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

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Both sexes are enslaved by the hateful and pernicious habit of chewing
betel and areca, which they contract even while they are children, and
practise incessantly from morning till night. With these they always mix
a kind of white lime, made of coral stone and shells, and frequently a
small quantity of tobacco, so that their mouths are disgustful in the
highest degree both to the smell and the sight: The tobacco taints their
breath, and the betel and lime make the teeth not only as black as
charcoal, but as rotten too. I have seen men between twenty and thirty,
whose fore-teeth have been consumed almost down to the gums, though no
two of them were exactly of the same length or thickness, but
irregularly corroded, like iron by rust. The loss of teeth is, I think,
by all who have written upon the subject, imputed to the tough and
stringy coat of the areca-nut; but I impute it wholly to the lime: They
are not loosened, or broken, or forced out, as might be expected if they
were injured by the continual chewing of hard and rough substances, but
they are gradually wasted like metals that are exposed to the action of
powerful acids; the stumps always adhering firmly to the socket in the
jaw, when there is no part of the tooth above the gums: And possibly
those who suppose that sugar has a bad effect upon the teeth of
Europeans, may not be mistaken, for it is well known that refined
loaf-sugar contains a considerable quantity of lime; and he that doubts
whether lime will destroy bone of any kind, may easily ascertain the
fact by experiment.[109]

[Footnote 109: The injurious effect of sugar on the teeth, it is
believed, is not now seriously contended for by any persons who think
and make observations on the matter, though, undoubtedly, the assertion
respecting it holds its place as strongly as ever, among the economical
maxims of prudent matrons. A word or two as to lime. When this is spoken
of, let it be understood always what is meant; whether pure lime, that
is what is called burnt lime, or the same substance in combination with
fixed air, or carbonic acid, of which the process of burning deprives
it. The effects of these two preparations are exceedingly different on
animal bodies; the former causing rapid decomposition and consumption;
the latter being, on the contrary, quite inert. Loaf-sugar, though
prepared by means of lime, ought never to contain a particle of it, and
scarcely ever does. So that, on the whole, the remarks in the text are
totally incorrect. As a matter of fact, again, the writer, from his own
experience, and as what he has often occasion to recommend to others,
takes the liberty of prescribing a tooth-powder, equal in comfort,
efficacy, and safety, to any sold in the shops under such pompous and
imposing titles. It consists of equal parts of lump-sugar, (the finer
the better) Spanish or French chalk, (which is in fact lime) rose-pink,
(for the purpose of colouring, and also as an absorbent) and oris-root,
(remarkable for its pleasant smell, and to be had in the perfumers' or
druggists' shops, ready powdered) all in very fine powder, and properly
mixed together. A box of this never-to-be-excelled dentifrice, may cost
two-pence, or so, for which, however, or for something else not a whit
better, if as good, they who choose may give half-a-crown. When the
teeth are already tolerably clean, and not encrusted with what is called
tartar, a soft brush is always to be preferred, as risking the enamel
less. Hard brushes and gritty powders ruin more teeth than all the sugar
and lime in the world. Charcoal is undoubtedly a good substitute for a
_tooth-powder_; but it is to be objected to as leaving black furrows in
the gums, which even much washing fails to remove in any reasonable
time. This is a good deal obviated when it forms but a part of the
article used. It may be mixed with the powder recommended.--E.]

If the people here are at any time without this odious mouthful, they
are smoking. This operation they perform by rolling up a small quantity
of tobacco, and putting it into one end of a tube about six inches long,
and as thick as a goose-quill, which they make of a palm leaf. As the
quantity of tobacco in these pipes is very small, the effect of it is
increased, especially among the women, by swallowing the smoke.

When the natives of this island were first formed into civil society, is
not certainly known, but at present it is divided into five
principalities or nigrees: _Laai_, _Seba_, _Regeeua_, _Timo_, and
_Massara_, each of which is governed by its respective raja or king. The
raja of Seba, the principality in which we were ashore, seemed to have
great authority, without much external parade or show, or much
appearance of personal respect. He was about five-and-thirty years of
age, and the fattest man we saw upon the whole island; he appeared to
be of a dull phlegmatic disposition, and to be directed almost
implicitly by the old man who, upon my presenting him with a sword, had
procured us a fair market, in spite of the craft and avarice of the
Dutch-factors. The name of this person was _Mannu Djarme_, and it may
reasonably be supposed that he was a man of uncommon integrity and
abilities, as, notwithstanding his possession of power in the character
of a favourite, he was beloved by the whole principality. If any
difference arises among the people, it is settled by the raja and his
counsellors, without delay or appeal, and, as we were told, with the
most solemn deliberation and impartial justice.

