Borneo and the Indian Archipelago: with drawings of costume and sceneryMarryat, Frank
History
Borneo and the Indian Archipelago: with drawings of costume and scenery
Marryat, Frank
Borneo -- Description and travel; Malay Archipelago -- Description and travel
On the 6th of June sighted one of the Madjicosima islands. The master in
the second cutter left the ship, with a week's provisions, to survey the
island, while we made sail for our former anchorage at Pa-tchu-san, to
obtain water.
On the 8th of June we arrived at Pa-tchu-san, where we were received by
our friends, the chiefs, who appeared delighted to see us again. We
learnt through our interpreter that a French frigate had left Loo-choo
for Corea two months before--twenty-seven of their countrymen, chiefly
missionaries, having been murdered by the Coreans. It would appear that
the French missionaries, exceeding their vocation, had wished to make
some alterations in the Corean form of government, but their attempts
not meeting the approbation of those in power, they fell a sacrifice to
their good intentions.
On the 9th we sailed for Sabangyat to pick up the two cutters. We
arrived there the next day, and were joined by the master. We received
every attention from the hospitable and inoffensive natives, who
supplied us with pigs, fowls, and vegetables, refusing to accept any
thing in return. We returned to Pa-tchu-san to rate our chronometers,
and sailed on the same day. The next morning we landed on Hoa-pen, an
island, but the cloudy weather prevented us from obtaining the latitude.
We landed during the day, and remained on shore the whole night to
obtain our objects, and, I may add, were most cruelly bitten by the
mosquitoes as a reward for our zeal.
When we were returning to the ship on the following morning, a large
albatross alighted on the water close to the boat. As we passed it, it
made several futile attempts to rise again on the wing. It is well known
that this bird cannot fly while under the influence of fear, and so it
appeared in this instance, for, while we were passing it, a shark
thrust its head out of the water and took the unfortunate bird down with
him.
On the 16th we landed at Tea-qua-san, where we captured great numbers of
albatrosses, ferns, and boobies. They actually refused to move at our
approach. This island is very small and uninhabited, but it was evident
that people had landed on it lately, for in a cave we discovered several
grass beds, remains of game, and remnants of cooking. The weather
prevented us from making any observations, but it did not prevent us
from collecting several hundreds of eggs, which we took on board with
us. The next day we saw a large rock, marked doubtful on the charts. A
heavy squall, which forced us to run before it for several hours,
prevented us from ascertaining its position.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account