Amboyna

“ These people were in fact as completely unacquainted with civilized life as the Indians of the Rocky Mountains, or the savages of Central Africa—yet a steamship, that highest triumph of human ingenuity, with its little floating epitome of European civilization, touches monthly at Cajeli, twenty miles off; while at Amboyna, only sixty miles distant, a European population and government have been established for more than three hundred years. ”

“ While Amboyna and Banda engrossed the entire [Pg 155] trade of these islands, the inhabitants of the two settlements were in a state of great prosperity, but now the Arrus are visited yearly by about thirty paduakans of from fifty to one hundred and twenty tons burthen (twenty-five to sixty lasten) , from Macassar, Boni, and other places, from whom the natives obtain goods by barter, and at so cheap a rate, that the traders of Amboyna and Banda are unable to compete with them. ”

“ Amboyna is about eight Leagues from Banda, to the Northward, in the Way to Ternate. The compass of it is fifteen Leagues, most fruitful in Cloves, Oranges, Lemmons, Citrons, Coco-Nuts, Bananas, Sugar-Canes, and other such like Product. The Natives are more open Hearted, and sincere, than those of the Moluccos or Banda; wear the same Habit; live Upon the Trade of Spice; are temperate and abstemious, Their Weapons. and great Sufferers of Hardship. Their Weapons, are Spears with Sharp twisted Ends; these they dart so dexterously, that they will hit the smallest Mark at a great Distance. ”

“ Certain points of connexion with Celebes come out in the southern group which are wanting in the northern; thus of Chloritis there are 8 species in Amboyna, 0 in Ternate, 3 in Celebes.
In the Moluccas the Helicidae, for the first time as we move [312] eastward from India, gain the ascendancy over the Naninidae, the numbers being, Helix 55, Nanina 36. If we take the groups separately, we find that in the Amboyna group the proportion is 22 to 23, while in the Ternate group it is 33 to 13, an additional proof that the Amboyna group is far less Papuan than the Ternate. ”

“ The Isle of Amboyna is distant from Malacca about two hundred and fifty leagues; it is near thirty leagues in compass, and is famous for the concourse of merchants, who frequent it from all parts. The Portuguese, who conquered it during the time that Antonio Galvan was governor of Ternate, had a garrison in it; besides which, there were in the island seven villages of Christians, natives of the place, but without any priest, because the only one in the island was just dead. ”

“ There is no want of Fomenters, and those Caciques of Note, and General Conspiracy against Christians. great Authority among the Moors, in Banda, Amboyna, Ternate, and Tydore. These Men urge their Religion, and the Honour of Mahomet, and by that means manage the People as they please; as I have found by Experience this Year, and in this War we had at Amboyna, in which I was. For formerly the Moors were soon weary of being at Sea, and when any Man of Note happened to be kill’d in Fight, they presently retir’d, looking upon it as an ill Omen. ”

“ It was encircled with the beautiful shrub, known by the name of panax fruticosum.
We saw, in the hands of some natives, the pretty lorry of the Philippines. These, however, were not procured from so great a distance, but from some islands a little to the eastward of Amboyna, and chiefly those of Arrou. They had also another species of the lorry, which breeds in the forests of Amboyna, and which differs from the former in its colours, which are less vivid, and not so beautifully blended. Most of those parrots pronounced some words of the Malayan language. ”

“ So hard is it for the straining wings of fancy to outstrip the folly of mankind. In Amboyna and Uliase, two islands near the equator, where necessarily there is little or no shadow cast at noon, the people make it a rule not to go out of the house at mid-day, because they fancy that by doing so a man may lose the shadow of his soul.291 The Mangaians tell of a mighty warrior, Tukaitawa, whose strength waxed and waned with the length of his shadow. ”

“ Alone, in this foreign heathen land, I make my appeal to those whom, with their permission, I will call my Baptist brethren in the United States.
“With the advice of the brethren at Serampore, I am contemplating a mission on one of the eastern islands. They have lately sent their brother Chater to Ceylon, and their brother Robinson to Java. At present, Amboyna seems to present the most favorable opening. Fifty thousand souls are there perishing without the means of life ”