We were informed by Mr Lange, that the chiefs who had successively
presided over the five principalities of this island, had lived for time
immemorial in the strictest alliance and most cordial friendship with
each other; yet he said the people were of a warlike disposition, and
had always courageously defended themselves against foreign invaders. We
were told also that the island was able to raise, upon very short
notice, 7300 fighting men, armed with muskets, spears, lances, and
targets. Of this force, Laai was said to furnish 2600; Seba, 2000;
Regeeua, 1500; Timo, 800; and Massara, 400. Besides the arms that have
been already mentioned, each man is furnished with a large pole-ax,
resembling a wood-bill, except that it has a straight edge, and is much
heavier: This, in the hands of people who have courage to come to close
quarters with an enemy, must be a dreadful weapon; and we were told that
they were so dexterous with their lances, that at the distance of sixty
feet they would throw them with such exactness as to pierce a man's
heart, and such force as to go quite through his body.

How far this account of the martial prowess of the inhabitants of Savu
may be true, we cannot take upon us to determine; but during our stay,
we saw no appearance of it. We saw indeed in the town-house, or house of
assembly, about one hundred spears and targets, which served to arm the
people who were sent down to intimidate us at the trading place; but
they seemed to be the refuse of old armories, no two being of the same
make or length, for some were six, and some sixteen feet long: We saw no
lance among them, and as to the muskets, though they were clean on the
outside, they were eaten into holes by the rust within; and the people
themselves appeared to be so little acquainted with military discipline,
that they marched like a disorderly rabble, every one having, instead of
his target, a cock, some tobacco, or other merchandise of the like
kind, which he took that opportunity to bring down to sell, and few or
none of their cartridge-boxes were furnished with either powder or ball,
though a piece of paper was thrust into the hole to save appearances. We
saw a few swivel guns and pateraros at the town-house, and a great gun
before it; but the swivels and pateraros lay out of their carriages, and
the great gun lay upon a heap of stones, almost consumed with rust, with
the touch-hole downwards, possibly to conceal its size, which might
perhaps be little less than that of the bore.

We could not discover that among these people there was any rank of
distinction between the raja and the landowners: The land-owners were
respectable in proportion to their possessions; the inferior ranks
consist of manufacturers, labouring poor, and slaves. The slaves, like
the peasants in some parts of Europe, are connected with the estate, and
both descend together: But though the landowner can sell his slave, he
has no other power over his person, not even to correct him, without the
privity and approbation of the raja. Some have five hundred of these
slaves, and some not half a dozen: The common price of them is a fat
hog. When a great man goes out, he is constantly attended by two or more
of them: One of them carries a sword or hanger, the hilt of which is
commonly of silver, and adorned with large tassels of horse hair; and
another carries a bag which contains betel, areca, lime, and tobacco. In
these attendants consists all their magnificence, for the raja himself
has no other mark of distinction.

The chief object of pride among these people, like that of a Welchman,
is a long pedigree of respectable ancestors, and indeed a veneration for
antiquity seems to be carried farther here than in any other country:
Even a house that has been well inhabited for many generations, becomes
almost sacred, and few articles either of use or luxury bear so high a
price as stones, which having been long sat upon, are become even and
smooth: Those who can purchase such stones, or are possessed of them by
inheritance, place them round their houses, where they serve as seats
for their dependants.[110]

[Footnote 110: The specification of the Welch here is very vulgar, and
the more so, as obviously sarcastic. Deeper or more scientific
observation would have led Dr Hawkesworth to some general principle
which produces a love of ancestry in all our species. Mr Gibbon has very
expressively described it, in the beginning of the memoirs of his own
life, to which the reader is referred. Nothing is less becoming a
philosopher, than wittily pointing out national peculiarities, without
taking the least pains to discover the foundations on which they are
built, or connecting them with circumstances and principles common to
mankind. Every thing, in fact, will seem anomalous and insulated in the
history of different nations, if it is not distinctly recollected that
human nature is the same throughout the globe which it inhabits, and is
merely modified by external causes.--E.]

