A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 13 by Robert Kerr

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The refreshments which we procured here consisted of nine buffaloes, six
sheep, three hogs, thirty dozen of fowls, a few limes, and some
cocoa-nuts; many dozen of eggs, half of which, however, proved to be
rotten; a little garlic, and several hundred gallons of palm syrup.

SECTION XXXVI.

_A particular Description of the Island of Savu, its Produce, and
Inhabitants, with a Specimen of their Language_.

This island is called by the natives _Savu_; the middle of it lies in
about the latitude 10 deg. 35' S., longitude 237 deg. 30' W.; and has in general
been so little known, that I never saw a map or chart in which it is
clearly or accurately laid down. I have seen a very old one, in which it
is called Sou, and confounded with Sandel Bosch. Rumphius mentions an
island by the name of Saow, and he also says that it is the same which
the Dutch call Sandel Bosch: But neither is this island, nor Timor, nor
Rotte, nor indeed any one of the islands that we have seen in these
seas, placed within a reasonable distance of its true situation.[105] It
is about eight leagues long from east to west; but what is its breadth,
I do not know, as I saw only the north side. The harbour in which we lay
is called Seba, from the district in which it lies: It is on the
north-west side of the island, and well sheltered from the south-west
trade-wind, but it lies open to the north-west. We were told that there
were two other bays where ships might anchor; that the best, called
Timo, was on the south-west side of the south-east point: Of the third
we learnt neither the name nor situation. The sea-coast, in general, is
low; but in the middle of the island there are hills of a considerable
height. We were upon the coast at the latter end of the dry season, when
there had been no rain for seven months; and we were told that when the
dry season continues so long, there is no running stream of fresh water
upon the whole island, but only small springs, which are at a
considerable distance from the sea-side; yet nothing can be imagined so
beautiful as the prospect of the country from the ship. The level ground
next to the sea-side was covered with cocoa-nut trees, and a kind of
palm called _arecas_; and beyond them the hills, which rose in a gentle
and regular ascent, were richly clothed, quite to the summit, with
plantations of the fan-palm, forming an almost impenetrable grove. How
much even this prospect must be improved, when every foot of ground
between the trees is covered with verdure, by maize, and millet, and
indigo, can scarcely be conceived but by a powerful imagination, not
unacquainted with the stateliness and beauty of the trees that adorn
this part of the earth. The dry season commences in March or April, and
ends in October or November.

[Footnote 105: These islands are far from being well known to Europeans;
The policy of both Portuguese and Dutch has ever been unfavourable to
the communication, whatever it may have been to the commercial
extension, of geographical science. Pinkerton has laid down (in his map
of East India isles) Sou, as he has chosen to call it, in 10 S. lat.,
and 121 deg. 30' E. long., but on what authority does not appear. He does
not, however, confound it with Sandle-Wood Island.--E.]

The principal trees of this island are the fan-palm, the cocoa-nut,
tamarind, limes, oranges, and mangoes; and other vegetable productions
are maize, Guinea-corn, rice, millet, callevances, and water-melons. We
saw also one sugar-cane, and a few kinds of European garden-stuff,
particularly cellery, marjoram, fennel, and garlic. For the supply of
luxury, it has betel, areca, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and a small
quantity of cinnamon, which seems to be planted here only for curiosity;
and indeed we doubted whether it was the genuine plant, knowing that the
Dutch are very careful not to trust the spices out of their proper
islands. There are, however, several kinds of fruit besides those which
have been already mentioned; particularly the sweet-sop, which is well
known to the West Indians, and a small oval fruit, called the _blimbi_,
both of which grow upon trees. The blimbi is about three or four inches
long, and in the middle about as thick as a man's finger, tapering
towards each end: It is covered with a very thin skin of a light green
colour, and in the inside are a few seeds disposed in the form of a
star: Its flavour is a light, clean, pleasant acid, but it cannot be
eaten raw; it is said to be excellent as a pickle; and stewed, it made a
most agreeable sour sauce to our boiled dishes.

