Chapter 18
18 At Capang. June 1789. Timor. From the great humanity and attention of the Governor and the gentleman at Capang we received every kind of assistance, and were not long without evident signs of returning health. Shortly after our arrival I presented to the Governor a formal account of the loss of the
bounty, and a requisition in His Majesty's name that instructions might be sent to all the Dutch settlements to stop the ship if she made her appearance. With this a complete descriptive list of the mutineers was given. I likewise requested at one of my first visits to the Governor that Nelson might have permission to walk about the country in search of plants, which was readily granted with an offer of
whatever assistance I should think necessary. And the Governor assured me that the country was well worth examination as it abounded with many curious and medicinal plants. From this indulgence I derived no benefit for Nelson, who since we left New Holland had been but in a weak condition, about this time was taken ill in consequence of a cold
caused by imprudently leaving off warm clothing. To secure our arrival at Batavia before the October fleet sailed for Europe, I gave public notice of my intention to hire a vessel to carry us to Batavia. In consequence to this notice several offers were made, but none that I thought reasonable, which determined me to purchase a small schooner in the road that was 34 feet long, for which
I gave one thousand ricks dollars and fitted her for sea under the name of His Majesty's Schooner Resource. As the coast of Java is frequently infested with small peridical vessels, it was necessary that we should be provided with the proper means of defense. In this I was assisted by the friendship of Mr. Longan, who supplied me with four brass
swivels, fourteen stand of small arms and ammunition, which he obligingly let me have as a loan to be returned at Batavia. July 20 On the 20th of July I had the misfortune to lose Mr. David Nelson. He died of an inflammatory fever.
The loss of this honest man I very much lamented. He had with great care and diligence attended to the object for which he was sent, and had always been ready to forward every plan that was proposed for the good of the service in which we were engaged. He was not less useful in a voyage hither, in the course of which he gave me great satisfaction
by the patience and fortitude with which he conducted himself. July 21 This day I was employed attending the funeral of Mr. Nelson. The corpse was carried by twelve soldiers dressed in black, preceded by the minister. I first followed myself and the second governor, then ten gentlemen of the town and the officers
of the ships in the harbor, and after them my own officers and people. After reading our burial service the body was interred behind the chapel, and the burying ground appropriated to the Europeans of the town. I was sorry I could get no tombstone to place over his remains. This was the second voyage Mr. Nelson had undertaken to the South Seas, having been
sent out by Sir Joseph Banks to collect plants, seeds, etc. in Captain Cook's last voyage. And now, after surrounding so many difficulties, and in the midst of thankfulness for his deliverance, he was called upon to pay the debt of nature at the time least expected. August 20 Our schooner being vittled and ready for sea.
On the 30th of August I took an affectionate leave of the hospitable and friendly inhabitants of Capang and embarked. In the afternoon we sailed, having the launch which had so much contributed to our preservation in tow. We exchanged salutes with the fort and shipping as we ran out of the harbor.
The town of Capang is situated in a great bay which is an excellent road for shipping. The latitude of the town is 10 degrees 12 minutes south. According to the Dutch charts it is in 121 degrees 51 minutes east longitude. Taking the mean between the longitude by my reckoning on arrival at Capang and the longitude afterwards calculated from my run to Bativia gives me for the longitude of Capang 124 degrees
41 minutes east. The settlement was formed in the year 1630 and is the only one the Dutch have on the island Timor. They have residents in different parts of the country. On the north side of Timor there is a Portuguese settlement.
The product of the island is chiefly sandalwood and beeswax. The former article is now scarce. Wax they have in great plenty. The bees build their nests in bushes and in the boughs of trees to which the natives cannot approach but with fire.
The honey is put into jars and the wax is run into blocks of three feet in length and from 12 to 15 inches square. The natives, at least those who live in the neighborhood of Capang, are of a very indolent disposition of which the Chinese have taken advantage for though the Mali's are very fond of traffic most of their trade is carried on in small Chinese vessels of from 10 to
30 tons burden. There is a market at Capang for the country people in which, however, there is little business done. I have seen a man from the country come to market with two potatoes and this is not unusual. These being sold for two doets, equal to a half penny English, serve to supply him with
beetle to chew and the rest of the day is passed in lounging about the town. The inland people who live at a distance from the Europeans are strong and active but they are one of cleanliness subjects them to filthy diseases. The chief of the natives, or king of the island, is by the Dutch-styled Kafer, emperor. This prince lives at a place called Bacanasi about four miles distant from Capang.