Every Raja sets up in the principal town of his province, or nigree, a
large stone, which serves as a memorial of his reign. In the principal
town of Seba, where we lay, there are thirteen such stones, besides many
fragments of others, which had been set up in earlier times, and are now
mouldering away: These monuments seem to prove that some kind of civil
establishment here is of considerable antiquity. The last thirteen
reigns in England make something more than 276 years.

Many of these stones are so large, that it is difficult to conceive by
what means they were brought to their present station, especially as it
is the summit of a hill; but the world is full of memorials of human
strength, in which the mechanical powers that have been since added by
mathematical science, seem to be surpassed; and of such monuments there
are not a few among the remains of barbarous antiquity in our own
country, besides those upon Salisbury plain.

These stones not only record the reigns of successive princes, but serve
for a purpose much more extraordinary, and probably altogether peculiar
to this country. When a raja dies, a general feast is proclaimed
throughout his dominions, and all his subjects assemble round these
stones: Almost every living creature that can be caught is then killed,
and the feast lasts for a less or greater number of weeks or months, as
the kingdom happens to be more or lets furnished with live stock at the
time; the stones serve for tables. When this madness is over, a fast
must necessarily ensue, and the whole kingdom is obliged to subsist upon
syrup and water, if it happens in the dry season, when no vegetables can
be procured, till a new stock of animals can be raised from the few that
have escaped by chance, or been preserved by policy from the general
massacre, or can be procured from the neighbouring kingdoms. Such,
however, is the account that we received from Mr Lange.

We had no opportunity to examine any of their manufactures, except that
of their cloth, which they spin, weave, and dye; we did not indeed see
them employed, but many of the instruments which they use fell in our
way. We saw their machine for clearing cotton of its seeds, which is
made upon the same principles as those in Europe, but is so small that
it might be taken for a model, or a toy: It consists of two cylinders,
like our round rulers, somewhat less than an inch in diameter, one of
which, being turned round by a plain winch, turns the other by means of
an endless worm; and the whole machine is not more than fourteen inches
long, and seven high: That which we saw had been much used, and many
pieces of cotton were hanging about it, so that there is no reason to
doubt its being a fair specimen of the rest. We also once saw their
apparatus for spinning; it consisted of a bobbin, on which was wound a
small quantity of thread, and a kind of distaff filled with cotton; we
conjectured therefore that they spin by hand, as the women of Europe did
before the introduction of wheels; and I am told that they have not yet
found their way into some parts of it. Their loom seemed to be in one
respect preferable to ours, for the web was not stretched upon a frame,
but extended by a piece of wood at each end, round one of which the
cloth was rolled, and round the other the threads: The web was about
half a yard broad, and the length of the shuttle was equal to the
breadth of the web, so that probably their work goes on but slowly. That
they dyed this cloth we first guessed from its colour, and from the
indigo which we saw in their plantations; and our conjecture was
afterwards confirmed by Mr Lange's account. I have already observed,
that it is dyed in the yarn, and we once saw them dying what was said to
be girdles for the women, of a dirty red, but with what drug we did not
think it worth while to enquire.

The religion of these people, according to Mr Lange's information, is an
absurd kind of paganism, every man chusing his own god, and determining
for himself how he should be worshipped; so that there are almost as
many gods and modes of worship as people. In their morals, however, they
are said to be irreproachable, even upon the principles of Christianity:
No man is allowed more than one wife; yet an illicit commerce between
the sexes is in a manner unknown among them: Instances of theft are very
rare; and they are so far from revenging a supposed injury by murder,
that if any difference arises between them, they will not so much as
make it the subject of debate, lest they should be provoked to
resentment and ill-will, but immediately and implicitly refer it to the
determination of their king.

They appeared to be a healthy and long-lived people; yet some of them
were marked with the small-pox, which Mr Lange told us had several times
made its appearance among them, and was treated with the same precaution
as the plague. As soon as a person was seized with the distemper, he
was removed to some solitary place, very remote from any habitation,
where the disease was left to take its course, and the patient supplied
with daily food by reaching it to him at the end of a long pole.

