beingplaced on higher trestles than the strainer in the centre, so that thewater might run down into the trough below. The strainer was nowstretched across the upper part of the trough, and putting in our sago,Macco began to pour the water from the shell which he had brought forthe purpose. We eagerly watched the process. In a short time a gooddeal of thick matter seemed to run off, leaving only refuse in the net.This refuse we threw aside, and supplied its place with fresh sago.This we continued doing till our trough was nearly full, and the waterbeing allowed to run off, we found a fine mass of sago starch with aslightly red tinge. We now made this up into thick cylindrical masses,as we had seen done before, and covered them up with the sago leaves.

  Truly thankful for our success, we carried off the sago we had thusmanufactured to our encampment. We agreed, however, before commencingany other operation, to turn all the pith we had obtained into sago, aswe might not otherwise have time to manufacture a further supply. Ourdifficulty was to cook it. We had seen it eaten boiled with water. Itthen forms a thick glutinous mass, and salt is mixed with it to give itflavour, as it is of a somewhat astringent taste. We tried boiling somein one of our shells; but before the sago was sufficiently boiled theshell caught fire. We, however, managed to eat it, and mixing it withsalt, found it palatable. We then determined to try and make some breadof it. To do this, however, we had to build an oven. This, withoutdifficulty, we formed in the earth. We then filled it with hot embers.Having pounded our sago in a shell, we mixed it with water, and made itinto small cakes. These we placed on stones in the oven. In our firstexperiment we burned up our cakes, as we kept them too long in. We thenagreed that we would try and make a baking-pan, such as we had seenformed. This is a square box made of clay, with several divisions, intoeach of which a cake is placed sideways. The difficulty, however, wasto form this oven; and we agreed that we would try and find some clayand manufacture one. At the next attempt we kept the cakes in a muchshorter time, and found them sufficiently palatable. We were occupiedfor more than a week in manufacturing our sago. It was probably veryinferior to what is made by more experienced persons. At the same timeit was wholesome, and would be a great addition to the animal food wewere likely to procure.

  One evening, as we approached our hut, after our day's work was over, weheard a noise inside. We approached noiseles
sly, with our bamboo spearsready for use, thinking, probably, that wine animal had got inside.Just as we were within ten yards of the entrance, out popped a largeblack creature, which turned round chattering and grinning at us, andthen bolted off as fast as it could, with a lump of sago in its paws."Monkey! monkey!" cried Macco, giving chase with his spear. Thecreature was, however, I saw, a baboon, from having no tail, or animperceptible tail if he had one, the part he turned towards us beingbare of hair, and of a ruddy hue. He was far too nimble, however, evenfor Macco to overtake him, and up he sprang into a tree, goingchattering among the branches, dropping the sago, however, in hisflight. I recognised, as he turned round, the face I had seen watchingus when we were making the sago.

  We agreed that we must secure our provisions, or he, having discoveredour store, would perhaps return with many companions to pilfer it. Iheard afterwards that only one species of baboon is found thus far east,probably introduced by Malay seamen, who constantly carry baboons andmonkeys on board their vessels. We agreed, indeed, that it was now timeto begin a hut, in which we could sit more comfortably during theevening, and which would shelter us from the rains, which I knew werelikely to occur before long. The rich vegetation which covered theisland would not, I knew, exist, unless frequently watered by heavyshowers.

  We agreed to call our house Bamboo Villa. We first stuck into theground a number of stout bamboos, and then secured, at about six feetfrom the ground, to the uprights, horizontally, some bamboos almost ofthe same thickness. These formed the beams on which we rested ourfloor. The floor was composed of the mid-ribs of the sago-palm, splitin two, and supported beneath by poles. The sides were of the samematerial. Our work, the framework of which was of bamboo, was thatchedwith the smaller mid-ribs, and with the leaves of the sago-palm foliage,tied in bundles, side by side. These, however, being very thick, formeda covering which kept out the heat of the sun as well as the rain, avery important consideration in that climate. A ladder of bambooenabled us to reach the door of our house.

