The Solomon Islands and Their Natives Part 31

According to Galvano (page 234), a Spanish officer named Bernaldo de la Torre started from the Philippines in 1543, on a voyage to New Spain.

[409] Hakluyt Society's Publication, 1862, p. 238.

[410] Encyclopaedia Britannica (Article on "New Guinea.")

[411] Proceedings, Royal Geographical Society, 1884, p. 196.

NOTE XII. (Page 238.)

THE ISLANDS OF SAN BARTOLOMEO.--The Musquillo Islands of the Marshall Group, with which I have identified this discovery of the Spaniards, were thus named by Captain Bond in 1792.[412] They form a double atoll about 38 miles in length and trending N.W. and S.E.

The N.W. end is in lat.i.tude 8 10' N., and the S.E. end is in lat.i.tude 7 46' N. Captain Bond ranged along the coasts of above 20 small islands. At the N.W. end and isolated from the rest are two small islands about three miles apart. On comparing this description with that given by Gallego, the reader will have little doubt as to the ident.i.ty of the Musquillo Islands with the Spanish discovery. It is probable that Gallego considered this discovery to be near the position of an island discovered in 1536 in 14 N lat. by Toribio Alonzo de Salazar,[413] 328 Spanish leagues from the Mariana Islands, and named by him San Bartolomeo. This discovery of Salazar is marked in Krusenstern's General Atlas of the Pacific.

[412] Purdy's "Oriental Navigator," p. 689.

[413] Krusenstern's "Memoires Hydrographiques," St. Petersburgh, 1827: Part II, p. 49.

NOTE XIII. (Page 239.)

THE ISLE OF SAN FRANCISCO.--Wake's Island, with which I have identified the Isle of San Francisco, was discovered in 1796 by the "Prince William Henry." Commodore Wilkes, who fixed its position in 1840 (lat. 19 10' 54? N.; long 166 31' 30? E. of G), thus describes it. "Wake's Island is a low coral one, of triangular form and eight feet above the surface. It has a large lagoon in the centre, which was well filled with fish of a variety of species; amongst these were some fine mullet. There is no fresh water on the island, and neither panda.n.u.s nor cocoa-nut tree. It has upon it the shrubs, which are usually found on the low Islands of the Pacific, the most abundant of which was Tournefortia. The short-tailed albatross is found here; birds quite tame though not as numerous as in other uninhabited islands. The appearance of the coral blocks and vegetation leads to this conclusion that the island is at times submerged or that at times the sea makes a complete breach over it."[414] Wake's Island is about the size of the island described by Gallego. Its lat.i.tude, its isolated position, and the close agreement of Wilkes' description with that of Gallego, leave no room to doubt that Wake's Island and the Isle of San Francisco are one and the same ... Burney refers to a small island named San Francisco which is placed in the chart of the Galleon in Anson's voyage in lat. 19 north and 84 east of the Strait of San Bernardino; but he adds that it is too far to the east to be identified with the island discovered by Mendana.[415]

[414] "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition," vol V.

p. 267.

[415] "Chronol. History of Voy. and Disc." vol I. p. 291.

NOTE XIV. (Page 251.)

THE LIST OF ISLANDS IN THE VICINITY OF TAUMACO WHICH WAS OBTAINED BY QUIROS IN 1606 FROM ONE OF THE NATIVES.--They are as follows, Chicayana, Guantopo, or Guaytopo, Taucalo, Pilen, Nupan, Pupam, Fonfono or Fonofono, Mecaraylay, Manicolo, Tucopia, Pouro. More than half of these islands can be identified with certainty, even after an interval of nearly three centuries.

Chicayana may be without a doubt identified with Sikyana or Sikai-ana, the present native name of the Stewart Isles which lie about 250 miles to the north-west of Taumaco, or as the Taumaco people reckoned, four days' sail in their large canoes. In fact, the native from whom Quiros obtained his information was originally from Chicayana, having been carried by contrary winds to Taumaco whilst endeavouring with a number of his fellow-islanders to reach the island of Mecaraylay. The Chicayana natives were described to Quiros as being very fair with long loose _red_ hair, some, however, being darker like mulattoes, but with hair neither curled nor quite straight. They possess much the same characters at the present day.[416]

[416] These islands, as far as is known, were not visited by Europeans until nearly two centuries after the visit of Quiros, when Captain Hunter came upon them in 1791.

