Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
had them on my eye, cheek, armpits, elbows, back, thighs, knees, and ankles, so that I was
unable to sit or walk, and had great difficulty in finding a side to lie upon without pain.
These continued for some weeks, fresh ones coming out as fast as others got well; but good
living and sea baths ultimately cured them.
About the end of January Charles Allen, who had been my assistant in Malacca and
Borneo, again joined me on agreement for three years; and as soon as I got tolerably well,
we had plenty to do laying in stores and making arrangements for our ensuing campaign.
Our greatest difficulty was in obtaining men, but at last we succeeded in getting two each.
An Amboyna Christian named Theodorus Matakena, who had been some time with me and
had learnt to skin birds very well, agreed to go with Allen, as well as a very quiet and indus-
trious lad named Cornelius, whom I had brought from Menado. I had two Amboynese,
named Petrus Rehatta, and Mesach Matakena; the latter of whom had two brothers, named
respectively Shadrach and Abednego, in accordance with the usual custom among these
people of giving only Scripture names to their children.
During the time I resided in this place I enjoyed a luxury I have never met with either be-
fore or since—the true bread-fruit. A good deal of it has been planted about here and in the
surrounding villages, and almost every day we had opportunities of purchasing some, as all
the boats going to Amboyna were unloaded just opposite my door to be dragged across the
isthmus. Though it grows in several other parts of the Archipelago, it is nowhere abundant,
and the season for it only lasts a short time. It is baked entire in the hot embers, and the in-
side scooped out with a spoon. I compared it to Yorkshire pudding; Charles Allen said it
was like mashed potatoes and milk. It is generally about the size of a melon, a little fibrous
towards the centre, but everywhere else quite smooth and puddingy, something in consisten-
ce between yeast-dumplings and batter-pudding. We sometimes made curry or stew of it, or
fried it in slices; but it is no way so good as simply baked. It may be eaten sweet or savory.
With meat and gravy it is a vegetable superior to any I know, either in temperate or tropical
countries. With sugar, milk, butter, or treacle, it is a delicious pudding, having a very slight
and delicate but characteristic flavour, which, like that of good bread and potatoes, one nev-
er gets tired of. The reason why it is comparatively scarce is, that it is a fruit of which the
seeds are entirely aborted by cultivation, and the tree can therefore only be propagated by
cuttings. The seed-bearing variety is common all over the tropics, and though the seeds are
very good eating, resembling chestnuts, the fruit is quite worthless as a vegetable. Now that
steam and Ward's cases render the transport of young plants so easy, it is much to be wished
that the best varieties of this unequalled vegetable should be introduced into our West India
