Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the basins are surrounded by a grove of lofty many-stemmed banyan-trees, which keep them
always cool and shady, and add greatly to the picturesque beauty of the scene.
The village consists of curious little houses very different from any I have seen else-
where. They are of an oval figure, and the walls are made of sticks about four feet high
placed close together. From this rises a high conical roof thatched with grass. The only
opening is a door about three feet high. The people are like the Timorese with frizzly or
wavy hair and of a coppery brown colour. The better class appear to have a mixture of some
superior race which has much improved their features. I saw in Coupang some chiefs from
the island of Savu further west, who presented characters very distinct from either the Malay
or Papuan races. They most resembled Hindoos, having fine well-formed features and
straight thin noses with clear brown complexions. As the Brahminical religion once spread
over all Java, and even now exists in Bali and Lombock, it is not at all improbable that some
natives of India should have reached this island, either by accident or to escape persecution,
and formed a permanent settlement there.
I stayed at Oeassa four days, when, not finding any insects and very few new birds, I re-
turned to Coupang to await the next mail steamer. On the way I had a narrow escape of be-
ing swamped. The deep coffin-like boat was filled up with my baggage, and with vegetables
cocoa-nuts and other fruit for Coupang market, and when we had got some way across into
a rather rough sea, we found that a quantity of water was coming in which we had no means
of baling out. This caused us to sink deeper in the water, and then we shipped seas over our
sides, and the rowers who had before declared it was nothing now became alarmed, and
turned the boat round to get back to the coast of Semao, which was not far off. By clearing
away some of the baggage a little of the water could be baled out, but hardly so fast as it
came in, and when we neared the coast we found nothing but vertical walls of rock against
which the sea was violently beating. We coasted along some distance till we found a little
cove, into which we ran the boat, hauled it on shore, and emptying it found a large hole in
the bottom, which had been temporarily stopped up with a plug of cocoa-nut which had
come out. Had we been a quarter of a mile further off before we discovered the leak, we
should certainly have been obliged to throw most of our baggage overboard, and might eas-
ily have lost our lives. After we had put all straight and secure we again started, and when
we were half-way across got into such a strong current and high cross sea that we were very
nearly being swamped a second time, which made me vow never to trust myself again in
such small and miserable vessels.
The mail steamer did not arrive for a week, and I occupied myself in getting as many of
the birds as I could, and found some which were very interesting. Among these were five