The tame animals are buffaloes, sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, pigeons,
horses, asses, dogs, and cats; and of all these there is great plenty.
The buffaloes differ very considerably from the horned cattle of Europe
in several particulars; their ears are much larger, their skins are
almost without hair, their horns are curved towards each other, but
together bend directly backwards, and they have no dewlaps. We saw
several that were as big as a well-grown European ox, and there must be
some much larger; for Mr Banks saw a pair of horns which measured, from
tip to tip, three feet nine inches and a half, across their widest
diameter, four feet one inch and a half, and in the whole sweep of their
semicircle in front, seven feet six inches and a half. It must, however,
be observed, that a buffalo here of any given size, does not weigh above
half as much as an ox of the same size in England: Those that we guessed
to weigh four hundred weight, did not weigh more than two hundred and
fifty; the reason is, that so late in the dry season the bones are very
thinly covered with flesh: There is not an ounce of fat in a whole
carcase, and the flanks are literally nothing but skin and bone: The
flesh, however, is well tasted and juicy, and I suppose better than the
flesh of an English ox would be if he was to starve in this sun-burnt
country.

The horses are from eleven to twelve hands high, but though they are
small, they are spirited and nimble, especially in pacing, which is
their common step: The inhabitants generally ride them without a saddle,
and with no better bridle than a halter. The sheep are of the kind which
in England are called Bengal sheep, and differ from ours in many
particulars. They are covered with hair instead of wool; their ears are
very large, and hang down under their horns, and their noses are arched;
they are thought to have a general resemblance to a goat, and for that
reason are frequently called _cabritos_: Their flesh we thought the
worst mutton we had ever eaten, being as lean as that of the buffaloes,
and without flavour. The hogs, however, were some of the fattest we had
ever seen, though, as we were told, their principal food is the outside
husks of rice, and a palm syrup dissolved in water.[106] The fowls are
chiefly of the game breed, and large, but the eggs are remarkably small.

[Footnote 106: The reader will please remember this evidence of the
nutritious quality of the palm-syrup. He will find it useful very
shortly, when the value of sugar as an article of diet is mentioned.--E]

Of the fish which the sea produces here, we know but little: Turtles are
sometimes found upon the coast, and are by these people, as well as all
others, considered as a dainty.

The people are rather under than over the middling size; the women
especially are remarkably short and squat built: Their complexion is a
dark brown, and their hair universally black and lank. We saw no
difference in the colour of rich and poor, though in the South-Sea
islands those that were exposed to the weather were almost as brown as
the New Hollanders, and the better sort nearly as fair as the natives of
Europe. The men are in general well-made, vigorous, and active, and have
a greater variety in the make and disposition of their features than
usual: The countenances of the women, on the contrary, are all alike.

The men fasten their hair up to the top of their heads with a comb, the
women tie it behind in a club, which is very far from becoming. Both
sexes eradicate the hair from under the arm, and the men do the same by
their beards, for which purpose, the better sort always carry a pair of
silver pincers hanging by a string round their necks; some, however,
suffer a very little hair to remain upon their upper-lips, but this is
always kept short.

The dress of both sexes consists of cotton cloth, which being dyed blue
in the yarn, and not uniformly of the same shade, is in clouds or waves
of that colour, and even in our eye had not an inelegant appearance.
This cloth they manufacture themselves, and two pieces, each about two
yards long, and a yard and a half wide, make a dress: One of them is
worn round the middle, and the other covers the upper part of the body:
The lower edge of the piece that goes round the middle, the men draw
pretty tight just below the fork, the upper edge of it is left loose, so
as to form a kind of hollow belt, which serves them as a pocket to carry
their knives, and other little implements which it is convenient to have
about them. The other piece of cloth is passed through this girdle
behind, and one end of it being brought over the left shoulder, and the
other over the right, they fall down over the breast, and are tucked
into the girdle before, so that by opening or closing the plaits, they
can cover more or less of their bodies as they please; the arms, legs,
and feet are always naked. The difference between the dress of the two
sexes consists principally in the manner of wearing the waist-piece; for
the women, instead of drawing the lower edge tight, and leaving the
upper edge loose for a pocket, draw the upper edge tight, and let the
lower edge fall as low as the knees, so as to form a petticoat; the
body-piece, instead of being passed through the girdle, is fastened
under the arms, and cross the breast with the utmost decency. I have
already observed that the men fastened the hair upon the top of the
head, and the women tie it in a club behind, but there is another
difference in the head-dress, by which the sexes are distinguished: The
women wear nothing as a succedaneum for a cap, but the men constantly
wrap something round their heads in the manner of a fillet; it is small,
but generally of the finest materials that can be procured: We saw some
who applied silk handkerchiefs to this purpose, and others that wore
fine cotton, or muslin, in the manner of a small turban.

