Johann Gottfried Haensel

“ The inhabitants of the Nicobar islands believe, that all dangerous diseases proceed from the devil, who is nevertheless under the controul of their sorcerers, or Paters7. If, therefore, these men cannot cure a disorder by their tricks and inchantments, by which they pretend to catch the devil and drive him off the place, then they are sure, that he has entered into some man or woman, sitting in his or her house, and by witchcraft, sucking all the power of healing out of the patient's body. ”

“ We saw him reach the shore, and crawl through the mud into the jungle.
Part of the flesh of the crocodile or kayman is good and wholesome, when well cooked. It tastes somewhat like pork, for which I took it, and ate it with much relish, when I first came to Nancanwery; till, on inquiry, finding it to be the flesh of a beast so disgusting and horrible in its appearance and habits, I felt a loathing, which I could never overcome; but it is eaten by both natives and Europeans. ”

“ He is stark naked, and painted all over with various colours, making as terrific an appearance as possible, to frighten the devil, and indeed it is enough to terrify any man, to see him brandishing a short clumsy bludgeon, which he holds up with both hands, and dancing in the most furious manner. ”

“ One of the most formidable animals with which these islands abound, is the crocodile, or alligator. Kar Nicobar is overrun with them, as are all the other Nicobar islands, which have fresh-water lakes and streams. They are of two kinds, the black kayman, and the proper crocodile. The latter is said never to attack live creatures, but to devour only carrion, and is therefore not considered dangerous. Of the correctness of this opinion I had once ocular proof. I was walking at Queda along the coast, and looking at a number of children swimming and sporting in the water. ”

“ As soon as the north-east wind commenced, I went to the southern islands, where I staid a month, and not only collected a vast quantity of nests, but purchased all those which the natives brought for sale. The Malays, therefore, were disappointed, and got but few. We expected that they would have been thereby discouraged, and discontinued their visits. But we were mistaken. While I was at Manjoul, a small island, east of the channel of St. George, a prow with about sixty Malays arrived there, commanded [72] by a Nacata, who called himself Sayet Ismael, a priest of the King of Queda. ”

“ The most of these islands are hilly, and some of the mountains of considerable height: but Tricut, Tafouin, and Kar Nicobar, are flat, and covered [28] with forests of cocoa trees. The other islands have likewise a large proportion of cocoa and areca palms, and an immense quantity of timber trees of various kinds, some of them of enormous size. All the vallies and sides of the hills, to a considerable height, are thickly covered with them, insomuch, that the light of the sun has not been able for ages to penetrate through their foliage. ”

“ We always enjoyed their esteem and love, and they do not deserve to be classed with their ferocious neighbours, the Malays; being, in general, kind and gentle in their dispositions, except when roused by jealously, or other provocations; when their uncontrolled passions will lead them into excesses, as some of the Danish soldiers experienced. We always found them ready to serve us.
LETTER III.
I proceed to answer the questions you have put to me, and to give you some short account of the appearance of the country in the Nicobar Islands, and the customs of the inhabitants. ”

“ The natives of these islands are a free people, perfectly independent, but have a captain in every village. There are, indeed, several who claim the rank of captain, as being more sensible and clever than their neighbours, but only one of the number is considered as the Omjah karru, or the great master of the house. Yet no one is bound to obey him, for all of them, male and female, consider themselves under no control whatever ”

“ Thomas in the West Indies, who was formerly employed in the Nicobar mission, and resided for seven years in the island of Nancauwery. This worthy veteran has spent eighteen years in the East, and seventeen in the West Indies, and altogether thirty-eight years in the service of the Brethren's missions; yet by God's blessing, after suffering numberless hardships and dangerous illnesses, at the age of sixty-three he remains a most active, cheerful, and zealous labourer in the Lord's vineyard. ”

“ They have remarkably short legs, and are unable to rise, if they once fall or settle on the ground. I caught many in this state, and after examining them, threw them up into the air, when they immediately flew away; they cannot therefore, as some suppose, obtain their materials on the coast, or from rocks in the sea. My opinion is, that the nests are made of the gum of a peculiar tree, called by some the Nicobar cedar, and growing in great abundance in all the southern islands. Its wood is hard, black, and very heavy. ”

