Part 1 (1/2)
The Adventures of Louis de Rougee ho--Daily routine--Submarine beauties--A fortune in pearls--Seized by an octopus--Shark-killing extraordinary--Trading with the natives--Ies
I was born in or near Paris, in the year 1844 My father was a fairly prosperous eneral ely in shoes; but when I was about ten years old, my mother, in consequence of certain domestic differences, took me to live with her at Montreux, and other places in Switzerland, where I was educated I visitedLausanne, Geneva, Neufchatel, &c The whole of the tilish boys on account of their language and sports, both of which attracted in to display their bent, and y I was constantly bringing home pieces of stone and minerals picked up in the streets and on the in and history My dear ed , in the Black Forest, to get a practical insight into se arrived fro me to return to France and report ainst this my mother resolutely set her face I fancy my father wanted me to take up the army as a career, but in deference to my mother's wishes I reer She and I had th advised me to take a trip to the East, and see what the experience of travel would do for me Neither of us had any definite project in view, but at length aveeventually to visit and make myself acquainted with the French possessions in the Far East My idea was to visit such places as Tonkin, Cochin-China, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, &c My mother was of the opinion that if I saw a bit of the world in this way I would be more inclined to settle down at hos The pri aas a little love episode Whilst at Montreux I fell in love with a char-school near e in the court of Russia--but exactly what position he held I cannot say Mylady and viewed our attachht But when my father heard of the matter he raised a decided objection to it, and ordered me to return to France and join the army He had, as I have previously intimated, made his own plans forupon a future wife for me, as is customary in France; but I resolutely declined to conform to his wishes in this respect, and my ot to hear of my love affair, but I conclude that my mother must have mentioned it to hiypt; its noises, its cosmopolitanism, its crowds--these, and many other considerations, drove apore
I had not beento make inquiries at a store kept by a Mr Shakespeare, I was casually introduced to a Dutch pearl-fisher nah I describe him as a Dutch pearler I am somewhat uncertain as to his exact nationality I aen, but in those days the phrase ”Dutchman” had a very wide application If acountry, he was always referred to as a Dutchrew quite friendly, Jensen and I, and he told me he had a small forty-ton schooner at Batavia, in which sturdy little craft he used to go on his pearling expeditions
”I aanise a trip to sorounds off the south of New Guinea, but have not sufficient capital to defray the preliminary expenses”
This hint I took, and I offered to join hireed, and we commenced our preparations without delay--in Batavia Nohen a pearler engaged a crew of native divers there in those days, he had to deposit beforehand with the Dutch Govern his service, this es Well, I placed all the money that I had with ave me a share in the venture ere about to undertake ”We will not,” he said to reement here, but will do so at Batavia,” and forthe set sail for that place Before leaving Singapore, however, Jensen bought so coe to say, he did not tell me that his shi+p was named the _Veielland_ until we had arrived at Batavia Here the contract was duly drawn up, and the vessel fitted out for the voyage I fancy this was the first ti expedition on a craft of the size of the _Veielland_, his previous trips having been undertaken on h the fitting out of the shi+p was left entirely in his hands, I insisted upon having a supply of certain stores for ht about These included such luxuries as tinned and coetables, condensed milk, &c Jensen did not even think of shi+p's biscuits until I called his attention to the oversight He de theo until we had the biscuits aboard Jensen was a very bluff, enigmatic sort of fellow, as I afterwards found out He was of a sullen, et much out of him about his past He would not speak about himself under any circumstances, and at no time of our acquaintance was he any sort of a sociable companion He was very hard upon the sailors under hie I admit that I was an absolute ”rasp the fact He was very fond of schnapps, whilst I hated the sreat sain our tastes differed
Our preparations in Batavia complete, we next went over to the islands of the Dutch Archipelago, and engaged forty experienced Malay divers to acco therequired to demonstrate his capabilities before us The way he tested the theht tin object thrown into so ether he spent several weeks choosing his crew He had engaged a couple of Malays at Batavia to help in the work of navigating the shi+p, but besides being sailors these ood divers The majority of the other Malays were only useful as divers, and took no part in the working of the shi+p A native _serang_, or ”boss,” was appointed as chief, or foreman, over the Malays, and he was per” had to be a first-class diver hi of a sation generally Above all, he had to be able to assert authority over the other divers; and in all these respects our serang was thoroughly proficient
