Schlagwort-Archiv: June

Owa raha, 7 June 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

The tropical rainy season into which we were now re-entering made itself felt more and more in a disagreeable way; very heavy winds alternated with short periods of good weather. Towards noon the heights of the islands of San Cristoval and its offshore islands Owa raha (Santa Anna) and Owa riki (Santa Catalina)at the South-east point appeared out of bank of clouds that had up to now obscured our view.

The group of the Solomon islands forms an arc in the direction of Northwest to South-east across 10 degrees of latitude. The northernmost point of the Solomons, Cape North on Buka island is situated at 5° South latitude and 154° 35′ East longitude. The Southernmost, the already mentioned island of Owa riki, lies at 10° 54′ South latitude and 162° 30′ East longitude. The total area of the Solomon islands is estimated at around 43.900 km2, the number of its inhabitants at around 180.000 persons.

The numerous islands of this archipelago have been discovered for the most part by a Spanish expedition under the command of Alvaro Mendana de Neyras and named the Solomon islands in honor of the Biblical king Solomon in the belief to have discovered a new Ophir as rich in gold. This expedition consisting of the two ships „Almirante“ and „Capitano“ was sent out by Lope Garcia de Castro, governor of Peru, in order to make discoveries in the Pacific Ocean. It had left the port of Callao in 1567, dedicated the year 1568 to the discovery of the Solomon islands and returned to Callao in 1569. In the year 1768, that is exactly two hundred years later, Bougainville rediscovered the Solomon islands on his voyage around the world and renamed the two large North-eastern islands Bougainville and Choiseul.

Even though they had been visited multiple times during our century the Solomon islands are even today still, namely as far as the many small satellite islands are concerned, a fertile because almost completely unknown territory for researchers an especially ethnographers.

The Solomon islands are arranged in two rows. Part of the North-eastern row are the four larger islands of Bougainville, Choiseul, Ysabel — these three are part of a German protectorate — and Malaita, the latter island besides the South-western row of three larger islands of New Georgia, Guadalcanar and San Cristoval being a British protectorate. Both rows are as noted accompanied by numerous small even tiny islands.

The destination of our voyage was at first the island of Ugi, North of San Cristoval. As we were still 70 sea miles away from the coast of Ugi at noon on the 7th and landing in darkness did not seem promising especially as the numerous rain storms were expected to cause difficulties during the landing, the commander decided to steer into a closer bay (Port Mary) on the South-western side of the island of Owa raha to the East of San Cristoval.

As the soundings and coast surveys in the whole area of the Solomon islands are still very unreliable the entrance into the small bay protected by rimmed reefs against the motion of the sea proved both difficult and interesting. Two dinghies were sent out ahead to sound the entrance which was two cables wide and serve as marker points to steer between the two.

The bay itself where we were anchoring has a diameter of only a few hundred meters and is surrounded on the seaside by coral reefs that are visible during low tide. On the landside are dense woods in which numerous palm trees were visible just up to the beach and we could also see huts of a native settlement among the trees. Beautiful peaceful nature was everywhere around us asleep only disturbed by the excitement of the savages of Owa raha about our appearance.

Already during our entrance into the bay we had seen a small canoe in which natives used their primitive paddles to get off the land and discovered, when it had come closer, that a white man sat in it who immediately came on board and was suspicious at first as he suspected „Elisabeth“ to be a French warship. As soon as we had explained the ship’s nationality to him, the white man became more talkative and reported that he had been staying on Owa raha for a few months trading with the natives who by the way had killed some of his predecessors due to differences in opinion but he had good relations with them.

We were much surprised to find a European here as according to all declarations only two or three white people were staying in the South-eastern part of the Solomon islands, namely in Ugi. About the nationality of the man who spoke English we could not precisely determine as he offered no information and did not say much  which made us assume that he might be a deserter or an escaped convict from the colonies.

The inhabitants of the Solomon islands are still savages and cannibals, extremely insidious, deceitful and dangerous especially for whites which may be shown by the fact that from June 1889 to the beginning of1890, that is in only a few months, no fewer than six white persons were murdered in various places by inhabitants of the Solomon islands.

For a landing on Owa raha an expedition was immediately organized that left in two parties: One of which under my leadership consisted of a few gentlemen plus the white man whose task it was to serve as an interpreter had the purpose of examining the settlement. The other consisting of Mallinarich and two sailors was tasked to fish and collect as many corals and other sea animals as possible.

Only a few strokes with the oars were required for our boat to come close to the settlement on land but we had hardly set foot on land when a truly tropical rainfall poured down that completely soaked us to the skin. As the wild inhabitants had the lovely custom to rob unattended boats of the whites landing without protecting their boats and then cutting off the retreat of those landed, we left behind a party under the command of a cadet to protect the boat while four sailors armed with Mannlicher rifles accompanied us on land.

First we visited the house of the white man, a quite nicely furnished and comfortable hut which had a veranda around it on whose rear wall hung cages with colorful parrots. The interior had multiple rooms that served partly for living partly for storage of the supplies. In the kitchen we were kindly greeted with a friendly handshake of a Melanesian woman of pitch-black color, apparently the wife of the settler to whim we gallantly offered a cigar which she accepted and immediately lighted and started to smoke. The clothing of the dark lady was scanty but appropriate to the climate and the local customs and consisted in the main of a tiny skirt. Thanks to this clothing we could examine her figure. She was of middle stature, slim and well-proportioned.  Her face however was not an attractive sight as it showed a flat protruding front  and a broad Semitic-formed nose and large thick-lipped mouth.  The already ugly face was further defaced by the Melanesian woman keen on trappings as all the Oceanic race generally seemed to be nose rings as well as hangers consisting of wooden pieces of considerable size on long nails in her pierced ears.

Our ethnographic studies about the female part of the population was limited to that woman which we considered the wife of the settler. She was the only female being which we could see as the black beauties hid themselves in the interior of their huts, closed off the doors with mats and stayed out of view when we arrived in the village.

Next to the hut of the white man rose another tall hut, a holy site called taboo in which the natives kept their war canoes and also buried their chiefs and nobles of their tribe. Of such places we identified four in the village which are original enough to merit a closer description: Each of these huts formed a kind of large barn whose front was open. The roof was covered with bark and the support columns and crossbeams and rafters, in sum the total frame of joints, was covered with carvings and colorfully painted with red, white and black colors dominating.  These ornaments represent grotesque images of idols in most horrible forms and in a most horrible style, mostly humans with very short feet, long straight bodies and hideous faces surrounded by the usual high headgear. One of these wooden images carved out of a single pillar caught my special attention as it was a caricature of an English missionary  clutching the bible in his hand and wearing a tropical helmet and veil. These fetishes are said to be inhabited by demons, Ataro, that had a special role in ancestor worship. As decorations used here were hundreds of lower jaws of pigs. On the floor in the barn and on racks lay the war canoes notable by their slim form, their lightness and rich decorations. Especially the aft of the vehicles but also the sides were covered with many carvings but also mother of pearl inlays of truly artistic taste whose motives were animal figures and flowers. The boats are constructed out of thin boards and glued together with resin and up to 7 m long and barely 1/2 m wide, but there are also some very small vehicles intended apparently for a single man.

