The crew consisted of about thirty men, natives of Macassar and the adjacent
coasts and islands. They were mostly young, and were short, broad-faced, good-
humoured looking fellows. Their dress consisted generally of a pair of trousers
only, when at work, and a handkerchief twisted round the head, to which in the
evening they would add a thin cotton jacket. Four of the elder men were
"jurumudis," or steersmen, who had to squat (two at a time) in the little steerage
before described, changing every six hours. Then there was an old man, the
"juragan," or captain, but who was really what we should call the first mate; he
occupied the other half of the little house on deck. There were about ten
respectable men, Chinese or Bugis, whom our owner used to call "his own
people." He treated them very well, shared his meals with them, and spoke to
them always with perfect politeness; yet they were most of them a kind of slave
debtors, bound over by the police magistrate to work for him at mere nominal
wages for a term of years till their debts were liquidated. This is a Dutch
institution in this part of the world, and seems to work well. It is a great boon to
traders, who can do nothing in these thinly-populated regions without trusting
goods to agents and petty dealers, who frequently squander them away in
gambling and debauchery. The lower classes are almost all in a chronic state of
debt. The merchant trusts them again and again, till the amount is something
serious, when he brings them to court and has their services allotted to him for
its liquidation. The debtors seem to think this no disgrace, but rather enjoy their
freedom from responsibility, and the dignity of their position under a wealthy
and well-known merchant. They trade a little on their own account, and both
parties seem to get on very well together. The plan seems a more sensible one
than that which we adopt, of effectually preventing a man from earning anything
towards paying his debts by shutting him up in a jail.
My own servants were three in number. Ali, the Malay boy whom I had
picked up in Borneo, was my head man. He had already been with me a year,
could turn his hand to anything, and was quite attentive and trustworthy. He was
a good shot, and fond of shooting, and I had taught him to skin birds very well.
The second, named Baderoon, was a Macassar lad; also a pretty good boy, but a
desperate gambler. Under pretence of buying a house for his mother, and
clothes, for himself, he had received four months' wages about a week before we
sailed, and in a day or two gambled away every dollar of it. He had come on
board with no clothes, no betel, or tobacco, or salt fish, all which necessary
articles I was obliged to send Ali to buy for him. These two lads were about
sixteen, I should suppose; the third was younger, a sharp little rascal named
Baso, who had been with me a month or two, and had learnt to cook tolerably.