“ The kayman is less in size, and very fierce, seizing upon every creature that has life, but he cannot lift anything from the ground, as the lower jaw projects.
The bats of Nicobar are of a gigantic size; I have seen some, whose outstretched wings measured from five to six feet across the back, the body being the size of a common cat. ”

“ There are no wild beasts here, such as tygers and leopards, as on the coast of Coromandel. Monkies are found in the southernmost [30] islands, Sambelong, Tavap, and Katsoll. In some others are large herds of buffaloes and other cattle, originally brought thither by the Danes, but which have run wild in the woods, since the abandonment of the colony. They have increased prodigiously; and as the upper regions of the mountains are covered with vast quantities of fine grass, they find food in abundance, and grow to a large size, especially the buffaloes. ”

“ My recovery was very slow; and indeed, during my whole residence in Nancauwery, I never regained perfect health.
After the decease of the Brethren Wangeman and Liebisch, I was left alone with Brother Heyne. We were both ill, and suffered the want of many necessaries of life: but the Lord our Saviour did not forsake us; He strengthened our hearts, and comforted us by such a lively sense of His divine presence, that we were frequently filled with heavenly joy, during our daily prayers and meditations. ”

“ Their notion of the cause of an eclipse is the most [56] preposterous and ridiculous, that ever entered into the head, even of an heathen. They say, that the devil is come to devour the sun or moon, and falls to work to gnaw off the edge; that therefore it is necessary he should be driven away; consequently all the sorcerers or paters assemble, and amidst singular and hideous grimaces, throw up their spears towards the luminary attacked, all the villagers sounding their gonggongs with the greatest violence, to frighten away the voracious invader. ”

“ They are exceedingly addicted to the vilest lusts, and have no sense of shame in gratifying their passions. Polygamy is common among them. Yet with all their vices, they like to brag of their having the true faith. The Chinese, though more industrious, are not more virtuous; and as to the so-called Christians, I will not judge them.
About four or five leagues up the river, the King of Queda has his residence, in a mean-looking [17] town called Allessaar. Many of the inhabitants are Chinese, who have here a large temple; the rest are Malays. ”

“ The Danish East India company, not being able to renew their settlement in the Nicobar islands as soon as was expected, offers were made to the Brethren by the English Governor of Bengal, to [9] settle on the Ganges; but they resolved to wait with patience for an opportunity to prosecute their first plan, and obtain the original aim of their mission to the East Indies. This presented itself in 1768, when the Danish government formed a new establishment in the Nicobar islands. Six Brethren were immediately ready to go thither. They settled on Nancauwery. ”

“ The furniture of such a house consists in a few pots, made by the women, some highly polished cocoa-nut dishes, to hold water, some hatchets, a sabre or two, a few sailor's knives, and a good many spears. A family generally possesses two or three palongs, or boats.
Their chief food is melory bread, made of the fruit of a kind of palm-tree5, which is very palatable; yams, several other good roots, and great plenty of fruit from various trees and shrubs; all which grow in great abundance. Of pigs and common fowls they have a vast profusion. ”

“ The sorcerer then proceeds to discover the witch, and finds no difficulty in fixing upon some one he hates. The word of such a wise man is, of course, taken by all for the voice of truth, and the poor person accused is murdered without further inquiry. Murders of this kind occurred but seldom in our neighbourhood, but were said to be more frequent in some of the other islands. We told them, that the devil everywhere proved himself the father of lies, and [52] a murderer from the beginning ”

“ The mind being likewise filled with desponding views of the possibility of relief and of future usefulness, the effect is very unfavourable to that persevering diligence, with which such a barbarous language must be studied; and death snatching so soon those away, who had made some small progress, their successors must begin the uphill work again and again, and the prospect of obtaining the aim of the Mission is put off from one period to another. ”