In the middle of the „holy hall“ stands a rack or actually a catafalque on which sits a wooden box with the bones of the most recently deceased chief. Surrounding this catalfalque are truly strange coffins up to the ceiling which namely form large dolphins carved out of wood of surprisingly realistic nature that contain the skull and the bones of the tribe’s dignitaries in their hollow space. Each of these wooden dolphins is attached on a different level so that the distance from the hut’s ceiling marks the number of humans the deceased had killed in his lifetime. The higher that is closer to the ceiling a coffin is hanging, the larger is the number of slain enemies by the deceased. The lower the coffin is placed the lower the number of slain.

The natives of the Solomon islands are said to be ardent cannibals so that the capture of human bodies to cook and eat their meat accounts for the main purpose of the perennial fights and campaigns of the islanders. As the inhabitants of each of these islands and on these individual tribes again and even the inhabitants of neighboring villages are living together in constant feuds one may think how often the cannibals have the opportunity to satisfy their abhorrent cravings. Mendana, the discoverer of the Solomon islands, was already offered cooked human meat on 15 March 1568 on Santa Ysabel. 1872 and still even later English sailors found cooked bodies and remains of such on Santa Ysabel and San Cristoval, and even today this horrible barbarism mocking all higher sentiments is continuing in the same vein. Our friends on Owa raha drive as we were assured quite often to the neighboring San Cristoval to raid and kill their enemies and bring back their bodies in order to eat them with gusto!

The huts of the natives between the holy halls are small but relatively well built. Each has a widely protruding roof made out of bark, palm leaves or grass.On one of the walls made out of canes extends a porch on whose one-meter-high base the family of the house is crouching during leisure time and smoking tobacco which had been introduced to the Solomon islands by the Europeans. The rear wall of the porch or balcony is decorated with clubs, spears, bows, arrows and shields of the occupants and also the carved sticks that the natives tend to carry in their hands during their festive dances are stored here. Below the balcony is some kind of barn for the tame pigs which are missing in no hut and are considered like housemates. Such a balcony with its decorations, the camped smoking natives and the pigs in the lower part adding to the entertainment of their „masters“ by grunting delivered a strange genre painting.

The interior of the huts which are closed by a low door covered by bast mats consists as well as we were able to see from the outside of a large room on whose walls hang all kind of tools and an open fire in a round pit surrounded by stones where they cook. Some kind of folding screen made out of raw netting divides the room in some of these huts into smaller compartments into which the women seem to have fled at our arrival, while the men, during our visit, either came up to us without inhibitions or stood on the threshold of their home and looked astonished at the strange intruders.

As in New Caledonia, the inhabitants of Owa raha are conspicuous for their muscular, strong build but their facial features, especially in the case of old people, are consistently very ugly. The curly, incredibly thick hair is combed upwards and tied together in a tuft.  In general, however, the inhabitants of the Solomon islands tend to cut their hair or to wear it hanging down or in small braids. In some individuals I noticed the strange appearance of flaccid hairs pasted together into bushels so that the whole looked like the coat of a fuzzy poodle. Some of the natives have a somewhat lighter skin color and are different from their comrades whose color is dark coffee brown almost black. The clothing is limited to almost only decorative objects. Above all, the natives of Owa raha pin the most various things in their ears whose earlobes are pierced and artifically enlarged so that pieces of wood multiple centimeters in size can be wedged in. As another kind of ornament we see objects made out of glass pearls or dog teeth or rows upon rows of tiny shells on the neck and the front. Arm and foot rings are mostly made out of netting into which also are woven shells or snails. Nose rings are often made out of tortoiseshell. Very popular are European hats and it offers a very funny sight to see such a black guy wearing only an old top hat or straw hat coming out of his hut.

Nature here offers so much voluntarily that the natives do not have to toil much. Their sustenance is provided by the sea rich in fish and by the inexhaustible plant cover of the land. Pigs, poultry, fish, tortoises, mussels provide the meat in their food. Overall, though, they are vegetarians and eat mostly roots of all kind produced in fields and gardens such as yam and taro which are cultivated in places cleared by fire. Then there are fruits of the areca  and sago palm tree, Musa sapientium and Musa paradisiaca etc. As stimulants serve, as already reported by Mendana, betel and stimulating but also intoxicating beverage called kawa made out of the roots of Piper methysticum.

The great pleasure of the islanders is smoking and chewing betel. Never one sees a male native without tobacco which they procure through trade nor without a betel box, even most women were used to smoke short pipes. The present of a few cigars made the men who we met immediately more forthcoming. The original timidity left them and one of them showed his pleasure, thanks to a cigar offered, by beginning some sort of dance throwing his arms into the air which he accompanied with shouts and comical gesturing.

We now asked our European guide to lead us a bit into the interior of the island to which he agreed after a longer discussion and we were led by him first for some time along the coast and then on a small track path into the woods. In this moment everyone shouted in astonishment as the splendor of the plant world which we suddenly saw was almost overwhelming. The narrow gorge which took us in was formed on both sides by porous walls made out of tuft and these and the ground show themselves covered over and over with the most gorgeous palm trees, namely Phytelephas, Pandanus, fern trees to whose tops rose hundreds of growing plants entangling branches and trunks.

Every step made us stop with amazed gaze upon new forms and never before seen strange plants which no greenhouse holds nor no books know. I lamented vividly to know only our local flora and not the flora of tropical countries in order to determine  at least a part of orders, families and species of the plants I met here.

In phytological relations still less well known and incompletely researched Solomon islands seem as far as variety, wealth of forms and luxuriousness are concerned to be of a unique nature. It even pushes the gorgeous vegetation of Java into the background. Humidity, warmth and terrain unite here in the impenetrable jungle to produce tropical plants of all kinds in the greatest luxury from the plain to the highest mountain tops, so that a hike through this fairy tale plant world of Owa raha will amaze every friend of nature with true delight. Every spot we came too seemed to be derived from the richest greenhouses. What we consider the most valuable gifts of the greenhouse, glass box or flower table and admire in miniature grows here as mighty trees, as bushes, herbs, grass, flowers of a giant and luxurious form. The ground — geologically young eruptive stones form the mass of the Solomon islands — offers  the plants in fact in the humous decomposition products of the so nutritive plant substances in connection with the tropical heat and the not permanent but frequent rain in this areas an incomparable basis to grow and set roots.

