The Solomon Islands and Their Natives Part 21

[180] Seemann's "Mission to Viti."

[181] Bennett's "Gatherings of a Naturalist," p. 399.

[182] Seemann. (Ibid.)

[183] Wyatt Gill's "Life in the Southern Isles" (p. 275), and "Jottings from the Pacific."

Before proceeding further I should observe that an inquiry into the names of the common littoral trees, such as "Barringtonia speciosa,"

"Morinda citrifolia," and the species of "Panda.n.u.s," which are yet preserved in the languages of the islands of the Indian Ocean, might be productive of important results. Being unable to follow up this branch of the subject, I would recommend it to some of my readers. As an encouragement, I would point out that there appears to be a resemblance between the names for the panda.n.u.s-tree in northern Madagascar, and in the Pacific Islands. Thus the _Hoshoa_ of the Austral Islands, the _Daras.h.i.+_ of Bougainville Straits, the _Harra.s.sas_ of the Indian Archipelago, and the _Vua-tchirie_[184] of North Madagascar, may be the same compound word in different forms. _Vua_, it should be remarked, is a prefix attached to many trees and plants in this part of Madagascar.

With this digression, I will now proceed.

[184] Rochon's "Voyage a Madagascar et aux Indes Orientales." Paris, 1791, p. 319.

Amongst the native names of trees in the Indian or Malay Archipelago which are to be found in an altered form in the islands of Bougainville Straits, I may refer to _Kanari_, which is the common appellation of "Canarium commune," in the former region.[185] The kernels of the fruits of this tree furnish a frequent source of food to the Malay races and also to the inhabitants of the Maclay coast of New Guinea, where the tree is known by the similar name of _Kengar_.[186] In the islands of Bougainville Straits, where the same or an allied species of "Canarium"

is found, the fruits of which form a staple article of food, the Malay name of _Kanari_ and the New Guinea name of _Kengar_ have been contracted to _Ka-i_... . The sago-palm ("Sagus," sp.) affords another instance. It is, according to Crawfurd, the _Rambiya_ of the Indian Archipelago.[187] Earl informs us that in Kisa, one of the islands of the Sarawati group in the Banda Sea, it is known as the _Pihir_.[188] On the Maclay coast of New Guinea it is the _Buam_.[189] In Bougainville Straits it receives two names, _Bia_ and _Nami_, the former (I think) being applied to the tree and the latter to the sago... . Then again, the two similar names, the _Katari_ of Bougainville Straits and the _Gutur_ of the Maclay coast,[190] are applied in both regions to resin-yielding trees which belong, however, to different genera, the _Katari_ being a species of "Calophyllum," and the _Gutur_ a species of "Canarium." In both localities the name is also given to the resin itself, which is employed by the natives for various purposes. But the important point is that these two words are merely slightly altered forms of _Gatah_, which is the general name for gums and resins in the Indian Archipelago;[191] and I need scarcely add that gutta-percha is but the _gatah_ of the _Parcha_ tree, the familiar "Isonandra gutta" of this region.[192] ... . Some of the names of trees in Bougainville Straits I have been unable to trace further westward than New Guinea.

Thus, the breadfruit-tree ("Artocarpus incisa") is the _Balia_ of Bougainville Straits and the _Boli_ of the Maclay coast of New Guinea.[193]

[185] In the numerous works referring to the Indian Archipelago, this word is sometimes written _kanary_ or _kanarie_.

[186] Miklouho-Maclay in Proc. Lin. Soc, N.S.W. Vol. X., p. 349.

[187] Crawfurd's "Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language."

[188] "Journal of the Indian Archipelago." Vol. II., p. 695 (1848).

[189] Miklouho-Maclay Proc. Lin. Soc, N.S.W. Vol. X., p. 349.

[190] Miklouho-Maclay (Ibid., p. 353, 357).

[191] Crawfurd's "Malay Dictionary."