  In this abode we hoped better to preserve our provisions, and to be freealso from insects or any reptiles which might exist on the island. Wehad frequently caught sight in the distance of creatures moving aboutamong the thickly-growing trees, but had been unable to tell what theywere. We had also seen movements amongst the dense mass of leaves whichcovered the ground, and had supposed them to be lizards and snakes, orother crawling things.

  As soon as our house was finished we manufactured a sago oven, which webaked in the sun. It was, however, of a very fragile nature, and wefeared would not answer very well for our cakes--to use it, indeed, wewere obliged to increase its size. When all was ready, we prepared somecakes. This we did by drying the sago thoroughly in the sun, thenpounding it in a shell into a fine powder. Keeping some of the powderto sprinkle the oven with, we made the rest into cakes. Having got theoven heated, we put in our baking-pan, with a piece of palm-leaf overit, and then closed up the hole with stones and earth. In a short timewe again opened the mouth of the oven, when lo, and behold, our pan hadburst asunder, and though the cakes were pretty well done, pieces ofclay were sticking to them on every side. It took us some time to pickthem out before the cakes were at all fit to eat; indeed, an epicurewould certainly not have considered them palatable. What would we nothave given for a good pot in which to boil our water, and a well-madepan for baking our cakes!

  "There is no use wishing for them," exclaimed Oliver; "we must make thebest use of the materials at hand."

  We determined not to be defeated, and our next pan was made of clay, andstrengthened with pieces of bamboo in the inside. We began baking it inthe sun, and then carried it to our oven, which was only slightlyheated. We then added more fuel, and closed it up. On opening it weonly let in a little air at a time, and this allowed it to cool slowly.On taking it out, not a crack was perceptible. On examining it, when itwas thoroughly cool, we had hopes that it would answer better than itspredecessor. The next time we made some cakes we pounded some cocoa-nutwith them. We then heated our oven, and put in our pan full of cakes.In about five or six minutes we again opened it, and drawing out thepan, we saw the cakes well cooked, and the pan unbroken.

  We had been too busy to go hunting; but we determined, as soon as ourhouse was completed in every respect, to do so systematically. We hopedto have no difficulty in procuring a cuscus occasionally, and as therewere evidently many birds on the island, to trap them or kill them insome other way. We talked of forming cross-bows, and we hoped to findsome elastic wood for the purpose. Still, we had a longing forvegetables. We found a delicate-looking plant, which had nothingsuspicious about it, for I knew the appearance of several of the noxiousplants. On digging down we discovered a root to it. Macco said hethought that it was wholesome, and volunteered to try it. We agreedthat it would be better for one person to do so, and to take only alittle at a time, that, should it have any bad qualities, we mightdiscover them before serious injury was done to any of us. Weaccordingly boiled some in a shell with some hot stones, and Macco,taking a little, declared it very good. Next day he ate rather more ofit, and in a short time took a considerable quantity mixed with someshell-fish, which we had just before procured. Its wholesome nature wasnow satisfactorily ascertained, and we had thus another article of foodon which we could depend.

  Among the many beautiful objects in our way were the groups of bamboos.Botanically, the bamboo is looked upon as grass, but, practically, it isa tree, as it sometimes attains the height of seventy or eighty feet.In many of the places we had visited we found the native huts built ofit. For this purpose the people split it open, and press it out flat.To strengthen the walls, other perpendicular and horizontal pieces arefixed to it. The masts of small vessels are made of it, as well asspars, and drinking-cups and vessels of all sorts. The more savagetribes still make their weapons of bamboo, as, when slightly burned, asharp edge like a knife can be given to it; indeed, the pointed end of abamboo makes a formidable spear, which an unarmed man would not wish toencounter.