His authority over the natives is not wholly undisputed which is by the Dutch attributed to the intrigues of the Portuguese who are on the north part of Timor. The island has lately suffered much by a competition between the present king and one of his nephews which caused a civil war that lasted from the beginning of the year 1786 to 1788 when their differences were settled by a treaty chiefly in favor of the king.
The ravages committed in these disputes of occasion is scarcity of provisions that probably, from the want of industry and the natives, will not soon be remedied. I had an opportunity of making a visit to the king. His dwelling was a large house which was divided into only three apartments and surrounded by a piazza agreeably situated but very dirty as was all the furniture.
The king, who is an elderly man, received me with much civility and ordered refreshments to be set before me which were tea, rice cake, roasted Indian corn, and dried buffalo flesh with about a pint of Arak which I believe was all he had. His dress was a check wrapper girded round his waist with a silk and gold belt, a loose linen jacket, and a coarse handkerchief about his head.
A few of his chiefs were with him who partook of our repast, after which the king retired with three of them for a short time and when he returned presented me with a round plate of metal about four inches diameter on which was stamped the figure of a star. As I had been informed that Arak would be an acceptable present, I was prepared to make a return which was well received.
They never dilute their liquor and from habit are able to drink a large quantity of spirits at a time without being intoxicated. When a king dies, a large feast is made to which all the inhabitants are invited. The body after a few days is put into a coffin which is closed up and kept three years before it is interned.
The Dutch have been at some pains to establish Christianity among the natives, but it has not gained much ground except in the neighborhood of Kapang. The present king was christened by the name Barnardus. His Indian name is Bakchi Banak. The scriptures are translated into the Malay language and prayers are performed in the
church at Kapang by a Malay clergyman in that language. I met it tomorrow with most of the fruits that are described in Captain Cook's first voyage as natives of Batavia except the mangosteen. The breadfruit tree, called by the Malay as Sokom, likewise grows here with great luxuriance and appears to be as much a native of this island as it is of Otehede.
The fruit is exactly of the same kind but not so good. A breadfruit of Timor weighs half as much more as one of equal size at Otehede. It is not used here as bread but generally eaten with milk and sugar. At Bakinasi I saw about twenty of the trees, larger than any I had seen at Otehede. Here also is a sort of breadfruit tree that produces seeds not unlike winds or beans and
equally palatable either boiled or roasted. No other part of the fruit is edible and though the tree I am told is to all appearances the same as the other, the fruits have little resemblance, the fruit of this being covered with projecting points nearly half an inch in length. I received a present of some fine plants from the governor which I was afterwards unfortunately
obliged to leave at Batavia for a long of proper room to take care of them and the packet by which I returned to Europe. Mr. Wonjon likewise favored me with some seeds for His Majesty's Garden at Kew, which I had the good fortune to deliver safe on my return and some of the mountain rice cultivated at Timor on the dry land which was forwarded to His Majesty's Botanic Garden at St. Vincent
and other parts in the West Indies. A resemblance of language between the people of the South Sea Islands and the inhabitants of many of the islands in the East Indies has been remarked in Captain Cook's first voyage. Here the resemblance appeared stronger than has yet been noticed particularly in their
numerals, but besides the language I observe some customs among the people of Timor still more striking for their similarity. They practiced the T'uugi T'uugi. Footnote The T'uugi T'uugi is described in Captain Cook's They practiced the T'uugi T'uugi of the friendly islands which they call Tum, Bak, and the
room AA of Otehidi which they call Ramaz. I likewise saw placed on their graves offerings of baskets with tobacco and beetle. I left the Governor of the East Indies and the Governor of the West Indies and the Governor of the West Indies and the Governor of the West Indies and the Governor of the West Indies I left the Governor, Mr. Van Esty, at the point of death.
To this gentleman our most gracious thanks are due for the humane and friendly treatment that we received from him. His ill state of health only prevented him from showing us more particular remarks of attention. Unhappily, it is to his memory only that I now pay this tribute.
It was a fortunate circumstance for us that Mr. Wanjan, the next in place to the Governor, was equally humane and ready to relieve us. His attention was unremitting and, when there was a doubt about supplying me with money to enable me to purchase a vessel, he cheerfully took it upon himself, without which it was evident I should have been too late at Bakhtivia to have sailed for Europe with the October
fleet. I can only return such services by ever retaining a grateful remembrance of them. Mr. Max, the town surgeon, likewise behaved to us with the most disinterested humanity. He attended everyone with the utmost care, for which I could not prevail on him to receive any payment or to render me any account or other answer than that it was his duty.
