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In the Eastern Seas, a novel by William H. G. Kingston |
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Chapter 21. Sedgwick Island And Its Wonders |
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_ CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. SEDGWICK ISLAND AND ITS WONDERS Our uncle introduced us to his house with evident pride. He and his man Tanda had bestowed a great deal of pains on it. It was constructed entirely after the Malay fashion--of wood, bamboo, and matting, though raised higher off the ground than the Malays are accustomed to build theirs. The floors were of split bamboo, sufficiently strong to bear a person's weight, and yet giving a pleasant spring as we passed over them. They were kept in their place by long strips of ratan, passed transversely between them, much in the way of a cane-bottom chair. Over these mats were spread--not so neatly made, perhaps, as those employed by the wealthy Malays, but still very well done. The walls were made of the palm-leaves which I have before described, fixed in panels, very neat and pleasing to the eye, and perfectly weather-tight. The roof was high pitched, and had broad overhanging eaves, giving it very much the appearance of a Swiss cottage. A broad verandah ran round each side of the house, the rooms opening into it. They were divided from each other by thick mats stretched from the ceiling to the floor, and could be lifted up at pleasure to allow the air to circulate in every direction. It would have been impossible to build with the materials at hand an abode better suited to the purpose. "Here, Frau, you and your young ladies shall occupy these two apartments," said my uncle to Frau Ursula, who stood smiling from ear to ear at the polite way in which he addressed her. "You shall have bedsteads brought in directly; and I must leave you to arrange them, while Tanda and I get supper ready. The lads here and the sailor will no doubt assist us." Roger Trew, who had ascended the ladder with his bundle of bedding, deposited it in the room my uncle pointed out, and forthwith commenced unlashing it; and knowing that he would prove a better assistant to the dame than Oliver and I should, we accompanied my uncle to what he called his cooking-shed, at the back of the house. Here he had brought water from a spring in the forest, and had made a drain towards the sea to carry off the refuse. He had a variety of fish, flesh, and fowl in his larder, which was in a cool place at the back of the house. I scarcely know what I shall describe first. The fruit was the most attractive. There was the delicious mangostin--of a spherical form. The outer part is a thick rough covering, and it has a white opaque centre, an inch or more in diameter. Each of the four or five parts into which it is divided, contains a small seed. The white part is what is eaten. It has a slightly sweet taste, and a rich yet delicate and peculiar flavour, which it is impossible to describe. Then there was the rambutan--a globular fruit, an inch and a half in diameter. The rind is of a light red, adorned with coarse scattered bristles. Within, there is a semi-transparent pulp, of a slightly acid taste. Next there was the elliptical shaped mango, containing a small stone of the same form. The interior, when the tough outer skin was removed, consisted of a soft, pulpy, fibrous mass, of a bright yellow. Another fruit appeared, in the form of long clusters, about the size of a small bird's egg. It was the duku. The outer coating was thin and leathery, and of a dull yellow. In the inside were several long seeds, surrounded by a transparent pulp, of a sweet and pleasantly acid taste. The durian, however, my uncle told us, was among the most esteemed of all the fruits in that region. It is spherical in form, six or eight inches in diameter, and generally covered with many tubercles. The interior is divided into several parts. On breaking the shell, we found in each division a seed as large as a chestnut, surrounded by a pale yellow substance, of the consistency of thick cream; but the odour was enough at first to make me have no wish to eat it. It seemed to me like putrid animal matter, and peculiarly strong. "You do not like the odour, Walter," observed my uncle. "Nor did I at first, but I have now become so fond of the fruit, that I prefer it to any other. But, after all, these fruits are not to be compared to those of a tree growing just outside, at the back of my house--the far-famed bread-fruit tree. Here, Tanda," and he spoke a few words to him. "Look there, do you see it?" It was a tree upwards of forty feet high, with enormous sharply lobed leaves, some of which were one foot wide and one and a half long. The fruit which Tanda picked was of the form and size of a melon, and attached by its stem directly to the trunk. "We must cut some, for it is the chief vegetable I have in season," said my uncle, cutting it in slices, and handing it to Tanda to fry. "We have some molasses to eat with it, produced from the sap of the gomuti-palm." Closely allied to it is the Jack-fruit, which resembles the bread-fruit. This latter, Mr Sedgwick told us, attains the weight of nearly seventy-five pounds; so that even an Indian coolie can only carry one at a time. The part, he showed us, which is generally eaten, is a soft pulpy substance, enveloping each seed. The bread-fruit was baked entirely in the hot embers. It tasted, I thought, very much like mashed potatoes and milk. My uncle said he always compared it to Yorkshire pudding. It was a little fibrous, perhaps, towards the centre, though