These people bore their testimony that the love of finery is a universal
passion, for their ornaments were very numerous. Some of the better sort
wore chains of gold round their necks, but they were made of plaited
wire, and consequently were light and of little value; others had rings,
which were so much worn that they seemed to have descended through many
generations; and one person had a silver-headed cane, marked with a kind
of cypher, consisting of the Roman letters, V, O, C, and therefore
probably a present from the Dutch East India Company, whose mark it is:
They have also ornaments made of beads, which some wear round their
necks as a solitaire, and others as bracelets, upon their wrists: These
are common to both sexes, but the women have, besides, strings or
girdles of beads, which they wear round their waists, and which serve
to keep up their petticoat. Both sexes had their ears bored, nor was
there a single exception that fell under our notice, yet we never saw an
ornament in any of them; we never, indeed, saw either man or woman in
any thing but what appeared to be their ordinary dress, except the king
and his minister, who in general wore a kind of night-gown of coarse
chintz, and one of whom once received us in a black robe, which appeared
to be made of what is called prince's stuff. We saw some boys, about
twelve or fourteen years old, who had spiral circles of thick brass-wire
passed three or four times round their arms, above the elbow, and some
men wore rings of ivory, two inches in breadth, and above an inch in
thickness, upon the same part of the arm; these, we were told, were the
sons of the rajas, or chiefs, who wore those cumbrous ornaments as
badges of their high birth.

Almost all the men had their names traced upon their arms, in indelible
characters of a black colour, and the women had a square ornament of
flourished lines, impressed in the same manner, just under the bend of
the elbow. We were struck with the similitude between these marks and
those made by tattowing in the South-Sea islands, and upon enquiring
into its origin, we learnt that it had been practised by the natives
long before any Europeans came among them, and that in the neighbouring
islands the inhabitants were marked with circles upon their necks and
breasts. The universality of this practice, which prevails among savages
in all parts of the world, from the remotest limits of North America, to
the islands in the South-Seas, and which probably differs but little
from the method of staining the body that was in use among the ancient
inhabitants of Britain, is a curious subject of speculation.[107]

[Footnote 107: In the account which Mr Bossu has given of some Indians
who inhabit the banks of the Akanza, a river of North America, which
rises in New Mexico, and falls into the Mississippi, he relates the
following incident: "The Akanzas," says he, "have adopted me, and as a
mark of my privilege, have imprinted the figure of a roebuck upon my
thigh, which was done in this manner: An Indian having burnt some straw,
diluted the ashes with water, and with this mixture drew the figure upon
my skin; he then retraced it, by pricking the lines with needles, so as
at every puncture just to draw the blood, and the blood mixing with the
ashes of the straw, forms a figure which can never be effaced." See
Travels through Louisiana, vol. i, p. 107.