Here stand ficus trees whose trunks reach probably more than 80 m in height and that cover with their giant branches an area of more than 100 m2. Next to it rise giant Dracaenae, Araliaceae, rubber trees, in between the most beautiful fan palms, and each of the trunks is straight as an arrow and covered with hundreds of parasite plants and orchids, entangled by all kinds of lianas. Everything grows, prospers, sprawls. Where a tree falls to the ground due to the burden of its age or broken by the wind, on its trunk rises within a short delay again trees thick as an arm and airborne roots become individual plants as soon as they touch mother earth. Each plant bears fruit, each semen grows, each seed sprouts buds and leaves. Everywhere there is new life and plants are reborn. Never has a human hand touched the trunks of this jungle. Almost without bound they rise towards the clouds. To determine the height of one of these forest giants approximatively we used the only tool we had. We fired namely with our best rifles some grain at birds that had flown up from a tree top without however the grain reaching there.

Time again the smooth roots and the broken tuft stones were impeding our steps in the virgin forest. But we soon advanced more quickly as in the hitherto visited tropical woods because the lianas do not populate the ground as densely. Even in the most swampy places that often crossed our path and were covered with the most beautiful leaf plants of all sizes and kinds could be crossed without difficulties. Thus we entered deeper admiring and observing constantly until we suddenly stood at the edge of an enchanting lake whose shore trees whose trunks and branches hung in the water and stood so densely that we could see the surface only through the gaps in the green leaf wall. In honor of „Elisabeth“, the first warship of our navy that had visited the Solomon islands I named the beautiful body of water „Lake Elisabeth“ which was not marked on any maps nor in the sailing handbooks. Its width is about 400 m; as we did not have enough time we could not determine its length.

Hunting catches were slim on this expedition. On the one hand, Owa raha did not seem to offer many specialities in its fauna and on the other hand, the birds ha almost all hid themselves in the tree tops due to the pouring rain. Only at the shore of Lake Elisabeth I managed to bag two pigeons (Ptilopus richardsi and Carpophaga pistrinaria).

With time evening approached so that we had to leave the newly baptised lake to return to the village of Owa raha where as the rain had diminished in intensity a vivid trade had developed. Tobacco products, especially Virginia cigars, were in high demand by the natives while toilet articles were not asked for. For two cigarettes I received a beautiful spear but only a woven bag for a colored handkerchief. Thus one of the delicate batiste handkerchiefs bought on Vienna’s Graben was transferred as a decoration and only piece of clothing on the neck of a dark female cannibal! Also many of the gentlemen of my staff could not resist the rich offering of wooden spears, harpoons and decorative objects and paid with all kinds of articles from home until we returned with fully filled boats back on board.

Less well than our expedition was what had happened to Mallinarich. He had separated himself with two sailors from us next to the village and had, while we marched East, walked towards the West to collect corals and shells according to my wishes.

Everybody had received the appropriate order to return on board at sunset but that time had already gone without somebody from Mallinarich’s expedition making an appearance. Hour upon hour went until a general commotion reigned on „Elisabeth“. The most adventurous guesses about the expedition’s failure to return were heard, some thought that they had been caught as prisoners others stated that Mallinarich was certainly being cooked as a tasty treat in a large cauldron. As most of us had been of the opinion that the expedition must have lost its way and would not return before dawn next morning. The commander had the whole coast illuminated by the large electric projectors and a boat with armed men was searching the beach but nothing was visible. Finally a large detachment with lanterns and rockets under the command of officers was sent out to search for them and was just on the way to the interior of the island when repeated signal shots were heard from the cape. Immediately a boat was sent there and after 10 o’clock in the evening Mallinarich and the two sailors were back on board, tired but healthy.

Searching on the beach they had drifted too far away in our urge to collect so that dusk surprised them and suddenly when it started to get dark, they noticed about fifteen natives who blocked their way to the beach. Quickly the three decided to turn into the direction they had come but also on that side were natives, five in number, who came out of the wood. Thus our three were almost surrounded by armed savages who took more and more threatening stances. Seeing a gap in the surrounding circle around him and the two sailors, Mallinarich fired a shot on the row of enemies, pushed the closest savage to the ground and escaped with the sailors from the enemy group. As they kept their position between the threatened group and the boats and thus cut off the retreat to the vehicles, our people were forced to undertake a journey around the whole island which meant that naturally the majority of objects collected on the beach had to be left behind as dangerous baggage.

Perhaps Mallinarich had acted a bit too energetically as perhaps the savages might have been cooled down by negotiating. On the other hand the situation he had been could have been quite awkward and also not suitable for a night march. In any case it was reasonable to congratulate those returning home and ourselves that everything went well.

The natives in the village certainly received the news of the incident quickly. Despite having promised during the evening of my arrival to come on board with new trading objects nobody showed up again.

I used the evening to try a new sport in the beautiful calm bay, fish sticking in light in which our brave boatswain Zamberlin was a true master. He equipped with complete skill which distinguishes the inhabitants of the coast in such matters the dinghy by fixing at the fore the necessary most primitive light apparatus. It only contained a pan-like grid in which thanks to tar and dry spruce wood an intense fire was burning so that the sea was clearly illuminated to a considerable depth.

Slowly we drove over the coral banks looking down to the various fantastic forms that appeared in a reddish tint in the shine of our light source. Here Lilliputian woods and flower beds were rising, there starred a small coral island made out of barbs, points and arms.Then the limy mass formed grottos and caves in which all kind of small light red, sky-blue, grass-green and silver-glittering fish shot up and down. In between lay lazy starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers or Holothuroidea, and everything shone, glittered, radiated in the brightest colors, the most delicate nuances as soon as light touched them in a manner only sea water with its strange refractive power is able to create.

Large fish we could see only at the beginning of the journey then they disappeared into the deep areas having been frightened by the sound of the rudder and by the lights. Still our boatswain managed like Neptune standing with a harpoon at the fore to catch some strange pieces, such as a fully white ray, some kind of ocean sunfish, multiple eel-like fishes with a heron-like beak and sharp teeth, a rare beautiful crayfish with black-yellow bands on the extremities and a green armored back. Where the sea was undulating, oil was used to markedly improve the certainty of sticking a fish.

The view of the night-time suddenly illuminated depths of the sea, of the coral structures and all these strange inhabitants of the sea, the fish sticking, the strange magic of the whole journey  — everything imprinted itself deeply into my memory.

Links

  • Location: Owa raha, Solomon islands
  • ANNO – on 07.06.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Ein Wintermärchen“. The k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is closed from 1 June to 19 July.