Of their domestic economy we could learn but little: In one instance,
however, their delicacy and cleanliness are very remarkable. Many of us
were ashore here three successive days, from a very early hour in the
morning till it was dark; yet we never saw the least trace of an
offering to Cloacina, nor could we so much as guess where they were
made. In a country so populous this is very difficult to be accounted
for, and perhaps there is no other country in the world where the secret
is so effectually kept.

The boats in use here are a kind of proa.

This island was settled by the Portugueze almost as soon as they first
found their way into this part of the ocean; but they were in a short
time supplanted by the Dutch. The Dutch however did not take possession
of it, but only sent sloops to trade with the natives, probably for
provisions to support the inhabitants of their spice islands, who,
applying themselves wholly to the cultivation of that important article
of trade, and laying out all their ground in plantations, can breed few
animals: Possibly their supplies by this occasional traffic were
precarious; possibly they were jealous of being supplanted in their
turn; but however that be, their East India Company, about ten years
before, entered into a treaty with the rajas, by which the Company
stipulated to furnish each of them with a certain quantity of silk, fine
linen, cutlery ware, arrack, and other articles, every year; and the
rajas engaged that neither they nor their subjects should trade with any
person except the Company, without having first obtained their consent,
and that they would admit a resident on behalf of the Company, to reside
upon the island, and see that their part of the treaty was fulfilled:
They also engaged to supply annually a certain quantity of rice, maize,
and calevances. The maize and calevances are sent to Timor in sloops,
which are kept there for that purpose, each of which is navigated by ten
Indians; and the rice is fetched away annually by a ship which brings
the Company's returns, and anchors alternately in each of the three
bays. These returns are delivered to the rajas in the form of a
present, and the cask of arrack they and their principal people never
cease to drink, as long as a drop of it remains. In consequence of this
treaty, the Dutch placed three persons upon the island: Mr Lange, his
colleague, the native of Timor, the son of an Indian woman by a
Portuguese, and one Frederick Craig, the son of an Indian woman by a
Dutchman. Lange visited each of the rajas once in two months, when he
made the tour of the island, attended by fifty slaves on horseback. He
exhorted these chiefs to plant, if it appeared that they had been
remiss, and observed where the crops were got in, that he might order
sloops to fetch it; so that it passed immediately from the ground to the
Dutch store-houses at Timor. In these excursions he always carried with
him some bottles of arrack, which he found of great use in opening the
hearts of the rajas, with whom he had to deal.

During the ten years that he had resided upon this island he had never
seen a European besides ourselves, except at the arrival of the Dutch
ship, which had sailed about two months before we arrived; and he was to
be distinguished from the natives only by his colour and his dress, for
he sate upon the ground, chewed his betel, and in every respect adopted
their character and manners: He had married an Indian woman of the
island of Timor, who kept his house after the fashion of her country;
and he gave that as a reason for not inviting us to visit him, saying,
that he could entertain us in no other manner than the Indians had done,
and he spoke no language readily but that of the country.

The office of Mr Frederick Craig was to instruct the youth of the
country in reading and writing, and the principles of the Christian
religion; the Dutch having printed versions of the New Testament, a
catechism, and several other tracts, in the language of this and the
neighbouring islands. Dr Solander, who was at his house, saw the books,
and the copy-books also, of his scholars, many of whom wrote a very fair
hand. He boasted that there were no less than six hundred Christians in
the township of Seba; but what the Dutch Christianity of these Indians
may be, it is not perhaps very easy to guess, for there was not a
church, nor even a priest, in the whole island.

While we were at this place, we made several enquiries concerning the
neighbouring islands, and the intelligence which we received is to the
following effect:--

A small island to the westward of Savu, the name of which we did not
learn, produces nothing of any consequence but areca-nuts, of which the
Dutch receive annually the freight of two sloops, in return for presents
that they make to the islanders.

Timor is the chief, and the Dutch residents on the other islands go
thither once a-year to pass their accounts. The place was nearly in the
same state as in Dampier's time, the Dutch having there a fort and
storehouses; and by Lange's account we might there have been supplied
with every necessary that we expected to procure at Batavia, salt
provisions and arrack not excepted. But the Portuguese were still in
possession of several towns on the north side of the island,
particularly Laphao and Sesial.