  I cannot give a full account of our residence on the island. We werenever without an ample supply of provisions, both vegetable and animal.A fortnight had passed since we had buried the eggs in the mound, andhad almost forgotten all about them, when, as Oliver and I were seatedin our hut, we heard Macco shouting out, "Come!--see! see!" We hurriedout, and remarked a curious commotion on the top of the mound we hadthrown up. Presently, one head popped out from the earth, and thenanother, and another, and a curious half-fledged bird emerged, andpointing its head inland, began to run away towards the wood. Maccomade chase, and brought it back. We, in the meantime, seized theremainder of the little creatures as they emerged from their curioushatching-ground, and carried them off to the hut. They seemed veryunwilling to stay there, till we placed some sago flour and other foodbefore them. They instantly began pecking it up, as if they had beenlong accustomed to feeding. Nothing seemed to satisfy them, and we weresurprised at the quantity of food they managed to swallow. I never sawsuch independent little creatures. It was satisfactory to know that wewere not depriving an affectionate hen of her offspring. As we wereanxious to preserve them, we made a pen of bamboo sticks closely stuckin the ground, in a circle of about a couple of yards in diameter. Ittook us some time to do this. As soon as the pen was finished we putthe brush-turkeys--for such we supposed they were--inside it, throwingin at the same time a supply of food. The little creatures ran roundand round, but finding they could not get out, began to peck away at thefood. Supposing that, as they took to the woods, they would requiresome shelter, we threw in a quantity of leaves, and small branches, andtwigs. Under these, when they could eat no more, they went to roost,apparently very well contented with their quarters.

  Well satisfied with our success, we searched for some time, but withoutfinding another mound; indeed, the birds which made them did not appearto be very common in the island. However, we could not make much wayinto the interior on account of t
he thick jungle, though here and therewere a few open glades through which we could pass along with tolerableease. We had reached one of these glades when we saw directly before usa brown animal jumping along over the ground. "A kangaroo! a kangaroo!"exclaimed Oliver. "It is so like the pictures of one." We, of course,made chase, but the kangaroo--for a species of that animal it was--sooncaught sight of us. Greatly to our surprise, however, when it came tothe end of the glade, instead of forcing its way through the thicket, orturning round to stand at bay, it began to climb up the nearest tree.It did not climb very fast, however, and had we been somewhat nearer wemight have struck it with our spears. By the time we got up it hadclimbed above our reach. I then remembered reading of a tree kangaroowhich is supplied with powerful claws on the fore-feet. Once up in thetree, it did not appear to be much frightened at us, and we had timemore particularly to observe it. It had a hairy tail, much finer thanthe ordinary kangaroo, and we observed as it went over the ground thatit had not used it as a support, as the Australian kangaroo does.

  Macco proposed climbing the tree to attack it, but we thought it wouldbe dangerous for him to make the attempt, as the creature might seizehim in its claws, and tear his skin. He laughed at the notion, andremarked, "If he do dat, he tumble down. No, no; you let me alone. Yougo away, I kill kangaroo!"

  Saying this, he made a circuit through the thick forest, so as to getthe tree between himself and the branch on which the kangaroo wassitting. We, meantime, retired down the glade. As soon as the animalsaw that we were at a distance, he began tearing away the leaves from abranch and eating them voraciously. Macco, hanging the spear about hisneck, climbed up a neighbouring tree, which was united to the one onwhich the kangaroo was sitting by a strong band of ratan. Along this,finding it secure, he cautiously climbed, till he gained a branchdirectly above the kangaroo. We watched him anxiously, afraid to movelest we should disturb the animal. He seemed to be considering whetherhis spear was long enough to reach it. Then we saw him cautiously stoopdown over the branch. The moment the kangaroo stopped eating, he drewback and remained still as death. When the animal again commencedtearing off the twigs, he cautiously approached. At length he seemedsatisfied that he was in a good position, and raising his spear, hedarted it down directly on the animal's neck. It must have pierced thespine, for the creature instantly dropped off the branch and lay withoutmoving on the ground. We ran up as fast as our legs could carry us, butMacco was on the spot before us, and examining the creature. He seemedsatisfied that it was perfectly dead. It had a graceful, mild-lookinghead, and, except in the points I have mentioned, was in all respectslike an ordinary kangaroo, though not so large as the animals I had readof in Australia. It was indeed a prize to us, for we had not killed acuscus for some time, and had been living on shell-fish, sago, andcocoa-nuts, with now and then a few turtle's eggs. Fastening the legsof our prize round a piece of the universally useful bamboo, we bore itoff in triumph to our mansion, and very soon had some delicious steakscooking before our fire.