Guaytopo or Guantopo was a larger island than those of Taumaco and Chicayana. Since it is placed three days' sail (native reckoning) from Taumaco and two days from Chicayana, it may have been one of the eastern islands of the Solomon Group. The inhabitants were said to have skins as fair as Europeans and red or black hair. They punctured their bellies in a pattern of a circle around the navel; and painted their bodies red down to the waist. The women were very handsome and were clothed with some light material from head to foot. The natives of Guaytopo, Taumaco, and Chicayana, were on very friendly terms and spoke the same language.

The islands of Pilen and Nupan are evidently the Pileni and Nupani of the adjacent Matema or Swallow Islands, which lie to the northward of the large island of Santa Cruz. Fonofono or Fonfono, which is stated to lie near Pilen and Nupan, may perhaps be the Lomlom of the same small group. It was described to Quiros as being "many islands, small and flat," with a good port. The inhabitants were said to be dun-coloured, and very tall.

Tucopia was subsequently visited by the Spanish navigator. In later times it has obtained a melancholy interest in connection with the fate of La Perouse. Mecaraylay is apparently in the vicinity of Guaytopo, but possessing a different language, its inhabitants being noted for the use of tortoise-sh.e.l.l ornaments. Its name suggests that of Makira, on the south coast of St. Christoval, in the neighbouring Solomon Group. Taucalo may perhaps be the volcanic island of Tinakula lying off the north coast of Santa Cruz Island.

It is stated to be near Taumaco.

The "large country" called Manicolo is to be identified with the adjacent large island, named Vanikoro in the present Admiralty charts, which lies about 100 miles to the southward of Taumaco. It is referred by Captain Cook[417] to the Mallicolo of the New Hebrides, lying 4 further south, which he visited in 1774; but this view cannot be sustained. In the first place, it is stated to lie two days' sail from Tucopia. The following evidence, however, is sufficient of itself to settle the point. When Captain Dillon[418]

was on his way to Vanikoro in 1827, to ascertain the fate of La Perouse, he learned from the natives of the neighbouring island of Tucopia that the island he was going to was called _Malicolo_: but he subsequently ascertained on visiting the island in question, that it should be more correctly called _Mannicolo_ or _Vannicolo_. In his chart of the island, Captain Dillon calls it Mannicolo. The resemblance in name between these two islands in the New Hebrides, and Santa Cruz Groups has been a frequent cause of misconception in references to the narratives of the early navigators.

[417] "Voyage towards the South Pole and round the World," vol. II., p. 146.

[418] "Discovery of the fate of La Perouse," London, 1829: vol. I., p. 33.

NOTE XV. (Pages 100, 251.)

THE POURO OF QUIROS.--A native of Chicayana, whom Quiros had captured at Taumaco, told the Spanish navigator that there dwelt in Taumaco "an Indian, a great pilot," who had brought from "a large country, named Pouro," certain arrows, with points, in the form of a knife, which, from the native's description, Quiros concluded were of silver. Pouro, he learned, was very populous, and its inhabitants were dun-complexioned.

When I first came upon this reference to Pouro, I at once recognised it as an allusion to the Bauro (St. Christoval) of the Solomon Group, lying rather less than 300 miles to the westward of Taumaco.

Mr. Hale,[419] the philologist of the United States Exploring Expedition, under Commodore Wilkes, endeavours to identify the Pouro of the Taumaco natives with the Bouro in the Malay Archipelago, an island lying more than 2,000 miles further westward: and he refers to the circ.u.mstance of the silver arrows that were brought to Taumaco as supporting his view. Regarding Bouro as the island referred to in the traditions of the Fijians, Tongans, and Samoans, relating to the origin of their race, Mr. Hale finds in the Pouro of the Taumaco natives an allusion to this sacred island, and in the circ.u.mstance of the silver arrows he finds evidence of communication between these two regions. There can, however, be little doubt that by this Pouro the Bauro of the Solomon Group was meant. The presence of the silver arrows may be easily explained, when we remember that about forty years before, the Spaniards were exploring this island of Bauro, or Paubro as Gallego gives it (page 229).

[419] "Ethnography and Philology of the U. S. Exploring Expedition,"

p. 195.

NOTE XVI.