“ It shows why they have been at so much pains to obtain a clear and distinct survey of these distant countries; why they have hitherto forborne settling, and why they take so much pains to prevent other nations from coming at a distinct knowledge of them: and I may add to this another particular, which is that it accounts for their permitting the natives of Amboyna, who are their subjects, to carry on a trade to New Guinea, and the adjacent countries, since, by this very method, it is apparent that they gain daily fresh intelligence as to the product and commodities of those countries. ”

“ The Amboyna group has been much the better explored. Common to both groups are one sp. each of Kaliella, Trochomorpha, Opeas, Leptopoma, Cyclotus, Helicina.
[371] A. H. Cooke, P. Z. S. 1892, pp. 447–469.
[372] Mysol, with 2 Chloritis, 1 Insularia, 1 Cristigibba, is decidedly Papuan.
[373] See especially C. Hedley, Note on the Relation of the Land Mollusca of Tasmania and New Zealand, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) xiii. p. 442.
[374] Hedley and Suter, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales (2) , vii. p. 613. Twenty-one species are “introduced.” ”

“ Captain Fitzherbert, who visited the place just before the occurrence, in a letter home said, "Amboina sitteth as a Queen between the Isles of Banda and the Moluccas. She b beautified with the fruits of several factories and dearly beloved of the Dutch." That sailor's impression vividly suggests the natural charms of this famous island. Over it all is the glamour of the East in its most fascinating form. ”

“ That Rustan was an utter scoundrel he had never doubted since he had known him, and that his domestic life was perhaps not to his taste, Omobono guessed since he had seen the red-haired negress who was his wife. Nothing could be more natural than that the Bokharian, having discovered the beautiful, half-starved creature whom Omobono had first seen through the window, should plot to get her into his power for his own ends. ”

“ There were young children round the wretched bed, silent, thin, and wondering, as children are when the great mystery is very near them and they feel it. In their miserable tatters one could hardly have told whether the younger ones were boys or girls, but one was much older than the rest, and Omobono's eyes fixed themselves upon her, and he held his breath, lest the Bokharian should hear him and turn, and hide the vision and break the spell. ”

“ These two islands are moderately high, and not above a third part so large as Amboina. They are both well fortified, and produce store of cloves. The chief place for nutmegs is the island of Banda, which also belongs to the Dutch, being in lat. 4° 20' S. 28 leagues S.S.E. from Amboina. This island is said to have the form of a man's leg and foot, and is well fortified. The governor of Amboina is supreme over all the spice islands, even to Ternate and Tidore, which are also spice islands belonging to the Dutch, and are about forty miles to the north of the equator. ”

“ So enormous was the strength of the position that it could have been held almost independently even without the support of the shipping that was nearly always in the roads against any enemy that could be brought against it. The actual tragedy of Amboina opened with dramatic fitness with a very simple scene. One evening as the garrison were at prayers a Japanese mercenary in the employ of the Dutch, wandering apparently aimlessly about the castle, on the ramparts came upon a young Dutch soldier acting as sentinel. ”

“ From Saparua I returned directly to Amboina, for one who has been accustomed to the mail facilities of our land will subject himself to almost any inconvenience in order to reach the place where the mail-boat touches.
Life at Amboina, and at almost every other place in the Dutch possessions, at the best is dull. Once or twice a month, in accordance with an established custom, the governor gives a reception on Sunday evenings, when all the Europeans and most of the mestizoes come and dance till late ”

“ The island of Amboina, near Ceram, is about forty leagues in circuit, and gives its name also to some other small adjacent isles. This island produces cloves, for the purpose of procuring which valuable spice, the English had five several factories, the head and rendezvous of all being at the town of Amboina, in which at the first, Mr George Muschamp was chief factor, who was succeeded by Mr Gabriel Towerson; having authority over the subordinate factories of Hitto and Larica on the same island, and at Loho and Cambello on a point of the neighbouring island of Ceram. ”

