Travels in India (Tavernier) 157: CHAPTER XXVII · The Author embarks on a Dutch Vessel in order to return to Europe
Travels in India (Ball) 157
- Language
- English
Contents
CHAPTER XXVII · The Author embarks on a Dutch Vessel in order to return to Europe
157.1.1
On the day following, at a very early hour, I took a small Chinese boat to go on board, where, having arrived, I found one of the General’s bodyguards, who came to convey to me once more his good wishes for my voyage, and to tell me that Madame la Generale begged me to accept a cask of Rhine wine, and some pots of fruits preserved in vinegar, which she sent me. There were cucumbers, mangos, citrons, and eggs with their shells, which prevent them from becoming salt. I had taken no provisions with me, because some days before our departure the captain of the vessel told me that if I brought any they would not be received on board, he having been forbidden by the General. It is the custom that the General gives 200 écus to each captain of a vessel in order to furnish himself with all kinds of stores, and as I embarked by his advice on the Vice-Admiral, he caused double the sum to be given to the captain on my account, in order to have the honour to cause no expenditure to a stranger to whom he had offered a passage. Madame la Generale, when sending this present, bethought herself, possibly, of that which I had done some days previously for her daughter. Some friends seeing that I had easy access to the principal ladies of Batavia, begged me to intercede for a young man, a native of Paris, who in consequence of dissipation had come out to India as a soldier, and was in danger of the surgeons cutting off his leg, where he had an ulcer.
157.1.2
To accomplish it I made a present to the General’s daughter, in order that she might ask the Major and the Avocat Fiscal not to appear to see this young man when he was leaving. We were still three days in the roads before setting sail. On the first day the principal merchant of the fort, who kept a record of all the goods which had been embarked, both for Holland and other places, came to the vessel according to custom to examine the bill of lading, and have it read over by the captain of the vessel and the merchants who came with him, whom he made sign it. This bill of lading was placed in the same box where they shut up all the account books and records of all that had passed in the factories of India, both concerning trade and as regards civil and criminal justice, and the covering over all the goods was then sealed.
157.1.3
On the second day the Major with the Avocat Fiscal and the chief surgeon also came, according to custom, to examine all those who were in the vessel returning to Holland — the Major in order to see whether there were any soldiers who were going without leave, for every one must have his passport with him ; the Avocat Fiscal to ascertain if any of the writers were concealed who wished to escape before their term was accomplished. The Chief Surgeon of the fort comes to see that all the sick persons who are being sent home have ailments which are incurable in the country. because some soldiers may obtain leave from the Major by means of friends, as he did, whom as I have said, I carried off; for the surgeon is obliged by oath not to allow any one to go unless he considers that he cannot be cured but by going to Europe, The Major is bound to give the roll of all the soldiers, both of those who are well and those who are ill, to the Fiscal, who makes them come on the vessel one after the other; and it is then that the sick ones are examined by the surgeon. It was perhaps not impossible that he whom I took might have been healed of his illness in the country; but by the favour of the Fiscal he was not called with the others, and escaped in that way.
157.1.4
On the third day the principal persons of the town and many ladies came to bid adieu to their friends who were leaving, and brought with them wine and food to entertain them, music accompanying the good cheer, and at 6 p.m. all of them returned home. On the following day at daybreak we set sail, and were clear of the Straits sooner than we expected, because generally the wind is contrary, and besides we were leaving twenty-four days after all the others, the season for going to sea being nearly over. As soon as we had left the Straits we saw Prince’s Island. From thence our direction was to make for the Cocos Islands, and when in the latitude of these islands we spent two or three days scouring the sea, expecting to sight them, but were unable to do so, this caused us to direct our course straight for the Cape of Good Hope.
157.1.5
On the forty-fifth day after our departure from Batavia (for I do not wish to weary the reader with a journal of our voyage), our Vice-Admiral neglected to order the ship’s lantern to be lighted, in the belief that the whole fleet had already arrived at the Cape of Good Hope. It happened that a vessel of the same fleet called the “Maestricht” also omitted to light its lantern on the same night, and as it was very dark and the sea was high, it came into collision with our vessel, this threw every one on either side into great consternation. Each one set himself to pray to God, believing that one or other of the vessels would be lost. Ours, which was called “les Provinces,” was considered to be the largest and the best of the vessels which sailed to India, this was apparent from this collision, it having received so severe a shock. Every one realising the danger we were in, laboured to disengage the other vessel from ours, and good fortune willed that the yards of the “Maestricht,” which were entangled in our rigging, broke away, and in order to help matters we cut some of them with an axe. Thus, with great trouble, the “Maestricht” was disengaged, and drifting all along the length of our vessel, when she was passing the prow she broke off the “beak-head.”
