THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE HOUSES, AND HOW OF SUMATRA, The habitations of the said place consist of walled houses of stone, and they are not very high, and a great many of them are covered with the shells of sea turtles,1 because they in that language signifies 'the Virgin Mary,' which would seem to imply that the knowledge of artillery was derived by the Arabs themselves from the Christians, as without doubt it was." Mariam does, indeed, mean Mary, not in Arabic only, but in several other Oriental languages, and Mussulmans are as familiar with the name through the Korân as Christians are through the Bible. Moreover, as the word is certainly never used by the Arabs in Arabia or Egypt to designate fire-arms, I can only suppose it to be a conventional term confined to those residing in the Archipelago, and, as such, can hardly be adduced in support of Mr. Crawfurd's hypothesis. Varthema's notice of the skill displayed by the people of Sumatra in the preparation of "fuochi artificiati” at this early period is corroborated by the same learned author's remarks on that subject:-"A knowledge of gunpowder must have been, at least, as early in the Indian islands as that of cannon. It is not improbable that it may have been even earlier known through the Chinese, for the manufacture of fire-works [is] known to the Malays under the name of Mârchûn, a word of which the origin is not traceable. The principal ingredients of gunpowder are sufficiently abundant over many parts of the Archipelago, and known by native names, sandûwa being the name of saltpetre, and bûlirang or walirang, of sulphur." Desc. Dict., p. 22. Conti merely describes the houses at Sumatra as being very low, but Barbosa says that all the cities of the kingdoms in the island were built of straw, which contradicts Varthema, unless the latter refers to some locality unknown to Barbosa. I have discovered nothing in the accounts of the early European travellers to confirm the use made of the shell as mentioned in the text; but it is a well known fact that turtles measuring from five to six feet are found in the seas of the Indian Archipelago, and Conti had heard that some of the churches belonging to the Christians at Cathay were constructed entirely of tortoise-shell, (See India in the Fifteenth Cent., ii. 33.) There is nothing improbable, however, in Varthema's statement, and its coincidence with the accounts of the ancient Greek and Roman authors is most striking. Mr. R. H. Major's learned researches on this subject deserve to be quoted in full. Referring to the enormous tortoise described by Sinbad in the Arabian Nights as measuring twenty cubits are found here in great quantities, and in my time I saw one weighed which weighed one hundred and three pounds. I also saw two elephants' teeth which weighed three hundred and thirty-five pounds. And I saw, moreover, in this island, serpents very much larger than those of Calicut. Let us revert to our Christian companions, who were desirous of returning to their country: wherefore they asked us what was our intention, whether we wished to remain here, or to go farther on, or to return back. My companion answered them: "Since I am brought where the spices grow, I should like to see some kinds before I return back." They said to him: "No other spices grow here excepting those which you have seen." And he asked them where the nutmegs and the cloves grew. They answered: "That the nutmegs and mace grew in an island which was distant from there three hundred miles." We then asked them if we could go to that island in safety, that is, secure from robbers or corsairs. The Christians answered: "That secure from robbers we might go, but not from the chances of the sea;" and they said that we could not go to the said island with that large ship. My companion said: "What means then in length and breadth, he remarks :— "The account of these animals is not to be attributed to a licentious exuberance of fancy in the Arabian author. He might have seen in Ælian (De Naturâ Anim., 1. xvi. c. xvii.) that the tortoises, whose shells were fifteen cubits in length, and sufficiently large to cover a house, were found near the island of Taprobane. Pliny and Strabo mention the same circumstance (Nat. Hist., 1. ix. c. 10): they likewise turn them upside down, and say that men used to row in them as in a boat. (Geog., 1. xvi. 6.) Diodorus Siculus adds to their testimony, and assures us, on the faith of an historian, that the chelonophagi (shell-fish eaters, L. iv. c. 1) derived a threefold advantage from the tortoise, which occasionally supplied them with a roof to their houses, a boat, and a dinner." Mr. Major then proceeds to identify this colossal tortoise with the Colossochelys Atlas, the first fossil remains of which were discovered in the sub-Himalayahs by Dr. Falconer and Major Cautley in 1835, an idea of the vast size of which is afforded by the cast in the upper galleries of the British Museum. See Introduction to India in the Fifteenth Cent., pp. xliii-v. R might there be for going to this island?" "They answered: "That it was necessary to purchase a Chiampana,”1 that is, a small vessel, of which many are found there. My companion begged them to send for two, which he would buy. The Christians immediately found two, furnished with people whom they had there to manage them, with all things necessary and proper for such a voyage; and they bargained for the said vessels, men, and necessary things, for four hundred pardai, which were paid down by my companion, who then began to say to the Christians: "O my very dear friends, although