Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
coast in search of the opening, or of some one who could direct us to it. During the three
days we had now been among the reefs and islands, we had only seen a single small canoe,
which had approached pretty near to us, and then, notwithstanding our signals, went off in
another direction. The shores seemed all desert; not a house, or boat, or human being, or a
puff of smoke was to be seen; and as we could only go on the course that the ever-changing
wind would allow us (our hands being too few to row any distance), our prospects of getting
to our destination seemed rather remote and precarious. Having gone to the eastward ex-
tremity of the deep bay we had entered, without finding any sign of an opening, we turned
westward; and towards evening were so fortunate as to find a small village of seven miser-
able houses built on piles in the water. Luckily the Orang-kaya, or head man, could speak a
little Malay, and informed us that the entrance to the strait was really in the bay we had ex-
amined, but that it was not to be seen except when close in-shore. He said the strait was of-
ten very narrow, and wound among lakes and rocks and islands, and that it would take two
days to reach the large village of Muka, and three more to get to Waigiou. I succeeded in
hiring two men to go with us to Muka, bringing a small boat in which to return; but we had
to wait a day for our guides, so I took my gun and made a little excursion into the forest.
The day was wet and drizzly, and I only succeeded in shooting two small birds, but I saw
the great black cockatoo, and had a glimpse of one or two Birds of Paradise, whose loud
screams we had heard on first approaching the coast.
Leaving the village the next morning (July 1st) with a light wind, it took us all day to
reach the entrance to the channel, which resembled a small river, and was concealed by a
projecting point, so that it was no wonder we did not discover it amid the dense forest veget-
ation which everywhere covers these islands to the water's edge. A little way inside it be-
comes bounded by precipitous rocks, after winding among which for about two miles, we
emerged into what seemed a lake, but which was in fact a deep gulf having a narrow en-
trance on the south coast. This gulf was studded along its shores with numbers of rocky is-
lets, mostly mushroom shaped, from the water having worn away the lower part of the sol-
uble coralline limestone, leaving them overhanging from ten to twenty feet. Every islet was
covered with strange-looking shrubs and trees, and was generally crowned by lofty and el-
egant palms, which also studded the ridges of the mountainous shores, forming one of the
most singular and picturesque landscapes I have ever seen. The current which had brought
us through the narrow strait now ceased, and we were obliged to row, which with our short
and heavy prau was slow work. I went on shore several times, but the rocks were so precip-
itious, sharp, and honeycombed, that I found it impossible to get through the tangled thick-
ets with which they were everywhere clothed. It took us three days to get to the entrance of