157.1.6
On the fifty-fifth day of our voyage we came in view of the Cape of Good Hope, where we remained at sea five or six days, because the waves being very high we did not venture to enter the roads to cast anchor. This was not because there was much wind then, but because the south wind had blown so long that it had driven the sea on the coast. The sea having calmed down, we cast anchor, and this is what I have been able to observe there.
157.1.7
Of all the races of men I have seen in my travels I have found none so hideous nor so brutal as the Comouks whom I have mentioned in my account of Persia, and as the inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope, whom they call Cafres or Hottentots. When the latter speak they make the tongue click (peter) in the mouth, and although their voice is scarcely articulate they easily understand one another. They have for sole garments the skins of wild beasts which they kill in the forests, and when it becomes cold in the winter in this place, which is in 35° and some minutes of latitude, they turn the fur inside, and when it is warm they turn it outside. But it is only the more well-to-do among them who are thus clothed, the others having only some miserable scrap of cloth to cover their nakedness. Both men and women are of spare habit and small stature, and as soon as a male is born his mother partially castrates him, and gives him sea-water to drink, and tobacco to eat. They perform this partial castration because it makes them swifter in running, so they say. It is true that there are some of them who can capture roebucks by running them down. I have had the curiosity to examine many of these Cafres, and I found they had all been castrated on the right side. They have no knowledge of gold, silver, nor any kind of money, and have not, so to speak, any religion.
157.1.8
On our arrival in this place after we had cast anchor, four women came on board bringing with them four young ostriches, which were cooked for some of our sick men. Subsequently they brought us numerous turtles and ostrich eggs, and another kind of eggs as large as the eggs of a goose. The birds which lay these eggs are a kind of goose, and have so much fat that it is impossible to eat them, they taste rather of fish than of flesh. These women, observing that our cook threw into a wooden bucket the entrails of two fowls and a goose which were for our supper, took them, and having squeezed them from one end to the other in order to express the contents, of which only half was ejected, they eat them in that condition, being much pleased also because our captain gave each of them two cups of spirits to drink. Neither men nor women have the slightest shame about exposing their nudity, and they live almost like beasts.
157.2.1
When they see vessels arriving they drive cattle to the shore and bring what they have to barter for tobacco, spirits, and beads of crystal and agate, which are cheap at Surat, and for some hardware. When they are not content with what is offered them they immediately take to flight, and at the sound of a whistle from their mouths all their animals follow them, and you see no more of them. Some persons on one occasion, seeing them fly, fired musket-shots in order to slay the cattle, but since then, for some years, these Cafres have not brought their beasts, and there has been much trouble experienced in inducing them to return. It is a great convenience for the vessels which touch there to obtain supplies, and the Dutch have had good reason for building a fort there. There is now a fine village inhabited by people of all nationalities who live with the Dutch, and all kinds of grains which are brought thither, both from Europe and Asia, on being sown, grow much better than in the places from whence they have been brought. It is a very good country which is, as I have said, at the 35th degree and some minutes of latitude, and it is neither the air nor the heat which makes these Cafres so black as they are. Desiring to know the explanation of it, and wherefore they smell so strongly, I inquired from a young girl who was taken as soon as her mother had brought her forth, and was nursed and reared in the fort, being as white as one of our European women.
157.2.2
She told me that the reason that the Cafres are so black, is that they rub themselves with an ointment which they make of different simples known to them, and that if they do not rub themselves often, and as soon as they are born, they become dropsical like other blacks of Africa, and like the Abyssinians, and the inhabitants of Saba, who have one leg twice the size of the other few of these people ever living more than forty years. It is true that these Cafres, brutal as they are, have nevertheless a special knowledge of simples, and know how to apply them to the maladies for which they are specifics ; this the Dutch have very often proved. Be it that the Cafres are bitten by a venomous animal, or that an ulcer or other disease appears, by means of these simples, which they know how to select, they accomplish the healing in a short time. Of nineteen sick men who were in our vessel, fifteen were placed in the hands of the Cafres, the maladies consisted of ulcers in the legs or arose from wounds received in war, and in less than fifteen days all were perfectly cured. Each sick man had two of these Cafres to attend upon him, and as soon as they saw what the condition of the wound or ulcer was, they sought for the drugs, and crushing them between two pebbles applied them to the sore. As for the four others they were not given into their hands, being so permeated with the ailments which accompany venereal disease that they could not be cured at Batavia.
157.2.3
They all four died between the Cape and the Island of Saint Helena. In the year 1661 there returned from Batavia on a vessel named the “West Frisland,” a young Breton gentleman, who, after having squandered all his money in Holland, entered the Company’s service. Having arrived at Batavia a multitude of mosquitos bit him on one leg during the night, and an ulcer appeared on which all the surgeons of Batavia had expended their skill and remedies; and if the General had not given him permission to go home it would have been necessary to amputate his leg. When the ship arrived at the Cape, the captain having sent the Breton on shore to give him some ease, these Cafres began to examine him, and said that if they were allowed to treat him they would cure him in a short time. The captain placed him in their hands, and in less than fifteen days his leg was rendered as sound as the other which had never had anything the matter with it. As soon as a vessel has anchored at the Cape, the commander gives some of the soldiers and sailors permission to go on shore to refresh themselves. Those who during the voyage have been most indisposed go first, each in his turn, and they go to the town, where they are fed for 7 or 8 sols a-day, and enjoy good cheer.