THE EDDYSTONE ROCK AND THE SIMBOO OF LIEUTENANT SHORTLAND.--For a considerable time after the re-discovery of the Solomon Islands by the French and English navigators, few islands were better known in the group than Eddystone or Simbo Island. In thus naming this island, however, there has been a singular misconception; and since the name of Simbo has been omitted in the latest Admiralty chart (August, 1884) of the group, some explanatory remarks may be of interest.

In August, 1788, Lieutenant Shortland,[420] whilst sailing along the south coasts of the Solomon Group on his voyage from Port Jackson to England _via_ Batavia, approached "a rock which had exactly the appearance of a s.h.i.+p under sail, with her top-gallant sails flying;"

and so striking was the resemblance that a signal was made to the supposed vessel. The s.h.i.+ps did not approach within three or four miles of this rock. It was named the Eddystone and was placed in lat. 8 12' S., bearing S.S.W. a league from two remarkable hills which were named the Two Brothers. A point running south from these two hills was named Cape Satisfaction. Whilst the English s.h.i.+ps were off the Eddystone, some natives came to them in their canoes, from whom Shortland learned that they had come from "Simboo," a place which lay, as they indicated by their gestures, near Cape Satisfaction. In the chart of his discoveries, this officer a.s.signs this name to some land lying east of the Two Brothers near the position of the island at present called Gizo, but it is evident both from his chart and from his narrative that he considered Simboo as the general name for the land to the east of Cape Satisfaction; and Fleurieu, when remarking on his discoveries, made the suggestion that the Simboo of Shortland might prove to be the Choiseul of Bougainville.[421]

[420] The narrative of Lieut. Shortland's voyage is given in "The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay in 1787": London, 1789.

[421] "Discoveries of the French, 1768-1769, to the S.E. of New Guinea:" London, 1791, p. 196.

In what manner, we may now inquire, have the discoveries of Shortland been identified with the islands that are laid down in the latest charts of this group? For half a century and more the name of Eddystone has been attached, not to a rock such as that to which it was originally given, but to the adjacent volcanic island about four miles in length and about 1100 feet in height; and the name of Cape Satisfaction has been given to the south end of Ronongo which lies ten miles N.N.E. of Eddystone Island. This cape is stated by Shortland to run south from the two remarkable hills which he named the Two Brothers. The island of Ronongo, however, has a long and level summit dest.i.tute of peaks; and it is evident that we must look elsewhere for the Cape Satisfaction of Shortland. In Eddystone Island, there are two singular conical hills which might very fitly have been named the Two Brothers, and it will be seen from the sequel that it must have been to the south extremity of this island that the name of Cape Satisfaction was in the first place given. I shall also point out that the original Eddystone rock is represented at the present day by a bare rock which rises out of the sea at a distance of about a third of a mile from the south-west coast of Eddystone Island, and that the Simboo, from which the natives came to visit Shortland, was a diminutive island on the opposite or south-east side of this same island.

When, in July 1792, the French expedition under Dentrecasteaux arrived in this locality, the Eddystone rock was at once recognised by the description of Shortland... . "nous aperc.u.mes"--thus wrote Labillardiere[422] the naturalist of the expedition--"le rocher nomme Eddystone. De loin nous le primes, comme Shortland, pour un vaisseau a la voile. L'illusion etoit d'autant plus grande, qu'il a a peu pres la couleur des voiles d'un vaisseau; quelques arbustes en couronnoient la sommite." In the Atlas of this voyage (carte 24), this rock is placed off the south-west end of the island at present named Eddystone Island, and exactly in the position of the bare rock above alluded to, which will be found marked in the plan of this island made by the surveying officers of H.M.S. "Lark" in 1882.

Lieutenant Malan tells me that this rock at the time of the survey was quite bare of vegetation. It rises in two conical ma.s.ses from the water between which a boat can pa.s.s in calm weather. Although it has a height of 30 feet, it is frequently washed over by the heavier seas. The change in the appearance of this rock, since the visit of Dentrecasteaux in 1792 when its summit was crowned with shrubs, has been probably due to a movement of subsidence which has affected the adjacent coast of Eddystone Island in recent years (_vide below_).