we are not of your race, we are all sons of Adam and Eve, will you abandon me and this other my companion who is born in your faith?" "How in our faith? This companion of yours, is he not a Persian ?" He replied: "He is a Persian now, because he was purchased in the city of Jerusalem." The Christians hearing Jerusalem mentioned, immediately raised their hands to heaven, and then kissed the earth three times, and asked at what time it was that I was sold in Jerusalem. We replied: "That I was about fifteen years old." Then said they : "He ought to remember his country." Said my companion: "Truly he does recollect it, for I have had no other pleasure for many months but that of hearing of the things of his country, and he has taught me [the names of] all the members of the body and the names of the things to eat." Hearing this, the Christians said: "Our wish was to return to our country, which is distant from here three thousand miles; for your sake and for that of your companion we are willing to come where you shall go; and if your companion is willing to remain. with us, we will make him rich, and if he shall desire to observe the Persian law, he shall be at liberty to do so." My companion replied: "I am much pleased with your company, but it is out of order for him to remain with you, because I have given him a niece of mine to be his wife for 1 See note 2 on p. 188 ante. the love which I bear him. So that, if you are willing to come in company with us, I wish that you first take this present which I give you, otherwise I should never be satisfied." The good Christians answered: "That he might do as he pleased, for they were satisfied with everything." And so he gave them half a curia of rubies, which were ten, of the value of five hundred pardai.3 Two days afterwards the said Chiampane were ready, and we put on board many articles of food, especially the best fruits I ever tasted, and thus took our way towards the island called Bandan. THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF BANDAN,* WHERE NUTMEGS AND MACE GROW. In the course of the said journey we found about twenty islands, part inhabited and part not, and in the space of 1 See p. 104 ante. 3 See note on p. 130 ante. 2 See note on p. 170 ante. ✦ Bândan, the modern Banda, one of "the Banda or Nutmeg Islands, which consist of a group of mere islets, said to be five in number, like the Clove Islands, but really amounting to ten, although some of them be uninhabited." (Desc. Dict., p. 33.) Barbosa makes the population Moors and Pagans, and Pigafetta speaks of them as being Moors only. (RAMUSIO, vol. i. pp. 319, 368.) De Barros, as quoted by Crawfurd, gives the following description of the inhabitants and produce of the Banda Islands, which on most points strikingly confirms Varthema's account:- 66 :- The people of these islands are robust, with a tawny complexion and lank hair, and are of the worst repute in these parts. They follow the Mohammedan sect, and are much addicted to trade, their women performing the labours of the field. They have neither king nor lord, and all their government depends on the advice of their elders; and as these are often at variance, they quarrel among themselves. The land has no other export than the nutmeg. This tree is in such abundance that the land is full of it, without its being planted by any one, for the earth yields it without culture. The forests which produce it belong to no one by inheritance, but to the people in common. When June and September come, which are the months for gathering the crop, the nutmeg woods are allotted, and he who gathers most has most profit." Desc. Dict., p. 35. fifteen days we arrived at the said island, which is very ugly and gloomy, and is about one hundred miles in circumference, and is a very low and flat country. There is no king here, nor even a governor, but there are some peasants, like beasts, without understanding. The houses of this island are of timber, very gloomy, and low. Their dress consists of a shirt; they go barefooted, with nothing on their heads; their hair long, the face broad and round, their colour is white, and they are small of stature. Their faith is Pagan, but they are of that most gloomy class of Calicut called Poliar and Hirava, they are very weak of understanding, and in strength they have no vigour, but live like beasts. Nothing grows here but nutmegs and some fruits. The trunk of the nutmeg is formed like a peach tree, and produces its leaves in like manner; but the branches are more close, and before the nut arrives at perfection the mace stands round it like an open rose, and when the nut is ripe the mace clasps it, and so they gather it in the month of September; for in this island the seasons go as with us, and every man gathers as much as he can, for all are common, and no labour is bestowed upon the said trees, but nature is left to do her own work. These nuts are sold by a measure, which weighs twenty-six pounds, for the price of half a carlino. Money circulates here as in Calicut. It is not necessary to administer justice here, for the people are so stupid, that if they wished to do evil they would not know how to accomplish it. At the end of two days my companion said to the Christians: "Where do the cloves grow?" They answered: "That they grew six days' journey hence, in an island called Monoch, and that the people of that island are beastly, and more vile and worthless than those of Bandan. At last we determined to go to that island be the people what they might, and so we set sail, and in twelve days arrived at the said island. 1 Sec p. 171 and note. |