[192] By an easy transition from _gatah_ through _katari_ to _kauri_ we have the probable origin of the native name of the resin-yielding "Dammara australis" (Kauri Pine) of New Zealand.

[193] Miklouho-Maclay in Proc. Lin. Soc., N.S.W. Vol. X., p. 348.

The term _Uri_, which is applied in a slightly altered form to different fruits in the Melanesian Islands, would seem to be derived from the Indian Archipelago. Proceeding westward from the Banks Group where _Ur_ is the name of the fruit of "Spondias dulcis," we find that in New Georgia in the Solomon Islands _Ure_ is a designation for fruit. In the neighbouring islands of Bougainville Straits, several species of "Ficus"

and their fruits receive the name of _Uri_. To the westward of the Solomon Islands we come upon the same term in the Mafoor of New Guinea, where the breadfruit is known as _Ur_. Lastly, in the island of Ceram in the Indian Archipelago, the fruit of the banana is called _Uri_.[194]

[194] I am mainly indebted to Dr. Codrington's "Melanesian Languages" for the distribution of this term.

On this unequivocal evidence of one of the sources of the languages of the islands of Bougainville Straits it is unnecessary to dilate. It should, however, be remembered that other words are distinctly Polynesian in their origin, and must be sought for in the languages of the Pacific groups. Thus, whilst _numa_, the word for "house," finds its counterpart in the Malay _rumah_ and the Javanese _uma_, _fale-fale_, which also signifies a house, is the _vale_ of the New Hebrides (Lepers Island and Aurora Island), the _vale_ of Fiji, the _fale_ of Samoa and Tonga, and the _whare_ of the Maori. According to Dr. Codrington, these two words signifying a house, _fale_ and _ruma_, with their various forms, have an interesting distribution. The first belongs to the eastern Pacific, and the second to the western Pacific; but they overlap in the intermediate districts as in the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands. It is, however, significant that both these words should be included in the language of Bougainville Straits.

I will conclude my remarks on this vocabulary with a reference to the imitative character of the names of some of the animals. In Bougainville Straits, the frog is known as _appa-appa_ in imitation of its cry. For a similar reason it is known in New Britain as _rok-rok_,[195] in Australia as _twonk_,[196] and in the Malay Archipelago as _codac_.[197]

The lizard is named _kurru-rupu_ by the natives of these straits, an appellation which is suggested by its cry; in the Malay Archipelago it is known as _kikia_.[198] The hornbill is called _po-po_ by the natives of Bougainville Straits in imitation of the rus.h.i.+ng sound that it makes during its flight, which has been aptly compared by travellers to the noise of a locomotive. For this reason the natives of New Britain term it _banga-banga_;[199] whilst at Redscar Bay, New Guinea, it is called _pawporo_.[200] In a like manner the native dog of these straits is named _au-au_, and the bush-hen (Megapod) _kokole_; there is, however, no necessity to supplement these more familiar imitative names from the numerous examples in the languages of neighbouring regions. The native names, which the frog and the hornbill have received in the localities alluded to, will serve to show how varied may be the form of the name which has been suggested by the noise or cry of the animal. There would, thus, appear at first sight to be but little connection between the names _po-po_ and _banga-banga_; yet those persons who have been familiar with the noise made by the hornbill during its flight will recognise these terms as distinctly imitative of such a sound. Again, few would guess that such different sounding names, as _appa-appa_, _rok-rok_, _twonk_, and _codac_, have been very naturally suggested by the cry of the frog.

[195] Wilfred Powell's "Wanderings in a Wild Country," &c.

[196] Tylor's "Primitive Culture."

[197] Labillardiere's "Voyage in search of La Perouse."

(Vocabularies in Vol. II.)

[198] Labillardiere. Ibid.

[199] Wilfred Powell. Ibid.

[200] Macgillivray's "Voyage of H.M.S. 'Rattlesnake.'"

CHAPTER XI.