At Sea to the Solomon islands, 5 and 6 June 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

During the night from the 4 to the 5 June „Elisabeth“ had reached her Eastern-most point of the journey near the Loyalty islands — 167° 36′ longitude East of Greenwich — and at that time the course was set towards San Cristoval of the Solomon group. The wind remained fairly constant during the 5th so that there was still a heavy pitch but then relented on the 6th. The temperature on deck but especially in the cabins announced the approaching tropical region and the weather similarly changed in character on the 6th. The sky was often cloudy and rain storms came down with increasing intensity towards the evening.

During intense rain a large flock of terns (Hydrochelidon fuliginosa) was flying around the ship, some of which sat on the yardarm of the main mast and attracted everybody’s attention by their cries. When a sailor climbed up and caught one of these gliders of the air with his bare hands despite the great darkness, the terns startled by this circled again in the air and crashed into the foresail light as well as the two position lights. Two of the birds apparently much exhausted landed on the deck and were captured without effort.

We used the two days, as well as we could in this wind and weather, to package and store our acquisitions from New Caledonia as well as completing our diary entries.

Links

  • Location: At Sea to the Solomon islands
  • ANNO – on 05.06.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Das Heiratsnest“. The k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is closed from 1 June to 19 July.

At Sea to the Solomon Islands, 4 June 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

Despite the program of hoisting the anchor already at 7 o’clock in the morning we had to delay the hour of departure for some time as, besides the collection gifted to me, a number of objects had to be loaded on board which the governor and his adjutant had sent like multiple logs of precious wood which the dispatch boat „Loyalty“ had brought back from a day trip as well as a collection of partly alive partly stuffed specimens of bird species present on New Caledonia etc.

Among the birds, a special mention is deserved for the broad-billed parrot as well as the kagu (Rhinochetus jubatus) that is restricted to New Caledonia.

During the billeting of the animals in cages three of the wonderful roseate cockatoos we had taken on board in Sydney unfortunately escaped. The fugitives flew, happy about their regained freedom, towards the land. As much as we felt sorry about this loss we had the satisfaction of maybe having introduced a delightful bird species to New Caledonia as the cockatoos should find a favorable environment here to multiply given the comparable climatic circumstances.

After the church service — it was Sunday — we steamed out of the harbor of Numea, while we were saluted by the French ships with the flag, with board salute shots and with triple shouts of Hurrah to which we replied also with the flag, salute and sideway shots. On the island of Nu a music band had taken up position and played our anthem which meant we had to reply out of international courtesy with  the Marseillaise — a drastic exchange: the noble sounds of „God save“ and as its echo the revolutionary song!

We set course along the South-west coast and the small offshore islands to the South-east so that the coral reefs remained to starboard and passed rapidly through the Woodin Passage between the island of Ouen and the mainland. In this small sea strait which is in some places barely a sea mile wide reveals a number of picturesque views  in front of the mariner’s eye. On starboard rises the island of Ouen in jagged contours, long red stripes betraying its wealth in iron rocks; on port the coast of New Caledonia rises covered in rich mostly tropical vegetation. In a dense tangle as a characteristic of this special plant region of this part of Melanesia grow the slender and soaring araucariae; also some huts and a small house become visible and bring a refreshing sign of life into the scenery.

The journey continues through Prony Bay, around the Southern point of New Caledonia past the sharply protruding Cape Ndua, then a turn to the Northeast through the Havannah canal and finally out of its numerous coral reefs and currents into the open sea, steering North in the direction of the Loyalty islands. In the evening navigating through these islands was quite difficult as the sky had turned cloudy, a heavy rain storm was coming down so that we could not see further than a few meters and thus had to reduce our speed even more as now precise soundings of the Loyalty islands existed and the sea maps were of little reliability.  Finally the moon appeared again and then we could pass the islands without problems. The wind came during the whole day from North and North-east and made the ship pitch mightily.

Links

  • Location: Next to the Loyalty islands
  • ANNO – on   04.06.1893 in Austria’s newspapers. The Wiener Salonblatt of 4 June informs its readers belatedly about Franz Ferdinand’s departure from Australia.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „König Ottokars Glück und Ende“. The k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is closed from 1 June to 19 July.

Numea, 3 June 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

For today there was a full program planned. In the morning at 8 o’clock the governor fetched me in his boat to visit the prison which was to be constructed on the island of Nu on the spot where the first penal depot had been built in 1864. Here the hard criminals as well as those who committed crimes during their time of detention which results in harder conditions or a prolongation of the sentence were to be kept. Furthermore the prisoners coming newly from France or from the colonies are to stay there until they can be distributed to the various places on the island.

After half an hour we landed at a garden which is assigned to the director of the establishment. It consists of a large number of large widely dispersed locations which we visited guided by the director. We started at a small barracks where a detachment of about 100 men of marine infantry under the command of a captain was staying. Then we had a look at various workshops where the prisoners performed various crafts such as a bakery, locksmithery, carpentry etc. In this prison too the prisoners are housed during the night in long rows of houses side by side like in Montravel. Only here the houses are surrounded by high walls. The middle of the housing complex was a place of execution where on occasion the guillotine is set up; all prisoners have to attend the executions on their knees while behind them the soldiers take up position with loaded rifles.

Above the prisoner houses rises a mighty building without windows in which small cells intended for the hardest criminals and namely the recidivists. These contain wooden beds with a blanket each to which the prisoner can be shackled with iron bars. To my surprise I found books in some of the prisoner’s cells. The director of the prison intends to house the hardest criminals in other locations without beds where the prisoner has to sleep on the naked ground and has no benefits at all.

The first cell whose iron door was opened for me held a six-times murderer whose fate rested on the outstanding decision of the president of the republic. When the governor directed a few questions to the prisoner condemned to death, he showed his bad behavior and answered quite impertinently. The criminal was shackled on one foot. The other leg which had been wounded by a revolver shot when he had attacked one of the guards was bandaged. A still young man of a strong almost Herculean build, the deported had started his criminal career by murdering his lover.

I had almost all the cells in the building opened and made the impression that the inmates showed without exception impertinent behavior which was evident in their answers. True criminal physiognomies that indicated crime and vice and made us realize that we faced the scum of the earth.

A part of the inhabitants of these houses  is awaiting their turn at the guillotine which was shown next. I had this earnest instrument of justice never seen before and could not resist an awkward feeling, due not in the least to the the cruelties of the large revolution which passed through my mind. The executioner, a former prisoner, a truly vile guy demonstrated how a criminal is tied to the horrible board and explained the mechanism of the machine. Finally he let the blade crash down on a reed bundle which was cut through by the impact of the falling executioner’s sword. This was accompanied by the vile man’s cynical jokes and smiling, he finally presented me with his photograph which had his name and the following words: „Executeur des hautes oeuvres“.

We visited also the magazine with all supplies and tools for road construction and then walked some kilometers to the hospital which was under the care of merciful sisters and held about 150 sick persons and is situated in a beautiful, healthy location at the edge of the sea. It was exemplary well run, especially concerning cleanliness and order.