“ He had scarcely finished this insulting speech, when a party of natives unexpectedly leaped in at the windows, with drawn sabres in their hands. The Malays, terrified beyond measure, asked, what all this meant. I replied: "They come to prevent your committing more murders." In a short time, the house was surrounded by the natives, both men and women being armed with sabres, spears, and bludgeons, their number continually increasing. The prince and his men now began to beg, that we would take them under our protection. ”

“ If they are robbed of them, they immediately fall to work to build others, and being remarkably active, are able to finish enough in a day to support the weight of their bodies, though they require about three weeks to complete a nest. During the north-east trade wind, they are all alive and fly about briskly, but as soon as the wind comes round to the south-west, they sit or lie in their nests in a state of stupor, and show animation only by a kind of tremulous motion [35] over their whole body. ”

“ There he may sit for hours, without hearing a syllable spoken, unless he can himself begin, when they will answer with friendliness. Again, both men and women have always a huge quid of the betel, or areca-nut in their mouths, which renders their speech so indistinct, that if you ask them the names of the various objects before them, you can hardly distinguish between the sputtering sounds they make. Often were we obliged to tell pater Philip to take his quid out of his mouth, that we might hear what he attempted to articulate. ”

“ I am no botanist, and can therefore give you but little information concerning the different species of trees, shrubs, and plants, which seem to thrive here in such luxurious abundance; but will only add, that that most useful of all trees, the cocoa, is of very easy growth, and thrives best on the sea coast, where its roots and stem are reached by the flood-tide. The nut, falling into the sand, is soon covered by it, and springs up in great [29] strength. ”

“ Great care, however, is required, not to suffer yourself to be lacerated by their teeth, or in any other way, while preparing their heads, and refixing the fangs; for if a wound is thus inflicted, even long after their death, the consequences are dreadful, and often fatal, of which I might relate many singular instances, which came immediately under my observation.
There is among them a short serpent, found in the neighbourhood of Tranquebar, and called by us, the Split-snake, (die Spalt-schlange) . It is black, with a white streak down its back, dividing the body longitudinally. ”

“ They are commonly good-natured men, disposed to make and preserve peace among the common people. In every other respect they live and act like the rest, get drunk, commit fornication, and, when there is, as they say, a necessity for it, murder; and are equally lazy and unclean. But they can use their tongues more glibly than their neighbours.
[46] Their houses are generally spacious, and built upon pillars, six or more feet from the ground, resembling those of the Malays, but round, not square, like the latter. The inhabitants ascend by a ladder, which they can draw up after them. ”

“ He accompanies his gesticulations with the most horrible [58] yells and howlings, and at length is fortunate enough to seize the enemy by a leg, an arm, or even by the hair of his head, which the poor deluded people believe, without seeing what he grasps. Now the whole company rush towards the water, and the pater deposits the supposed devil on board the raft, on which the palongs row off with the greatest possible expedition, dragging the captive out to sea, to a considerable distance, when, having turned him and his vehicle adrift, they row back with the utmost speed to shore. ”

“ I observed before, that these birds dwell in cavities of rocks, like bees in a hive, flying in and out, and building their nests close together, like martins or swallows. The hen constructs a neat, large, well-shaped nest, calculated for laying and hatching her eggs, and the cock contrives to fix another, smaller and rather more clumsy, close to his mate: for they are not only built for the purpose of laying eggs, but for resting-places, whence they may take wing. ”

“ The house has only one room, but generally contains more than one family. Parents and children, guests, young and old of every description, pig here together, lying naked on the floor, with nothing but a hetfat, the leaf of a species of palm, under them, in lieu of a mattrass, and very few have any covering. ”

“ After our vessel had been brought in by Captain Light's good offices, we were detained some time at Queda, which afforded me an opportunity of becoming a little acquainted with the town and the adjacent country. The inhabitants are chiefly Malays; [16] but the right side of the river is inhabited by Siamese, Chinese, and a few Roman-catholic Christians. The Malays are all Mahometans, a false-hearted, cruel, and murderous race; so much so, that it is hardly safe for a stranger to suffer them to follow him, for fear of being slyly stabbed. ”