About two years before our arrival, a French ship was wrecked upon the
east coast of Timor; and after she had lain some days upon the shoal, a
sudden gale broke her up at once, and drowned the captain, with the
greatest part of the crew: Those who got ashore, among whom was one of
the lieutenants, made the best of their way to Concordia; they were four
days upon the road, where they were obliged to leave part of their
company through fatigue, and the rest, to the number of about eighty,
arrived at the town. They were supplied with every necessary, and sent
back to the wreck, with proper assistance, for recovering what could be
fished up: They fortunately got up all their bullion, which was in
chests, and several of their guns, which were very large. They then
returned to the town, but their companions who had been left upon the
road were missing, having, as it was supposed, been kept among the
Indians, either by persuasion or force; for they are very desirous of
having Europeans among them, to instruct them in the art of war. After a
stay of more than two months at Concordia, their number was diminished
nearly one half by sickness, in consequence of the fatigue and hardship
which they had suffered by the shipwreck, and the survivors were sent in
a small vessel to Europe.

Rotte was in much the same situation as Savu; a Dutch factor resided
upon it to manage the natives, and look after its produce, which
consists, among other articles, of sugar. Formerly it was made only by
bruising the canes, and boiling the juice to a syrup, in the same manner
as toddy; but great improvements have lately been made in preparing this
valuable commodity. The three little islands called the Solars were also
under the influence of the Dutch settlement at Concordia: They are flat
and low, but abound with provisions of every kind, and the middlemost
is said to have a good harbour for shipping. Ende, another little
island to the westward of the Solars, was still in the hands of the
Portuguese, who had a good town and harbour on the north-east corner of
it called Larntuca: They had formerly an harbour on the south side of
it, but that, being much inferior to Larntuca, had for some time been
altogether neglected.

The inhabitants of each of these little islands speak a language
peculiar to themselves, and it is an object of Dutch policy to prevent,
as much as possible, their learning the language of each other. If they
spoke a common language, they would learn, by a mutual intercourse with
each other, to plant such things as would be of more value to themselves
than their present produce, though of less advantage to the Dutch; but
their languages being different, they can communicate no such knowledge
to each other, and the Dutch secure to themselves the benefit of
supplying their several necessities upon their own terms, which it is
reasonable to suppose are not very moderate. It is probably with a view
to this advantage that the Dutch never teach their own language to the
natives of these islands, and have been at the expence of translating
the Testament and catechisms into the different languages of each; for
in proportion as Dutch had become the language of their religion, it
would have become the common language of them all.[111]

[Footnote 111: The Dutch in all their transactions abroad seem to have
invariably minded the _main chance, the one thing needful_; and to this
consideration, as a fundamental principle in their character, they never
scrupled to sacrifice every and any matter of religion, policy or
humanity,--as if the love of money was (to reverse the language of an
apostle) the root of all virtue, and alone worthy of cultivation in the
breasts of mankind. Whether their contempt of other people were greater
than their indifference to the real interests which necessary connexion
with them recommended, it is impossible to ascertain in some cases. It
is on either supposition, to their indelible disgrace, that not the
least pains were almost at any time bestowed by them, to acquire a
knowledge of the languages of the people whom they had subdued. The
Javanese, a language venerable from its antiquity, as certainly
connected with the Sanscrit or sacred dialect of the Hindus, and
important from its own excellence, as well as because spoken by some
millions of people with whom the Dutch had very long intercourse, was so
completely neglected, that till very lately not a single individual
among them could write or converse in it. Of the Malayan tongue, which
is quite distinct, though it has borrowed much from it, in consequence
of certain commercial and even religious intercourse, a little knowledge
had been acquired, and plainly for this reason, that without it no
communication could have been carried on with the people inhabiting the
sea-coasts and islands of the eastern parts of India. But even this
knowledge, it is probable, extended no farther than to the names of
substances imperatively alluring to the cupidity of Dutch merchants.
What, alas! could be expected of intellectual energy or enterprize, from
men who had surrendered their souls to _mammon_, and whose only
remaining care it was, to guzzle gin and devour enough of victuals?--E.]