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
The church, situated on the south side of the village, is a handsome
and strong stone building, and although the doors and windows are
wanting, it is otherwise kept carefully in order. On each side of the
entrance are benches and reading desks for the men, while a number of
old-fashioned carved chairs, certainly a century and a half old, were
placed in the centre for the women. Here and there gravestones might
be perceived, the inscriptions on which had become illegible. Their
dead are not now interred in or near the church, but are deposited in
an enclosed cemetery, some distance to the north-east of the fort. The
tomb-stones here are ornamented in different ways, and it is a strong
proof of the good disposition of these people, that the tombs of the
officers of the late East India Company, who have died here, are kept
in as good order as those of their own chiefs and forefathers.
Early on the following morning, the 30th of August, I was requested by
the natives to allow M. Kam to hold another religious meeting on this
day, that a number more of them might have an opportunity of being
married and christened. I willingly gave my consent, and promised to be
present with my European fellow-voyagers.
On the previous day I had remarked, that the pulpit was ornamented by
a curtain formed of a piece of silk. By way of giving the congregation
an agreeable surprise, I caused the teacher to suspend in its place a
large covering of fine silk, ornamented with the arms of the King of
the Netherlands. The sight of this, on their entering the church, had
a great effect on the people, who loudly expressed their thanks for
this attention; so that I became convinced that this present of the
Government could not have been put to a better use.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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