well, and without them it would have been impossible for me to have finished
my boat with half the neatness, or in double the time. I had a Ke workman to put
in new ribs, for which I bought nails of a Bugis trader, at 8d. a pound. My
gimlets were, however, too small; and having no augers we were obliged to bore
all the holes with hot irons, a most tedious and unsatisfactory operation.
Five men had engaged to work at the prau till finished, and then go with me to
Mysol, Waigiou, and Ternate. Their ideas of work were, however, very different
from mine, and I had immense difficulty with them; seldom more than two or
three coming together, and a hundred excuses being given for working only half
a day when they did come. Yet they were constantly begging advances of
money, saying they had nothing to eat. When I gave it them they were sure to
stay away the next day, and when I refused any further advances some of them
declined working any more. As the boat approached completion my difficulties
with the men increased. The uncle of one had commenced a war, or sort of
faction fight, and wanted his assistance; another's wife was ill, and would not let
him come; a third had fever and ague, and pains in his head and back; and a
fourth had an inexorable creditor who would not let him go out of his sight. They
had all received a month's wages in advance; and though the amount was not
large, it was necessary to make them pay it back, or I should get any men at all. I
therefore sent the village constable after two, and kept them in custody a day,
when they returned about three-fourths of what they owed me. The sick man also
paid, and the steersman found a substitute who was willing to take his debt, and
receive only the balance of his wages.
About this time we had a striking proof of the dangers of New Guinea trading.
Six men arrived at the village in a small boat almost starved, having escaped out
of two praus, the remainder of whose crews (fourteen in number) had been
murdered by the natives of New Guinea. The praus had left this village a few
months before, and among the murdered men were the Rajah's son, and the
relation or slaves of many of the inhabitants. The cry of lamentation that arose
when the news arrived was most distressing. A score of women, who had lost
husbands, brothers, sons, or more distant relatives, set up at once the most
dismal shrieks and groans and wailings, which continued at intervals till late at
night; and as the chief houses in the village were crowded together round that
which I occupied, our situation was anything but agreeable.
It seems that the village where the attack took place (nearly opposite the small
island of Lakahia) is known to be dangerous, and the vessels had only gone there
a few days before to buy some tripang. The crew were living on shore, the praus
being in a small river close by, and they were attacked and murdered in the day-