So far this note is by Dr Hawkesworth. Some observations on the practice
of staining or tattowing the body, have been offered in another part of
this work. It may be worth while to add here the account which
Krustenstern has given of the mode adopted in Nukahiwa, one of the
Washington Islands: "As soon as a Nukahiewer arrives at the age of
puberty, his whole body is tatooed; an art carried to a much greater
perfection in this island than in any other, as they paint, in fact,
their bodies with different figures, rubbing a pleasing colour into the
skin, which is first scratched until it bleeds. Black is the colour
generally used for this purpose, which, after some time, takes a bluish
tinge. The king, his father, and the high-priest, were the only persons
who were coloured quite black, nor was any part of their bodies left
unadorned; the face, eye-lids, and even a part of their heads, from
which the hair had been shaved, being tatooed. Neither in the Society
nor the Friendly Islands is this customary. In the latter, the king
alone is not tatooed; and it is only in New Zealand, and the Sandwich
Islands, as Captain King relates, where the face is tatooed. The New
Zealander and the Nukahiwer have a similar mode of performing this
operation; for instance, they not only mark the body with single upright
figures, or animals, as in the Sandwich Islands, but represent upon it,
in the most perfect symmetry, connected ornaments in concentric rings
and knots, which added greatly to the beauty of its appearance. The
women only tatoo their hands and arms, the ends of their ears, and their
lips. The lower classes are less tatooed, and many of them not at all;
and it is therefore not improbable that this ornament serves to point
out a noble, or, at any rate, a distinguished personage. There are some
among them who have particularly acquired this art; one of whom took up
his residence on board the ship, where he found sufficient employment,
as almost all the sailors underwent the operation." Figures of animals
are favourite decorations for the skin with some people. Hutchinson, in
his History of Massachusets Bay, second edition, tells of the
natives,--"Upon their cheeks, and in many parts of their bodies, some of
them, by incisions, into which they convey a black unchangeable ink,
make the figures of bears, deer, moose, wolves, eagles, hawks, &c, which
were indelible, and generally lasted as long as they lived." Not content
with their own art of embellishment, however, he says, in a note, "Since
they have been furnished with paints from Europe, they daub their faces
with vermillion, and sometimes with blue, green, and other colours."
Colden observes of the five nations of Canada, that their faces were
always painted in a frightful manner when they went out to war, "to make
themselves terrible to their enemies." Neal, speaking of the New
Englanders, says,--"They grease their bodies and hair very often, and
paint themselves all over; their faces and shoulders with a deep red,
and their bodies with a variety of ugly mishapen figures; and he is the
bravest fellow that has the most frightful forms drawn upon him, and
looks most terrible." Again, describing their diversions, "If the
dancers or actors are to shew warlike postures, then they come in
painted for war, some with their faces red, and some black; some black
and red, with streaks of white; under their eyes, as they imagine will
appear most terrible." Captain Carver gives a similar account of the
tribes he saw.--E.]

The houses of Savu are all built upon the same plan, and differ only in
size, being large in proportion to the rank and riches of the
proprietor. Some are four hundred feet long, and some are not more than
twenty: They are all raised upon posts, or piles, about four feet high,
one end of which is driven into the ground, and upon the other end is
laid a substantial floor of wood, so that there is a vacant space of
four feet between the floor of the house and the ground. Upon this floor
are placed other posts or pillars, that Support a roof of sloping sides,
which meet in a ridge at the top, like those of our barns: The eaves of
this roof, which is thatched with palm-leaves, reach within two feet of
the floor, and overhang it as much: The space within is generally
divided lengthwise into three equal parts; the middle part, or centre,
is enclosed by a partition of four sides, reaching about six feet above
the floor, and one or two small rooms are also sometimes taken off from
the sides, the rest of the space under the roof is open, so as freely to
admit the air and the light: The particular uses of these different
apartments, our short stay would not permit us to learn, except that the
close room in the centre was appropriated to the women.

The food of these people consists of every tame animal in the country,
of which the hog holds the first place in their estimation, and the
horse the second; next to the horse is the buffalo, next to the buffalo
their poultry, and they prefer dogs and cats to sheep and goats. They
are not fond of fish, and, I believe, it is never eaten but by the poor
people, nor by them except when their duty or business requires them to
be upon the beach, and then every man is furnished with a light
casting-net, which is girt round him, and makes part of his dress; and
with this he takes any small fish which happen to come in his way.

The esculent vegetables and fruits have been mentioned already, but the
fan-palm requires more particular notice, for at certain times it is a
succedaneum for all other food both to man and beast. A kind of wine,
called toddy, is procured from this tree, by cutting the buds which are
to produce flowers, soon after their appearance, and tying under them
small baskets, made of the leaves, which are so close as to hold liquids
without leaking. The juice which trickles into these vessels is
collected by persons who climb the trees for that purpose, morning and
evening, and is the common drink of every individual upon the island;
yet a much greater quantity is drawn off than is consumed in this use,
and of the surplus they make both a syrup and coarse sugar. The liquor
is called _dua_, or _duac_, and both the syrup and sugar, _gula_. The
syrup is prepared by boiling the liquor down in pots of earthen-ware,
till it is sufficiently inspissated; it is not unlike treacle in
appearance, but is somewhat thicker, and has a much more agreeable
taste: The sugar is of a reddish brown, perhaps the same with the Jugata
sugar upon the continent of India, and it was more agreeable to our
palates than any cane-sugar, unrefined, that we had ever tasted. We were
at first afraid that the syrup, of which some of our people eat very
great quantities, would have brought on fluxes, but its aperient quality
was so very slight, that what effect it produced was rather salutary
than hurtful. I have already observed, that it is given with the husks
of rice to the hogs, and that they grow enormously fat without taking
any other food: We were told also, that this syrup is used to fatten
their dogs and their fowls, and that the inhabitants themselves have
subsisted upon this alone for several months, when other crops have
failed, and animal food has been scarce.[108] The leaves of this tree
are also put to various uses, they thatch houses, and make baskets,
cups, umbrellas, and tobacco-pipes. The fruit is least esteemed, and as
the blossoms are wounded for the tuac or toddy, there is not much of it:
It is about as big as a large turnip, and covered, like the cocoa-nut,
with a fibrous coat, under which are three kernels, that must be eaten
before they are ripe, for afterwards they become so hard that they
cannot be chewed; in their eatable state they taste not unlike a green
cocoa-nut, and, like them, probably they yield a nutriment that is
watery and unsubstantial.