“ The black woman had listened attentively.
'At this hour,' she said after a moment's thought, 'Rustan is at his devotions.'
'I would not interrupt them for the world,' protested Omobono. 'I can wait——'
'No. You will probably find him at the church of Saint Sergius and Saint Bacchus. If he is not there, 23 ask the sacristan where he is. My husband is a very devout man; the sacristan knows him well.'
'I hope,' said Omobono, whose curiosity scented a mystery, 'that the sacristan will not take me for an importunate stranger and send me on a fool's errand. ”

“ It would have been a great loss to the work and a grief to me if they killed him, for Amvama was one of the best boys in all Africa. The handful of Christians and their sympathizers, with Angona at their head, replied that they would lay down their lives in defense of him. The heathen probably did not expect any such thing; for it is seldom that a town is divided thus. They usually act as if by one impulse; but Christianity draws new lines, makes new friends and new foes. The Christian’s friends are sometimes those of a hostile tribe, while his foes are “they of his own household.” ”

“ This island of Amboina, so famous, or rather infamous, for the cruelties and injustice formerly committed there by the Dutch upon the English, is twelve leagues long from N. to S. being high and mountainous, with intermediate vallies, which are very fertile, but the hills are in a great measure barren. The soil of the vallies is black, and affords salt-petre. The middle of the island is in lat. 3° 40' S. The original inhabitants of the island are Malays, who are of middle stature and tawny complexions. ”

“ In school he was not as quick to learn as many others, but such was his faithfulness and persistence that in the end he surpassed them all, and he had a saving sense of humour that always added gaiety to any company. On one occasion, on a journey up the river, when I was accompanied by a white man with an extremely bald head—the first that the crew had ever seen—Amvama caused the natives and one white man to smile by comparing it to a fresh-laid egg—a comparison that was quite new in Africa. ”

“ It is certainly a most splendid affair, on one side rising almost perpendicularly, and in appearance nearly flat at the top. At sunset, from the bay, its appearance was splendid. We found nothing at Ambong to lead us to suppose that European females had at any time been made prisoners by the inhabitants: they were apparently a quiet, peaceable people, living entirely by agriculture. Their close neighbours, [118] however, the Moros of Tampassook, are a notorious tribe of the Illanoan pirates, who are the terror of the Asiatic seas. ”

“ Should I, the son of Ntelani, refuse to be made King—for a day—ah! yes, only for a day—the induna Tyuyumane was to reign. And with this understanding the Amabuna rose to depart. As they swung themselves into their saddles the one who had spoken more pleasantly said:
“The day after the new moon then, Ntelani, an Elephant will fall into the staked pit from which there is no escape. Our people, with guns and horses, will be at hand. Is that so?”
“That is so, leader of the Amabuna,” grunted my father. “Au! from the spear of a pitfall there is no escape, even for the Elephant.” ”

“ From day to day our spies brought in word to the King. The Amabuna continued to advance, and they were in great force. Their leaders and picked men were stern, determined-looking fighters, fierce of aspect, with their long guns and leather breeches and shaggy beards; and our warriors, listening, lay under arms, their eyes glaring like those of lions, as they awaited the word that should let them loose.
Then came tidings that the Amabuna had formed a great camp some ten days distant from Nkunkundhlovu, and that several of their leaders were advancing to talk with the King. ”

“ About noon on the 5th of April we were rapidly approaching Omanbondè, but oh, how were we disappointed! My heart beat violently with excitement. The sleepy motion of the oxen, as they toiled through the heavy sand, being far too slow for my eagerness and excited imagination, I proceeded considerably in advance of the wagons, with about half a dozen Damaras, when all at once the country became open, and I found myself on some rising ground, gently sloping toward the bed of what I thought to be a dry water-course.
"There," suddenly exclaimed one of the natives—"there is Omanbondè!" ”