Next to the hospital was an institution for the mentally ill with a large garden where these unfortunate humans seemed to be as well cared for as was possible. During my visit there were scenes similar to those in other mental homes. As all the poor ill persons approached us and gave speeches, presented themselves as kings of Spain and other countries, declared to be kept here illegally as mentally ill persons and uttered many words of sad mental state. One man who suffered from rage attacks of such an intensity that he could break iron bars that were as thick as a thumb showed me a nice blanket he had woven.

Leaving this dark place we drove in the barge and then with the wagon to the country retreat of the governor which was half an hour outside of Numea to attend here a Pilu-Pilu, that is a music and choreographic and warlike performance of the natives, in the honor of M. Gallet, the official in charge of native affairs. Under a tent that is usually set up on a place for lawn tennis games we enjoyed this strange but exciting spectacle.

Two groups of about fifty natives each from Montfaue and Huailu performed a funeral dance together accompanied by song. These groups alternated in the performance of a number of dances and then made room for the natives from Bai who also excelled in dance and song. The natives of Montfaue then sang a song that told about episodes and memories of the uprising of 1878, the year of uprising and war. In these fights the tribe of Unua fought on the French side. One of that tribe, a chief called Dui won fame by his audacity in the fight against the rebellious natives.

The members of each tribe distinguish themselves by their appearance from other tribes only in details. Their dances and songs are also similar. All actors, tall beautifully grown men, wore full war costumes with long spears and heavy clubs while the chiefs wearing many centimeters more of clothing than during the hunt yesterday were also armed with axes made out of serpentine stones. White cock feathers as well as combs stuck into the thick curly hair served as headdress.

The dances which were executed with a precision that would make any well drilled corps de ballet proud were accompanied by wild but at least rhythmic songs which included the singers convincingly imitating animal voices and sounds of nature. The choreographic productions — every single movement was executed by all dancers in sync — were partly funeral dances, that is religious ceremonial, partly war dances partly the illustration of emotions, actions, customs, machines etc. Thus one could see in an audacious step and movement: fruit bats, cattle, love, war canoes, a taro harvest feast, hunting, fishing, a free horse, the turning of a ship screw, a European threatening with his finger, a man with crippled arms, even the signals of a semaphore and surveying the land — for a ballet master a true treasure chest of surprising new effects.

In their songs these wild artists express partly harmless views and exhortations partly energetic inimical and bellicose thoughts and even examples of anthropophagous poetry. The latter was namely also the case in the sung episodes about the year 1878 of the Montfaue. Whatever the individual truth behind the content of these tales they were taken in their whole originality from the points of view of a primitive people and formed in a most naive way: „Prepare for the dance (Nipagüeü-nipagüeü)! — You are numerous, all begin! Dance the Nequipin! — Put a canoe in the river! — Have persons thin due to the inundation and his ship be carried away! — Prepare for battle! — Shout the war cry! — We want to kill chief Dui! — I will cut his brother Meino in two pieces! —“ etc.

The spectacle received great interest not only because it permitted insight into the importance of dance and song for these primitive humans as a means to express their desires, moods and feelings but also because these spectacles showed an excellent powers of observation and real talent to perform the noticed. They thus confirm the above average intelligence of the wild artists. Most remarkable was the endurance and the effort with which they danced and sang as well the rage that flashed in the physiognomies of the dancers.

The following spear throwing of the natives offered nothing exceptional as they were probably exhausted and excited from the dance so that many spears missed their target. The slinging of stones however was very original. The islanders put hard stones that they had sharpened at both ends into conical points into a twisted slip knot made out of fibers which they swung around in circles so that the stone escapes with speed and flies toward the distant target with force. The projectile flies hurling through the sky and penetrates even fairly think planks. These slings were once used as dangerous weapons in the never-ending fights between the different tribes.

This production was followed by a Pilu-Pilu native from Lifu, the largest of the Loyalty islands. The facial characteristics of these islanders who also have Polynesian blood mixed in are more beautiful than those of the natives of New Caledonia. They are also said to be more intelligent and more open to trade with Europeans than the latter. In contrast to the New Caledonians the  Lifuese were painted in the most flashy colors mostly vermilion and sky-blue. Even their faces had been fully covered and individual artists wore grotesque face masks. The Lifu islanders acted in two groups one of which performed a dance of the warriors accompanied by song. The other produced an episode of the family history of an old demon again with song and dance. The latter production starting with monotonous singing suddenly turned into wild pantomimic movements that however were executed only by a few artists while the others crouched or clapped hands and shouted.

This performance had an erotic character as it treated the kidnapping of the wife of an old demon by multiple young devils. These appear and try to lure the wife away from the old demon with all kinds of inciting tales. The old demon’s warning voice dies away in vain. „Come with us, our land is beautiful, and the paths that led there fine“ sing the young demons. After the fearful old demon’s „Don’t listen to them“ the flighty wife sings „I will follow you“, so that the old demon left alone can only ask the empty question „Where is my wife?“ and sadly answer in resignation „I have lost her..!“ The show would not have been suitable for ladies as the wild artists enjoyed their exuberant even unrestrained fantasies and many alternating songs especially that between the wife and the young devils left out nothing of comic and drastic matter.

Thus the program of the morning was complete. I then returned on board while my gentlemen ambled through the town and there made a number of purchases of ethnographic objects for me.

In the government building illuminated brightly as daylight by lampions and gas flames and whose entrance was a glittering triumphal arch, the governor hosted a gala dinner attended by about thirty dignitaries of Numea among them the bishop, the president of the council, the ship commander, the colonel of the infantry regiment, various councillers and other officials. In full concordance with the long duration of the hunting breakfast, the dinner lasted considerable time too so that after two hours no end was in sight. When the champaign was opened, the governor rose to offer a long but good and well received toast to His Majesty and me to which I replied with a few words. The dinner music was provided by a band composed of prisoners. As waiters too deported persons were used who probably had only been sentenced for small crimes and who wore immaculate livery appropriate to the occasion instead of prisoner clothing.

After the dinner which we left only at a late night hour, M. Picquie led me into a side room where he presented me a displayed collection of Kanak weapons and fetishes and to my pleasant surprise, to offer it, a kind act for which I am all the more thankful to the governor as this collection contains some pieces that are valuable due to their rarity and thus are a valuable enrichment to my prior acquisitions.

In the brightly illuminated garden a dance number by the Loyalty islanders was seen by a large audience as the governor had invited also the staff of Elisabeth“ and those of the French warships. The show resembled those in the morning only the wild men accompanied  their dances with sounds of somewhat primitive musical instruments, a kind of drum made out of leaves and plant fibers.