generally smooth, and somewhat of the consistence of yeast dumplings and batter pudding. Tanda fried part of it in slices, and also made a curry of another part. We had it also as a vegetable, with a gravy poured over it, to eat with meat. Another dish was prepared with sugar and milk, which we were surprised to see, and a treacly substance procured from some sugar-canes grown in a plantation near the house. It made a most delicious pudding. "You see, I have become somewhat of an epicure," observed my uncle; "but indeed it has been one of my sources of amusement to see what delicious dishes I could make out of the many bounties which Nature has spread round me." We had also, for meat, some pork--part of it fresh and part cured--a joint of venison, and a piece of beef from an animal with which I was afterwards to become acquainted. I can scarcely describe the fish; but I know, among other things, there was one of the enormous crabs which we saw at Amboyna. Our dinner was spread on a bamboo table, covered with mats, in what my uncle called his grand hall! It put me in mind somewhat of an ancient hall surrounded by trophies of the chase; partly also of a necromancer's cavern, as from the ceiling hung curious stuffed animals, skulls, bones, dried plants, and other objects of natural history, in what, I had no doubt, seemed to the occupant perfect order, but which was somewhat incomprehensible to us. When dish after dish was put on the table, Frau Ursula lifted up her hands with astonishment. "You do live like a prince, Mr Sedgwick," she observed. "What kind fairy sends you all these good things?" "I won them with my own arm, with the assistance of my faithful man Tanda here--or, as these young people seem inclined to call him, Friday; and I hope you will show your gratitude to the kind Providence which gives them, by doing justice to them." As dish after dish was brought up, the astonishment of all the party increased. "Surely, uncle, you must have some fairy cook to prepare all these good things," said Emily. "I confess without the aid of Tanda they could not be produced," he answered. "I am greatly helped by him, though occasionally I have given a hint or a little assistance. And now let us drink each other's health in this palm-wine," he said, producing a very nice-looking liquid from a huge shell. Our plates, I should have said, were flat shells; while our cups were made of bamboo, as were our knives and forks. "I must introduce you to my menagerie to-morrow morning," observed my uncle. "There is not time to-night--indeed, some of my pets have retired to their lairs or gone to roost. If you hear strange noises at night, don't be alarmed; as possibly some of them may be inclined to utter their natural cries during the night." Our conversation was altogether very lively; as we, of course, had a great deal to tell our uncle, and were also greatly interested by the account he gave of his expeditions, and the way in which he had lived on the island since he had been deserted. Sometimes he had thought of building a vessel and making his way to some civilised port; but the want of proper tools for cutting down large timber, and his ignorance of nautical affairs, deterred him. "I thought it was as well to leave well alone," he said. "I have here plenty of provisions; and I thought I could study natural history, which brought me here; and that, some time or other, some vessel would call and take me away. Had you, Walter and Emily, not come, however, I rather think my heart would have failed me even at the last moment, and I could scarcely have made up my mind to quit my solitary home and the style of life to which I have become accustomed." Our conversation was at length interrupted by a loud rattling peal of thunder, which crashed over our heads as if the whole heavens above them were rent in two. A blast swept over the forest, and we could hear the trees cracking as they bent before the wind. The house shook to its very foundation, and Emily and Grace trembled with alarm. "No, no, my dears; don't fear," exclaimed Frau Ursula. "This is nothing to what I have heard in Ternate. There, one night, all the houses tumbled down, and the mountain sent up stones and cinders, which came rattling down on our heads." "There is another, though!" exclaimed Grace, clinging to the old lady's arm. Scarcely had the second crash of thunder passed away, than down came the rain, pattering on the roof and floor of the verandah. It seemed as if a waterspout had broken over us. "I am thankful that you, my friends, are on shore," observed my uncle; "but the brig--I feel anxious about her." He got up, and put on a thick reed-made coat. "And here are some more," he observed, giving Oliver and me one. "But no, Oliver, you stay with the ladies; and you too, Walter." I entreated that I might accompany him. He gave Roger Trew a similar covering, which completely sheltered us from the rain; and leaving Tanda and Oliver in charge of the house, we hurried away towards the shore. Although the gale had been blowing but a few minutes, already heavy seas came rolling in and breaking in masses of foam upon the rocks. We could see the brig, through the thickening gloom, at her anchors. "I trust she may hold her ground," said my uncle, as we watched her, already rising and falling with quick jerks, as the seas rapidly passed under her. "What say you?" he said, turning to Roger Trew. "Do you think, if she made sail, she could beat out of this bay, for I fear greatly that with the sea that rolls in here, when there is wind like this, she will be unable to remain at anchor?" "I am very sure Mr Thudicumb will do his