157.2.4
It is the custom of the Dutch to send parties from time to time to explore the country, and those who go furthest are best rewarded. A number of soldiers having gone in a party with a sergeant who commanded them, and having advanced far into the country, they made a large fire at midnight, both to protect themselves from lions and for warmth, and they lay round it to rest. Having gone to sleep, a lion seized one of the soldiers by the arm, and immediately the sergeant, firing a shot from his gun, slew the animal. When it was dead its jaws had to be forced open, with great effort, in order to release the soldier’s arm, which was pierced from side to side. It is apparent from this story that it is an error to suppose that lions do not approach a fire. These Cafres healed the soldier’s arm in twelve days. You see in the fort an abundance of skins of lions and tigers. Among others there is the skin of a horse which these Cafres killed. It is white barred with black stripes pricked out like a leopard, and without a tail. At a distance of 2 or 3 leagues from the fort the Dutch found a dead lion which had four porcupine’s quills in its body, which had penetrated the flesh three-fourths of their length. It was accordingly concluded that the porcupine had killed the lion. The skin is still kept with the spines sticking in the foot.
157.2.5
At one league’s distance from the fort there is a fine village which grows from day to day. When the vessels of the Dutch Company arrive, if any soldier or sailor wishes to remain there he is welcomed. He takes as much land as he can manage, and, as I have above said, all kinds of vegetables and pulse, and even grapes grow readily, and rice also is cultivated. These people have young ostriches, beef, and sea and fresh water fish in abundance. In order to obtain the young ostriches when they wish, as soon as the birds are seven or eight days old they go to the nests, and driving a stake into the ground tie the young birds by one of their feet in the nest, so that they cannot escape, leaving them to be fed by their parents till they are of good size, afterwards they are taken to be sold or eaten. When the Dutch began to inhabit the Cape of Good Hope, they took, as I have said, the daughter of one of these Cafres as soon as she was born. She is white and beautiful, save that she has a slightly depressed nose, and she serves as interpreter to the Dutch. She had a child by a Frenchman, but the Company would not allow him to marry her. On the contrary, they confiscated 800 livres of his wages; this was somewhat severe on him.
157.2.6
There are in this country quantities of lions and tigers, and the Dutch have discovered a contrivance which answers well for killing them. They bind a gun to a stake driven into the ground, and place some meat at the end of the gun, which is bound to a cord attached to the trigger. When the animal comes to take this meat the cord draws the trigger, and the gun discharging the balls lodge in the mouth or body of the animal. The Cafres eat a root which resembles our root of chervil, which they roast, and it serves them as bread. Sometimes they make it into flour, and it tastes like chestnuts. As for flesh, they eat it raw, and fish also in the same condition; and as for the entrails of animals, as I have already said, they merely squeeze them to exclude the digested matter and then eat them. The majority of the women bind these entrails, when dried, round their legs, especially those of wild beasts which their husbands slay in the woods, and they wear them as ornaments. They also eat turtles after they have roasted them for a short time, so that the shells can be removed. They are very skilful in hurling the assegai, which is a kind of dart, and those who have not got any, use a stick an inch thick, of a very hard wood, and of the same length as the dart. They make a point on it and hurl it to a considerable distance with their hands. They take these sticks with them to the margin of the sea, and as soon as a fish comes to the surface they do not fail to transfix it.
157.2.7
As for those birds which are like our ducks, their eggs contain no yolk ; there are a great number in the country, and in a bay which is 18 miles from the Cape they are killed with blows of a stick. During the time while M. Vandime was General, the Dutch captured a young Cafre boy at the Cape and sent him to Batavia. The General took great pains to have him instructed in languages, so that in seven or eight years he learned Dutch and Portuguese in perfection. He then wished to return to his country, and the General not desiring to constrain him to remain, equipped him with linen and clothes, thinking that when he arrived at the Cape he would live like the Dutchmen, and would aid them in obtaining supplies for their vessels whenever they arrived. But he was no sooner at the Cape than he threw his garments into the sea and fled with the other blacks, eating raw flesh as before, and since then he has remained with them without having any intercourse with the Dutch. When these Cafres go to hunt in the forest they assemble in large numbers, and have certain terrific cries and shouts, so that the beasts are all frightened by them, and it is then easy to slaughter large numbers of them when thus terrified. I have even been told that these cries frighten the lion.