THE JOURNAL OF GALLEGO--PREFATORY REMARKS.

A CONSIDERABLE interest was aroused in the minds of geographers, rather more than a century ago, by the recent discoveries of French and English navigators in that portion of the Western Pacific in which the Solomon Islands are now known to lie. M. M. Buache and Fleurieu (pages 263-265) endeavoured to show that the islands there discovered were none other than the mysterious Islands of Solomon discovered two centuries before by the Spaniards, the existence of which had been long treated as a myth, and in fact, had almost been forgotten. This view was opposed by Mr. Dalrymple, one of the foremost of the English geographers; and it laboured under the serious disadvantage that the only existing narrative of this Spanish voyage, on which such a conclusion could be based, was a very brief and imperfect account incorporated by Dr. Figueroa[201] in a work that was published at Madrid nearly half a century after the return of the voyagers to Peru. There were some reasons for believing that Hernando Gallego, the chief pilot of the expedition, had kept a journal of the voyage;[202] but the geographical writers of the close of last century failed to have access to such an account, and its existence was doubted by some of them. The only other account, worthy of the name, that was known to these writers was one included by Herrera in his "Descripcion de las Indias Occidentales," a work which was published at Madrid about the year 1601, or more than thirty years after the Spanish voyagers had returned to Peru. But this account was a somewhat vague, general description of the Solomon Islands, which, although it contained a few additional particulars, was of little service to the cartographer.

[201] Hechos de Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, Quarto Marques de Canete; por el Doctor Christoval Suarez de Figueroa. Madrid, 1613.

_Vide_ Note I. of the Geographical Appendix.

[202] A MS. journal of Gallego was referred to by Penelo as occurring in the Barcia Library. (Dalrymple's Hist. Coll. Voy. and Disc.: p. 96.)

It appears to have been only in the second quarter of the present century that the existence of a journal written by Gallego became known to geographers. It may seem at first sight difficult to explain the reason of this narrative being so long unknown; but its author tells us in his prologue that it was through fear he did not publish it; and from other circ.u.mstances, referred to in the succeeding pages, it may be inferred that pressure was brought to bear on him, and that the journal was intentionally withheld in order to keep Drake, who had recently appeared in the South Sea, in ignorance of the position of these islands. The journal has for this reason always remained in ma.n.u.script.

The original ma.n.u.script was a few years since in the possession of Mr.

Amhurst. There is a copy in the library of the British Museum, which was purchased of M. Fr. Michelena y Roiss in 1848;[203] and it is a translation of this copy that is given in great part in the following pages. In undertaking this translation, I have been greatly a.s.sisted by my acquaintance with these islands; and I have thus been able to avoid the pitfalls into which the somewhat careless copyist might have led me.

[203] The British Museum Reference number is 17,623; and the t.i.tle is as follows: "Descubrimiento de las Islas Salomon en el Mar del Sur: 1566," by Hernando Gallego, native of Corunna.

If M. M. Buache and Fleurieu could have had access to this journal of Gallego, they would have been saved much laborious criticism, both on their own part and on the part of others. That they were able to employ the scanty data, furnished by Figueroa, for the identification of the lost Isles of Solomon with the recent discoveries of their own day, is an accomplishment concerning which any adulation on my part would be both unnecessary and unbecoming. Even with the comparative wealth of materials which the journal of Gallego affords, as contrasted with the account of Figueroa, all that remained to be done was to fill in the rude outline originally sketched by the French geographers.

The story of the gradual identification of the Isles of Solomon forms an interesting and instructive episode in the history of geographical discovery. In the sketch which I have given, I have, so to speak, raked up the ashes of a controversy which burnt itself out some generations ago; but the labour expended in its preparation will not have been unprofitable, if I have been successful in placing before my readers a clear and connected account of how the Isles of Solomon were discovered, lost, and found.

THE JOURNAL OF GALLEGO.