To such a change must be attributed the confusion which has arisen with reference to the Eddystone rock; and cartographers, failing to identify it, have applied its name to the adjacent volcanic island on which they have also bestowed the name of Simbo. During his survey of this island in 1882, Lieutenant Oldham ascertained that this name of Simbo actually belonged to a small island bordering its south-east coast with which it was connected by coral reefs. The true native name of Eddystone Island, he found to be Narovo, and in the latest Admiralty charts it is thus designated; the name of Simbo is there attached to the small adjacent island which is, I have no doubt, the Simboo from which the natives came, who visited Shortland's s.h.i.+ps in 1788 as they lay off the Eddystone rock. At the present day the larger island of Narovo is but thinly populated, and its inhabitants are under the sway of a powerful chief who resides on the small island of Simbo. There he rules over a warlike and adventurous people who by their head-hunting raids have established the fame of their diminutive island throughout a large portion of the Solomon Group.

[422] "Voyage a la recherche De la Perouse," par Labillardiere: Paris, 1800: tom i, p. 215.

[In my volume of Geological Observations I have described the movement of subsidence, to which is due the confusion concerning the original Eddystone rock].

CHAPTER XIII.

BOTANICAL NOTES IN BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS.

MY botanical collections were made during 1884 in the islands of Bougainville Straits; and in order to add to the completeness of this section of my work, I will briefly refer to the physical character of this locality. The princ.i.p.al islands of this sub-group are Treasury Island, the Shortland Islands, and Faro, or Fauro, Island; whilst around these lie numerous smaller islands and islets. The largest is not more than twelve miles in length, and none of them attain an elevation exceeding 2000 feet, Faro being about 1900 feet, Treasury about 1100, and Alu, the princ.i.p.al of the Shortland Islands, about 500 feet. In geological character they differ widely, Treasury being, for the most part, of recent calcareous formations, Faro of volcanic formations, whilst Alu is formed of rocks of both these cla.s.ses. Of the numerous smaller islands and islets which dot these straits, some are of volcanic, and others of coral rocks.

In my botanical excursions in these islands, I received the greatest a.s.sistance from the natives; and I was particularly struck with the familiar knowledge of their trees and plants which these islanders possessed. They have names for not only nearly all the trees, but for several of the gra.s.ses; and, in the case of the former, when I was uncertain as to whether I had come upon any specimen before, they would obtain its flower, or fruit, or foliage, and point out to me its comparative characters. The superior knowledge, which these natives possess of each plant and its uses, has often led me to reflect on the meagre acquaintance with the commonest trees, shrubs, and herbs, which the ordinary white man can claim. Had my native companions asked me to instruct them in a similar manner on the vegetation of an English woodland--if such a rapid change of scene were possible--they would probably have regarded me as a very ignorant and un.o.bservant fellow.

They have names for and display a familiarity with many plants that can be of no service to them, a somewhat puzzling circ.u.mstance, which may be perhaps explained by their employing instinctively a method of exclusion in the selection of those plants that are of service to them. For the building of his house, the cultivation of his ground, the construction of his canoe, the manufacture of his spears, clubs, and other weapons, and for his many other wants, the native has to resort to the vegetable kingdom for the requisite materials. An extensive acquaintance with the vegetation of his island-home is unconsciously acquired by a native who has himself to provide for all his necessities: but his knowledge extends far beyond that limit which mere utility would appear to demand.

In a paper published recently in an American serial,[423] Mr. Matthews combated the notion that savages are versed only in the knowledge of plants and animals that contribute to their wants. He found that the Indians are incomparably superior to the average white man, or to the white man who has not made zoology or botany a subject of study. In this respect, his experience accords with my own. The native of the Solomon Islands will point out by name, in some remote inland dell, an insignificant plant, which, he says, is of no service to him: he names all the weeds of his cultivated patches; and he is similarly acquainted with all the wild fruits, usually distinguis.h.i.+ng them by their edible or injurious qualities. Yet, in arriving at such a conclusion, it behoves one to be wary, as I have sometimes found that the native applies the name of a useful plant to all other useless plants (usually of the same genus or family) that resemble it in their more conspicuous characters.

Then, again, I have often been surprised at the singular holes and corners in the vegetable world which the native ransacks to supply his wants. A fern that clothes the higher slopes of Faro Island, and which is known to the natives as "sinimi," and to the botanist as a species of _Gleichenia_, furnishes the material for their plaited armlets. For this purpose they employ narrow strips of the vascular tissue that forms the firm central portion of the stem. I had previously looked upon this fern as of little use to these islanders, and on learning of the ingenious purpose for which it was employed, I became very careful in the future when p.r.o.nouncing on the utility or inutility of any familiar plant.