[Footnote 108: Few things are so nutritious to animals as sugar; and
vegetable substances, in general, are nutritious in proportion to the
quantity of it they contain. How it can be pernicious, then, as an
ingredient in diet, it would be very difficult to show, without
disparaging the wisdom and goodness by which the world is supported. But
in fact there is not the least reason for such an opinion; and if the
strongest assertions of most respectable men are at all to be regarded,
a very different one, indeed, must be maintained. A few quotations may
satisfy the reader on the subject, and dispossess him of unfounded
prejudices _reluctantly_ imbibed in the nursery. "So palatable,
salutary, and nourishing is the juice of the cane, that every individual
of the animal creation drinking freely of it, derives health and vigour
from its use. The meagre and sickly among the negroes exhibit a
surprising alteration in a few weeks after the mill is set in action.
The labouring horses, oxen, and mules, though almost constantly at work
during this season, yet being indulged with plenty of the green tops of
this noble plant, and some of the scummings from the boiling-house,
improve more than at any one period of the year. Even the pigs and
poultry fatten on the refuse." So says Mr Edwards. Two physicians quoted
by him speak to the same effect,--take the words of one of them; Dr
Rush, of Philadelphia,--"Sugar affords the greatest quantity of
nourishment in a given quantity of matter, of any substance in nature.
Used alone, it has fattened horses and cattle in St Domingo, for a
period of several months. The plentiful use of sugar in diet is one of
the best preventatives that ever has been discovered, of the diseases
which are produced by worms. The plague has never been known in this
country, where sugar composes a material part of the diet of the
inhabitants." Dr Mosely, in his Treatise on Sugar, speaks equally
confidently of the nutritious and beneficial effects of this substance.
Now, indeed, the concurrent testimony and opinions of medical men are so
decided on the subject, that it seems impossible to entertain any other
sentiment. The principal objection to the use of sugar in diet, is what
applies to certain cases only, when the stomach and bowels are
_particularly_ disordered, or where there is a strong tendency to an
over full state of the blood-vessels, tending to the production of palsy
or apoplexy, which this article, from its very nutritious properties,
and because also it perhaps undergoes a sort of fermentation in the
stomach, by which something of the nature of wine may be produced, would
be apt rather to augment.--E.]

The common method of dressing food here is by boiling, and as fire-wood
is very scarce, and the inhabitants have no other fuel, they make use of
a contrivance to save it, that is not wholly unknown in Europe, but is
seldom practised, except in camps. They dig a hollow under ground, in a
horizontal direction, like a rabbit-burrow, about two yards long, and
opening into a hole at each end, one of which is large, and the other
small: By the large hole the fire is put in, and the small one serves
for a draught. The earth over this burrow is perforated by circular
holes, which communicate with the cavity below; and in these holes are
set earthen pots, generally about three to each fire, which are large in
the middle, and taper towards the bottom, so that the fire acts upon a
large part of their surface. Each of these pots generally contains about
eight or ten gallons, and it is surprising to see with how small a
quantity of fire they may be kept boiling; a palm-leaf, or a dry stalk
thrust in now and then, is sufficient: In this manner they boil all
their victuals, and make all their syrup and sugar. It appears by
Frazier's account of his voyage to the South-Sea, that the Peruvian
Indians have a contrivance of the same kind, and perhaps it might be
adopted with advantage by the poor people even of this country, where
fuel is very dear.