IBatavia the captain had the shi+p repainted a greyish-white colour all over I never troubled to look for her na the word _Veielland_ on her There was a totally different name on the lifeboat, but I cannot re the shi+p under another name I never understood; certainly it was a very suspicious circuinally named had a bad name, and if such were the case--mind you, I don't say that it had--the Malays could never have been induced to go aboard Once out at sea, however, they would be absolutely at the mercy of the captain, and he could treat the they did before co aboard was to look at the name for themselves No doubt they knew the reputation of every pearler Jensen did on one occasion exercise his authority to the extent of transferring some of his own Malay divers to another shi+p ere out at sea
At last everything was ready, and e sailed for the pearling grounds, our crew nu that belonged to the captain This dog, which played so ie afterlife, was given to Jensen at Batavia by a Captain Cadell, a well-known Australian sea the Murray River for the first tireat friend of Jensen, was himself a pearler But heexpedition in the neighbourhood of Thursday Island, and a his creere some of the very Australian Blacks who in after years proved so friendly tothe after the time for their return home had expired, and one day they mutinied and murdered him whilst he was asleep The black felloho called himself ”Captain Jack Davies,”
of whost the crew at the time I obtained this information in Sydney from Captain Tucker, a well- known Torres Straits pearler Bruno, Jensen's dog, was soreyhound in build, only that his hind-quarters were heavier
As you e of seamanshi+p was very limited indeed, but Jensen interested hiood deal of useful knowledge He taughthis old instru of the lunars On our voyage out I had no duties to perform on board, but I found much to interestwhich we threaded our way; and I took quite a childish delight in everything I saw It was really a grand time for me I constantly wrote ho fro Occasionally we landed on one of the islands to buy fresh provisions, in the shape of fowls, pigs, fruit, &c We then set sail for the coast of New Guinea
The voyage thence was accolike little children,--all in the best of good spirits Their favourite fore fire, either telling stories of the girls they had left behind, or singing love melodies When the weather was at all cold, they would make a fire in a rather shallow tub, the sides of which were lined with a layer of sand They were a wonderfully light-hearted lot of fellows, and I greatly enjoyed listening to their chants and yarns I was more often with the to pick up bits of their language
The _Veielland_ only dreeen seven feet and eight feet of water, so that ere able to venture very close in-shore whenever it was necessary At length, about a , we reached a likely spot where the captain thought that the precious shells ot to work I ought to have e whale-boat, and about half-a-dozen frail little ”shell” boats for the use of the divers
The co expeditions were of course regulated by the weather and the state of the tide The captain himself went out first of all in the whale-boat, and from it prospected for shells at the bottom of the crystal sea The water wasover the side of the boat, Jensen peered eagerly into his sea-telescope, which is silass at the bottom Some of the sea-telescopes would even be without this lens, being sih they did not bring the objects looked at nearer the vision, yet they enabled the prospector to see below the ruffled surface of the water
The big whale-boat was followed at a respectful distance by the flotilla of s from four to six Malays When Jensen discerned a likely spot through his peculiar telescope, he gave the signal for a halt, and before you could realise as going to happen, the native divers had tu_ in a weird way down to the bottom of the translucent sea As a rule, one man was left in each little boat to follow the movements of the divers as they returned to the surface Not only did these divers wear no mechanical ”dress,” but they used no stimulants or palliatives of any kind to aid them in their work All they carried was a s The water for the most part was only two or three fathoht fathoo When he reached the bottoenerally return to the surface with a couple, held in his left hand and hugged against his breast; the right hand was kept free and directed hisEach diver seldo to the surface he would take a ”spell” of perhaps a quarter of an hour before going down again