Then we said good-bye to the governor, assured him our vivid thanks for the most obliging and even cordial reception he gave us as well for his successful efforts to make our short stay on New Caledonia as agreeable and as educating as possible and repeated our large interest for this island.

Links

  • Location: Numea, New Caledonia
  • ANNO – on  03.06.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Der letzte Brief“. The k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is closed from 1 June to 19 July.

Numea, 2 June 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

Today a deer hunt was to be organized. Everybody assured me that the territory was rich in game and thus the hunt promised excellent results. Even though I always am somewhat sceptic about such tales and promises in foreign countries, I was still full of hope to catch at least one specimen of the deer species introduced and acclimatized here. At dawn we set off from the board and met the adjutant of the governor at the landing as well as one of the highest civil servants who formerly had been resident in Tonkin and been assigned by the governor as his representative.

M. Picquie himself could not participate in the hunt as he had slipped and dislocated a leg while playing „catch“ with the young ladies during a garden party he had organized. Apparently the cause of his injury seemed to the governor not dignified enough to tell me and had instead communicated that he had fallen off a horse during a business trip and thus injured himself.

The company of the former resident of Tonkin by the way was very welcome as he could tell me during the drive many strange things about this country which had become important for the European Oriental politics and where he had lived for many years. We only had to cover 21 km but spent three hours as the horses were notable for their special slowness and the road went up and down the mountain.

The weather was agreeable, the temperature pleasantly fresh. We were now already in June, that is close to the coolest period in this part of hemisphere in which — in July and August — the average temperature drops from the annual average of 22 to 23° C during the day by 5 to 7° C, while it drops in cool nights down to about + 9° C.

The region we were driving through has a mostly monotonous character in scenery as the road goes almost always through the monotonous looking Niauli forests. Still there are changing and interesting impressions. Close to a saddle of a mountain which we had to cross there was an oasis amidst the Niauli forest with splendid almost tropical vegetation. We passed numerous settlements with large vegetable gardens and furthermore also hotels or more precisely road-side inns with proud names such as „Au rendez-vous des chasseurs“, „Hotel beau site“ etc. that offer the Libérés the prized opportunity to waste their small savings on drink.

The orange tree is growing splendidly here. Unfortunately, the golden fruits are fouling on the trees as it is not profitable to harvest them due to the impossibility of exporting oranges.

During the drive we saw few birds which was all the more remarkable as 45 species of birds were natives only of New Caledonia. I managed to observe only a small predator, then a kingfisher as well as a Myna and a few singing birds. Poorer still the country seemed to be as far as mammals were concerned. Apart from deer there seems to be only a species of fruit-eating  bat, large megabats (Pteropididae). This lack of large animals and the periodically recurring need for more substantial food than fish, megabats, rats, worms and snails is used by ethnographers to explain the native predilection for human meat suppressed not long ago.

The last part of the journey turned out to be very difficult as a large water pipeline was under construction for Numea and the iron pipes was just then being transported there.

Next to a small settlement we were expected by two gentlemen who led us on foot through a wide valley to the hunting ground. Here I had the first chance of seeing a large number of Kanaks who had been called out of the interior of the island to serve as drivers — beautifully built muscular men of a dark coffee-brown color with dense fully curly hair of a true Papuan character which they wore combed upwards. Their faces are not beautiful and raw, but show a certain intelligence in their expression. Clothing is limited to small waist belts. In contrast the Kanaks are all the more equipped with all kinds of ornaments which they carry as necklaces and bracelets made out of shells and footrings made by twisting megabat hair. As weapons they carry long lances with very original points as well as clubs made out of heavy ironwood that is found on the island.

The endurance of the natives at swimming and their skill in fishing are reportedly excellent. My informants claimed to have personally observed how these islanders had swum out two to three miles out into the sea and there threw out a fishing rod while „treading water“, then keep their catch under their arm and continue to fish until they had caught a sufficient number of fishes to return to land. The Kanaks are said to be highly proficient in guiding canoes and using them for fishing, a method much preferred to the just described fishing rod technique. It might well be possible that my informants had seen more than actually happened and that the fishermen stood on reefs and cliffs — not visible to the observer — below sea level and so on a firm setting could go after catching fish.

In total there are about 40.000 natives on New Caledonia whose race however is on the way to extinction as the numerous endemic and many newly introduced illnesses as well as the numeric gender imbalance causes their number to decrease year by year. The killing of new born girls is said to be widely practised. Women are also treated everywhere much worse and have to perform all the hard work. In earlier times, the population was reduced by the continued feuds between the different tribes where the prisoners and the killed were always eaten. Today the natives are more peaceful but withdraw from contact with the whites.

The civil servant in charge of the natives had set out with the drivers and posted us for the hunt at the foot of a hill covered only with grass behind which was a densely forested mountain slope. The islanders with their dogs were tasked to drive through these woods to force the deer to cross over the hills. This battle plan did not please me in the slightest and in fact neither were the drivers as well as almost all the natives that had before taken part in our hunting. They walked without order or plan during the drive, took up position on small hills or at the edge of gorges where they started shouting for extended periods while only a few drivers with dogs actually entered into the woods. The dogs still barked a few times but the hunt took another direction turned away from our position what was to be expected right from the start as the game in New Caledonia too shows no preference to cross into an open valley. All the more so as there was much noise behind us caused by the construction of the water pipeline.

Thus I sat there for a full three hours when suddenly but at great distance a spike was fleeing in front of me. I shot it, apparently a hit to the lungs but the deer stood up again and draw itself forward for a few steps to collapse in the high grass. As soon as one of the drivers had seen this, they all ran in the true sense of the word like wild men with great shouting to the deer that naturally again stood up and fled into the very dense wood pursued by the wild men and the dogs where one could hear their sounds for some time until the deer disappeared forever. From a true follow-up search one could naturally not speak and also a heartfelt request directed to the wild men to find the wounded animal in their own manner and kill it was in vain.

Thus the first drive was a complete failure even though the game was said to be plentiful which had been assured at the start of the hunt that the game was more like a plague on the land by their quantity in the woods and the fields. As usual in such cases the hunting masters were certain that the failure of the hunt would have been successful at an earlier hour or if executed as a chase — an insight that came too late. As I would have put up no resistance to start the hunt earlier, I would even have started our journey after midnight if necessary.

Unfortunately a straight continuation of the hunt was impossible as the governor who had followed us was awaiting us in a settler’s house close by for an opulent breakfast which consumed a full two hours as the majordomo and liveried servants presented a never-ending series of dishes and wines. As well meant this feast had been I still considered it a waste of time — sitting on pins and needles — and would have preferred to use the time for hunting or  collecting beetles and butterflies, with one word more purposeful as I had only a few days to visit the interesting island in the midst of the South Sea which I would never see again in my lifetime. I had not come to spend hours eating at a table! After the end of the breakfast I hoped to be released  —  but not at all. A Hiob’s message arrived that the dogs of the drivers had been lost and the hunt could only be continued after the dogs had been caught again. With the exception of my gentlemen all participants of the hunt seemed to e relieved and continued to eat until they finally managed to recall the dogs to duty late in the afternoon.