We find in the prologue, with which Gallego commences his account of this voyage, an explanation not only of the princ.i.p.al object of the expedition, but also of the motive which led the Spanish navigator to draw up his narrative. It was for the propagation of the Christian faith amongst the peoples of the unknown islands of the West that this expedition was dispatched from the sh.o.r.es of Peru; and it was to guide the missionary to the field of his labour that the chief pilot drew up his relation of the voyage.

"I understand it to be inc.u.mbent"--thus Gallego writes--"on the men who follow the nautical profession, and have had the good fortune, in some degree, to take precedence of their fellows, to give an account of their success. And there are many reasons why it is necessary that from the ignorant these things should not be concealed. But for me, Christian piety affords the princ.i.p.al inducement; and especially since it moved the mind of that most Christian and most Catholic monarch, Don Philip, to write to his Governor, the most ill.u.s.trious Lope Garcia de Castro, that he should convert every infidel to Christ. Imbued with this feeling, I have made it my first object, by means of this relation and of the additions made by me to the sea-chart, to enable the missionaries, who are to guide the infidels into the vineyard of the Lord, to know where these places will be found and to learn how to navigate these seas exposed to the fury of the winds, and how all dangers and enemies may be avoided. This is my design, unless I am otherwise convinced. Let the curious accept this brief discourse. It is from fear that its author has not wished to print it. This is my object: such is my desire. Receive, reader, this token of esteem, and be steadfast in G.o.d. Farewell!"

Before proceeding with the journal of Gallego, it is necessary for me to remark that I have relegated to an appendix much of that which is of interest to the geographical student. The reason is an obvious one and needs no further reference, since the narrative often takes the character of a sea-log, and the geographical and critical points involved are necessarily only of special interest.

The Governor, Lope Garcia de Castro, gave orders for the equipment of two s.h.i.+ps of the fleet for the discovery of certain islands and a continent (tierra firme) concerning which His Catholic Majesty D. Philip II. had summoned a number of persons versed in mathematics in order to deliberate on the plan to be followed. After selecting the vessels, he nominated as General in command of the expedition his nephew, Alvaro de Mendana; as Commander of the troops (maestre de campo), Pedro de Ortega Valencia; as the Royal Ensign, D. Fernando Enriquez; and lastly, as Chief-Pilot--to quote the words of the journal--"myself, the said Hernando Gallego."

The number of all that embarked on this voyage, including, besides the soldiers and sailors, four Franciscan friars and the servants, was a hundred. The preparations were made with such alacrity and willingness that the s.h.i.+ps were fitted out with a dispatch that seemed scarcely credible; and on the 19th day of Nov., 1566,[204] being Wednesday, the day of St. Isabel, the two s.h.i.+ps sailed from Callao, the port of the City of Kings, which is situated, as Gallego remarks, in 12 S. lat.

Shaping their course to the south-west, they had not to allow for the variation of the compa.s.s, since the needle pointed direct to the pole; and reference is here made in the journal to the circ.u.mstance that in Spain, more particularly in the city of Seville, the needle varied one point to the north-west. Steering in the same southerly and westerly direction until the 27th of the same month, they reached the lat.i.tude of 15, being by their reckoning 57 leagues[205] due west from the "morro de Uacaxique," which was in the same lat.i.tude.[206] They now shaped their course west, following along the parallel of 15, because "the Lord President had said that in the lat.i.tude of 15, at a distance of 600 leagues from Peru, there were many rich islands." With the wind "a long time in the south-east," they accomplished a usual daily run of from 20 to 30 leagues. By the third of December, they were by their reckoning in the meridian of the bay of Fego,[207] which is stated by Gallego to be situated in 16 north of the equinoctial and 546 leagues due north of their position. On the 7th of the same month, the Chief-Pilot recorded his observation that the needle showed no variation from the pole and that it neither dipped nor tilted up.

[204] _Vide_ Note II. of Geographical Appendix.