best to beat out of the bay," answered Roger Trew. "I know that no seaman would like to be caught on a lee-shore like this in such a gale; and if it lasts long, even though the anchors do hold, it is likely enough to tear the stem out of her. The brig is not a bad craft for fine weather sailing, but she is lightly put together, and I wish that she was under weigh clear of the land, and then I would not fear for her." "Oh, my friend, my friend," exclaimed my uncle, "would that you had been safe on shore!" Scarcely had he spoken, when a flash of lightning, in a thick zig-zag stream, darted from the clouds overhead, running along the ground close to us, followed by the most deafening crash of thunder I ever heard. For an instant our eyes were blinded. We could scarcely see each other, much less observe any object out at sea. It was a minute or more before we recovered our sight. "She is driving--she is driving!" exclaimed Roger Trew. "They are trying to make sail on her, but it is too late! The sea struck her bows just as she was paying off, and now here she comes bodily in towards the shore." We were able, by shading our eyes, once more to look in the direction of the brig. Too true were Roger's words, and we saw her helplessly driving in towards the wild rocks near which we stood. "Is the water deep, sir?" asked Roger. "If so, she may drive in close enough to get the people on shore before she goes to pieces." "I fear not," answered Mr Sedgwick. "Reefs run out in all directions, and though, having no boat, I have been unable to sound round the island, yet, from the way I have seen the water breaking, I fear that there are reefs between us and her." "If we had a boat we might go off and get aboard her before she strikes," exclaimed Roger. "Have not you a boat, sir? You would go, would you not? Mr Walter here, I know, would." "Unhappily I have no boat," answered my uncle, in a tone almost of despair. "The crew may, perchance, reach the shore; but my poor friend, made weak from illness, will have but little chance of escaping with life." "We will do our best, sir--we will do our best," answered Roger. "I will try and swim off to her when she strikes, and before the sea scatters her timbers; but it will be a tough job. I will not hide that from myself or you, sir." "Here, Walter," said my uncle, "go and call Tanda, and tell him to bring as much ratan as he and you can carry. He is a clever fellow, in some respects, and his wits may help us." I was running off, when my uncle cried out-- "Stop, by-the-by, you may frighten the ladies, and he will not know what you mean. I will go myself, and you remain and see what you and our sailor friend here can do in the meantime, should the brig strike." My uncle hurried off to the house, and Roger and I, watching the brig, proceeded a short distance along the shore to a point whence a reef of rocks ran out, towards which it appeared to us that she was driving. How fearfully sharp and rugged did those rocks seem! I had thought little about them before; but now, when I feared that my friends were going to be hurled against them, I wished they were rounder, and covered with sea-weed, to which they might cling. We had each of us, as we left the house, seized a long bamboo pole. With this Roger and I made our way towards the point of a ledge of rock above water. Merlin, who had come with us down to the beach, followed close at our heels, seeming fully to understand the danger of our friends; for, as we stood watching the brig, he stretched out his head and uttered strangely loud barks, which seemed to have a tone of melancholy in them. Nearer and nearer came the brig. Part of the bay, under the protection of the headland I spoke of, was rather more sheltered than it was further on. This gave us some hopes of the vessel holding together till the sea had sufficiently moderated to allow Mr Hooker to reach the shore. The rain continued pouring in torrents, driving in our faces. Often we could scarcely see the vessel. Then again a vivid flash of lightning, followed by a crash of thunder, showed her to us as she heeled over to the blast, driving slowly but surely towards the fatal rocks. Sometimes with difficulty we could keep our footing on the reef. I was anxiously looking for the return of my uncle and Tanda. Perhaps Tanda might swim to her. I myself felt greatly inclined to make the attempt, in spite of the sea rolling in. Now for an instant the rain partially ceased, and shading our eyes, we could see the brig still nearer than before. Then a huge sea came rolling in. She rose on its crest, driven onwards with greater rapidity than before. Suddenly she seemed to stop. The sea washed over her. "She has struck! she has struck!" cried Roger. Her masts, however, still stood; but we expected them every instant to go. "Poor fellows! poor fellows!" cried Roger. "Master Walter, I have no kith nor kin; I will try and get off to them; and if I am lost, you will tell them that I wished to lend them a hand, but had not the power." "Stop!" I said; "here come my uncle and the black man, and they may have some plan, without your being obliged to risk your life." "As to that, it is not worth thinking about," answered Roger; "but we will see what they propose." In the meantime we endeavoured to ascertain what the people on board the brig were going to do. The darkness, however, was so great, that we could not distinguish anything going forward among them. There the brig lay, however, hard and fast; the seas breaking now over one end, now over the other, but not with such violence as we dreaded. _ |
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