Finally a new drive started from a hill that was densely covered in ferns. The local islanders may be really honorable people and have all kinds of good qualities but driving and hunting they completely fail to understand. The dogs soon barked and one could see soon thereafter some great game run through the bushes. Unfortunately the unlucky drivers had noticed the deer too and now all ran in the direction of the game with cries. The deer naturally broke in the opposite direction which made the drivers happy and shouting and gesticulating in front of my position  perform some kind of war dance.

As I lacked the possibility to express my opinion with some native strong or swear words I slung my rifle on my back in my helpless anger and turned away from this „wild, daring hunt“ to the wagon where I received the message from the fast following hunting master that just now four deer had crossed at the position I just had vacated. I did not doubt the truth of the appearance of the deer which might also only have shown up to restore the honor of the hunting master but did not change my direction to return to the position and started calmly my homeward journey.

This partly compensated for the failed hunt. Driving between the high mountains surrounding the valley, we enjoyed the vivid color effects produced by the rays of the setting sun on the mountain slopes; The Niauli trees glittered in a blueish color next to the clefts and bare areas which glittered metallic and were glowing red due to the rich iron content in its rocks.

At a late hour we were back on board of „Elisabeth“ which its commander followed by my gentlemen and a number of officers soon after left to attend a dinner given by the officers of the French armored ship „Thetis“ on its board while I stayed home.

Links

  • Location: Numea, New Caledonia
  • ANNO – on  02.06.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Der Meister von Palmyra“. The k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is closed from 1 June to 19 July.

Numea, 1 June 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

Above the island of New Caledonia lay heavy clouds which blocked the lighthouse from our view during the night and made navigation more difficult for „Elisabeth“. Taking the bearing of Mount Mu showed that the ship had moved far to the South during the night. The position had to be corrected and course set for the lighthouse of the small island of Amédée which we sighted towards 8 o’clock in the morning. The wind and the motion of the sea had much diminished and in time the sun broke through victoriously so that the contours of New Caledonia with its high mountains became clearer and clearer appearing out of the calm waves of the ocean. Towards 9 o’clock in the morning „Elisabeth“ was in front of the Bulari passage where we took the pilot called from Amédée on board and then we drove between the reefs which accompany New Caledonia along the Northeast and Southwest coast with only a few breaks in between and reach out far in the North and South as well as through the small green islands of Brun and Dubouzet.

After we had celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi with service in the battery, the ship was moored at half past 10 o’clock in the morning in the inner harbor of Numea at the Messageries maritimes buoy offered by the harbor captain.

New Caledonia generally comprises the whole archipelago. This includes the main island discovered in 1774 by Cook and named in the honor of North Scotland New Caledonia, the  Loyalty islands Mare, Lifu, Uea and Beaupre islands to the east discovered in 1795 as well as L’Île-des-Pins, Southeast of the main island, and finally the Chesterfield islands to the West. New Caledonia and the Loyalty islands together include an area of 19.823 km2 and 62.752  inhabitants according to the census of 1890.

First colonized by English merchants and missionaries, New Caledonia and the Lifu group of islands were declared French territory by admiral Fevrier-Despointes in 1853. The actual permanent French governance over the long resisting natives only happened after the subduing the insurrection of 1875 to 1878.

Earlier ruled by the governor of the islands of Tahiti and the Marquesas, the colony called „New Caledonia and dependencies“ has its own special governor since 1860 with his seat in Numea, while the main French settlement used to be Balade in the Northeast of the island from 1853 to 1854. New Caledonia is darkly notorious for its penal colony. Even though there had been prisoner transports to here earlier, only the internment of multiple thousands of criminals in the year 1871 made the island notable for a wider audience.

The island of New Caledonia lies to the East of Australia between 20 degrees latitude and the tropic of capricorn. Its width is relatively small compared to its length of 440 km. The coasts are accompanied by mountain ranges consisting in the South-east of Mont Humboldt, 1634 m. These mountain ranges drop off sharply in the North-east to the sea, while in the South-west coast there are plains between the foot of the mountain and the beach.

The entrance to the harbor offers beautiful sights even though the scenery of the landscape we were seeing can not match those of Port Jackson. The harbor of Numea is formed toward the West by a tongue protruding into the sea on which sits the town of Numea. Towards the East the harbor is closed off by a number of small islands. Here too the view passes over picturesque bays that reach deeply into the land up to the foot of the mountains like Bulari Bay in the East and Dombea Bay to the Northwest of Numea. The Mont des Sources at 1025 m and Mont Dore at 775 m are the most notable mountains.

In the harbor anchored the armored ship „Thetis“, the transport dispatch boats „Durance“ and „Scorff“, as well as the dispatch boat „Loyalty“ and the English cruiser „Tauranga“. Our territorial salute was answered by a land battery at a very slow pace — the individual shots happened after long intervals. While mooring the ship at the buoy, a small incident took place. A steam barge bringing baggage to „Elisabeth“ collided with the ship due to its clumsy maneuvering throwing one man out of the barge into the sea. But he was soon thereafter fished out of the water with a hook.

The town of Numea, even though it is situated in picturesque surroundings, presents naturally not improved by the fact that one can see from the ship the purpose of the town as the capital of a penal colony. Along the bay are groups of small houses and prisons with high walls. Whole columns of prisoners clad in denim and protected effectively against the sun with large straw hats are working on the construction of a quay.

When we were moored, the commander of the dispatch boat „Loyalty“, ship of the line lieutenant Louis Lucas, appeared first to offer his services, then came governor M. Albert Picquie to welcome me in the name of the colony, accompanied by the commander of the land and naval forces as well as the commander of the warships, and to discuss the program of the coming days. The governor seemed to be not very pleased himself about the country that he had to govern as he repeatedly said that I would be disappointed in all aspects.

An hour later I returned the visit of the governor in his small government building which lies about in the middle of the town on a hill and is surrounded by a garden where a statue of liberty causes an artistically not really beautiful impression that stands in a rather stark contrast to the purpose of the colony. The parlors of the building are large and paneled with local wood. The governor must be an animal lover as an important number of large cages with parrots and pigeons was in the garden of the residence. Deer too could be seen whose species seemed to me to be different from those on Java.

Accepting the invitation of the governor to visit the surrounding of the town I drove in his company in a four horse carriage whose horses alternatingly became lame first to Montravel, where a prison is located for housing prisoners working in the town and the surrounding areas during the night. 50 men each occupy one house where each man is assigned a hammock. On a plank above them the prisoners could store their possessions. Between the houses of which there are I think twelve small patches of vegetable gardens are set up as well as guard houses and a kitchen.

