Voyages of the Dutch brig of war Dourga : $b through the southern and little-known parts of the Moluccan Archipelago, and along the previously unknown southern coast of New Guinea, performed during the years 1825 & 1826Kolff, D. H. (Dirk Hendrik)
History
Voyages of the Dutch brig of war Dourga : $b through the southern and little-known parts of the Moluccan Archipelago, and along the previously unknown southern coast of New Guinea, performed during the years 1825 & 1826
Kolff, D. H. (Dirk Hendrik)
Dourga (Brig); Maluku (Indonesia) -- Description and travel; New Guinea -- Description and travel
M. Bik, on fixing two Amboynese teachers here, whom he brought with
him, promised them a salary, and also to supply them now and then
with necessaries, as occasion might offer. I therefore considered it
my duty to advance them some money and clothes, while at the same time
I suggested to the inhabitants that they ought regularly to contribute
something to the support of these useful men. The teachers pride
themselves on their descent as Amboynese, and are uncommonly neat
in their dress. I never saw one otherwise than well clad, wearing a
three-cornered hat, a black coat of cloth or cotton, small-clothes of
the same materials, with shoes, and black silk or cotton stockings.
The teacher at Wokan was married to the daughter of the Orang Kaya,
and was as much respected as he was esteemed. Their usual employment
consists in instructing the children in reading and writing the Malay
language (Roman letters, not the Arabic characters, being used), and in
initiating them in the rudiments of the Reformed Religion. They rarely,
however, acquire a full insight into the last, as the young people
are forced to leave school at an early period, that they may assist
their parents in their avocations. He also performs divine service
every Sunday, during which he reads passages from the Bible, and the
community under his direction sing psalms in the Malayan tongue,[30]
the service being usually closed with a discourse on the precepts and
duties of Christianity.
We tarried a considerable time at the residence of the Orang Kaya,
where a number of people had assembled, among whom were the chiefs of
the neighbouring villages, who had come to welcome us and pay their
respects. This afforded me a good opportunity of breaking to them
the object of my visit; and as I wished to make as much impression
on their minds as possible, I arranged that a general meeting should
be held on Wokan on the 29th of August, when the business might be
entered into more fully. M. Kam, also, to the great satisfaction of the
Christians, held a long communication with them on religious subjects,
and about fifty of the natives were baptized on the occasion. After
this ceremony had been completed, amid the greatest attention and
propriety of conduct, we amused ourselves in examining the gardens in
the vicinity, the people appearing to be much pleased at our visiting
their dwellings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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