As fast as each ht his shells into the boat, they were put into a separate little pile, which was respected absolutely, and always recognised as belonging to its owner The bed of the sea at these pearling grounds is usually coral, with innumerable holes of different depths and sizes dotted all over it It was in these recesses that the best shells were etation down in these seas was always of extreme beauty; there were stately ”trees” that waved backwards and forwards, as though under the influence of a gentle breeze; there were high, luxuriant grasses, and innumerable plants of endless variety and colour The coral rocks, too, were of gorgeous hues--yellow, blue, red, and white; but a peculiar thing was that the ht a piece of this rock up to the surface, the lovely colour it possessed whilst in the water gradually faded away So fro resemblance to bluebells
The illusion of a subaily-coloured fish that flitted in and out a the branches
Perhaps theexpeditions went away from the shi+p with the ebb tide, and returned with the flow So distances away, and on one occasion they orking fully ten miles froh, rendering the divers unable to paddle their own little skiffs back to the shi+p, they made their way to the whale-boat, cla their own craft at the stern The boats, however, were not always brought back to the shi+p at night; as a rule they were buoyed near the pearling beds, whilst the divers returned to their quarters aboard Iaccome room in which the casks of fresh water were stored was set apart for their use These casks were turned on end and a deck of planks placed over the ed the, as _I_ doing during these pearling expeditions? Well, I was intrusted with the i the shells fro each with the number he delivered Thus I was nearly always left alone on the shi+p--save for the dog; because even the two Malay wo, and they were credited for work done precisely as the men were
If I had no shells to open whilst the divers were absent, I filled insails, which Jensen hi, &c My library consisted of only five books--a copy of the Bible, and a four-volulish by Bell, which I had purchased at Singapore I made quite a study of the contents of this work, and acquired ood use in after years, st the Blacks Bruno generally sat by my side on deck when I was alone,--in fact he was nearly alith me He took to me more than to Jensen froh of course I was now very much in his power, as he emphatically illustrated one day A Malay diver had very much annoyed him, and in his fury he picked up a heavy broo, and felled the poor fellow senseless to the deck with it I was shocked at such awful brutality, and ventured to protest against it ”Captain,” I said, ”don't do anything like that again whilst I areat passion he ordered me to keep my own counsel, otherwise he would have ain let his teet the better of hiruff in his manner, and looked upon me as the ”darndest fool he had ever met”
These divers, by the way, never seemed to trouble about the value of the treasure they were constantly bringing to the surface They thought theiven plenty of rice and fish, turtles'
eggs and fowls, in addition to such luxuries as spices, coffee, and ”Bruem” jewellery, of a kind which is too well known to need description At the saes, which were paid theed from the shi+p, the Malays had practically no opportunity of being dishonest, even though they ht have been inclined that way They never came into actual contact with the pearls; they were rewarded according to the nuht to the surface, and not the value of the pearls they ht contain All the shells were opened bythe divers, and the man who had the best record of shells each as rewarded with an extra allowance of rum or tobacco; a choice of so else he fancied fro the stock we had on board A bottle of chutney or pickles was considered a specially valuable delicacy No es whilst at sea, reiven instead Each expedition would be absent perhaps six hours, and on its return each diver generally had between twenty and forty shells to hand over torows on the deck, and allowed theht Next day I cleaned the off the coral from the shells, and then opened them with an ordinary dinner-knife Of course, every oyster did not produce a pearl; in fact, I have opened as le pearl The gems are hidden away in the fleshy part of the oyster, and have to be removed by pressure of the thumb The empty shells are then thrown in a heap on one side, and afterwards carefully stoay in the hold, as they constitute a valuable cargo in the worth--at that time, at any rate (1864)--from 200 to 250 pounds, and even 350 pounds a ton All the pearls I found I placed in a walnut jewel-case, ht inches by six inches The value of the treasure increased day by day, until it amounted to many thousands of pounds; but of this more hereafter I did not knowhad no previous experience?