I was very astonished about the great quantity of food the prisoners received daily. They get coffee in the morning, meat with vegetables at noon and in the evening again vegetables. It seems to me to go too far to provide these jailbirds as far as food and board is concerned as well if not better than the soldiers. My astonishment increased when suddenly a music band appeared that was constituted by 40 prisoners and welcomed me with a fast played waltz by Strauß. This musical assignment not compatible with the idea of punishment I can not approve. Apart from everything because these musicians by performing their musical activities are spared from having to do any hard labor.

In total there are about 8000 prisoners on the island who are mostly building roads but also assist in mining the large nickel mines. Regarding the local distribution and occupation one distinguishes more or less three kinds of prisoners:  Those coming directly from France or the colonies who are immediately put to work at the different places of the island. Then there are those deported who commit new crimes on the island and were sent as die-hards to the actual main depot on the island of Dubouzet or Nu. Finally the so called Libérés who had already completed their sentence but were not allowed to return to France. The latter enjoy almost a state of liberty but are still under political surveillance and had to report to the government on certain days. Prisoners who were sentenced for eight years are not allowed to return to their own soil. Those sentenced to less than eight years may return home after the double number of years. The largest contingent of the deported are naturally made up by the French, but there are also among the prisoners  numerous Arabs from Algeria as well as prisoners from Tongking. Discharged NCOs of the French army serve as guards.

The governor made many surprising remarks to me about the state of the penal colony. He is only in office for half a year and seemed to be a very energetic man who shares my opinion that humanity towards criminals individuals among the categories of the deported gone too far has bad consequences and at the same time seems to be unjust towards the decent elements of society. The predecessor of M. Picquies seemed to have acted with extreme mildness and established the principle that prisoners should not be forced to work which had the result that most refused to work. Naturally under such a forgiving rule there were a number of abuses. The patriarchal state that came to be is shown by the fact that the criminals erected triumphal arches to the former governor when he made inspections with the letters „A notre père“. The life of the prisoners were quite nice.

When these conditions were finally noticed and the newly installed governor had reined in these practices, he was met with much resistance. The prisoners were no longer used to work. It even happened that some prisoners gouged out their own eyes in order to not having to work. The governor countered by sending those who had gouged out their eyes into the mountains to have these immolators cut stones for ten hours per day — a drastic proceeding that taught the other prisoners a most healthy lesson.

When he came into office M. Picquie had two of the worst criminals and gang leaders decapitated what however made the colonial council advising the governor anxious with concerns. It thus vetoed the death penalty when the governor again wanted to condemn a criminal to death who had already murdered six persons and finally tried to kill a guard so that the governor was required to appeal the decision to the president of the republic. No decision had been made during our stay here.

Our drive now turned to the interior of the island along a beautiful road that crossed a swamp thickly covered with mangrove bushes and then along the foot of the mountains in an Eastern direction towards blue-green Niauli forests in which we found individual araucariae and coconut palms. The Niauli tree (Melaleuca viridiflora), a Myrtaceae species with a crippled trunk, covers nearly the full island and gives it a character that is reminiscent of Australia. Out of the Niauli tree oil is collected which is similar to the cajuput oil produced by Melaleuca leucodendron in chemical composition.

Along the road one finds everywhere small gendarmerie barracks and posts whose garrison keeps up the order among the working prisoners as well as the policmen’s houses or more exactly huts who are recruited from the native Melanesisan population which is mixed with Polynesian elements. If a prisoner escapes to the endless forests of the colony, something which happens fairly often, then it is these native policemen who track down the fugitive with their fine senses and return them — actually only as a dead body. Fleeing prisoners either die of hunger or are murdered by the hand of the natives as the government pays out a prime of 25 Francs for each escapee dead or alive. As the natives find it much more convenient to return but the cut-off head than the live prisoner, this is the consequence. As incredible as it seems given the about 1600 sea miles of distance between the colony and the closest point on the mainland — Brisbane, there are a few but mostly just a few cases where prisoners managed to escape successfully from New Caledonia.

We also passed the nice settlements of the Libérés. But the settlements of free European colonists are rather scarce on the islands despite all the efforts of the French government to support such settlements, as any respectable man understandably is reluctant to permanently settle on this island dedicated to criminals or stay as soon as he knows about the actual state here.

The governor deplored that this beautiful island with its good and healthy climate, its productive soil and the rich mineral wealth — gold, copper, antimony, cobalt and especially nickel — is in fact renounced from being settled by free colonists and thus lies bare in such a large part. Even though the conditions are met both for the growth of tropical plants — the cultivation of cotton, maize and coffee is growing— and the growth of temperate plants, agriculture is not at a higher state than negligently managed  cattle breeding so that the island is still today dependent in many relations on imports from Australia. Great care is given by the natives who prefer to eat plant matter to the cultivation of taro (Colocasia antiquorum), yams roots, sugar cane etc. By the way the development of the island lets as far as the roads and other public works are concerned much to be desired according to the opinion of neutral observers. In France the reasons are said to be well known that currently hinder the full development of New Caledonia and there exists an intent to send the deported in the future to Cayenne so that respectable members of society can be added to the population of New Caledonia.

In a small valley we passed a Catholic mission not far away from Numea which was led by French nuns who made it their task to educate the native children. The mission does much, like the twelve other ones on the island to raise the moral and material level of the native tribes that not long ago practised cannibalism. Instituting missions seems to be very common in this French colony and show beneficial effects. As all natives on New Caledonia who adhere to Christianity are of the Catholic faith, while the number of Protestants surpasses the Catholics on the Loyalty islands where evangelical missionaries had been at work since 1840.

Turning towards the city we ascended a steep path that offered a beautiful view upon the distant coast,  Mont Dore and the small islands of the Bulari Bay.

The artillery horses of the battery of Numea drawing our wagon did not seem to be used to this task. Soon after the departure, they already showed signs of exhaustion and had reached the end of their strength when we wanted to ascend the mountain. They could not be moved by any means and we had to leave the wagon and continue our drive in another vehicle.

The regularly organized streets of the town intersect at a right angle. The houses are small, ugly and visibly built in a haste. The general view of the town is overall a melancholic one. Everywhere one meets the long columns of prisoners marching in pairs to an from work, many of whom are in chains for having attempted to flee or disciplinary offenses etc. There is not much life in the streets only a few Europeans and now and then a few natives become visible. Numea has besides the governor’s mansion also a large military hospital, two barracks, one of which is occupied by a marine infantry regiment the other with artillery, as well as multiple schools and depots. A beautiful church is being constructed and is nearing completion.

Returned on board I enjoyed a splendid evening with a gorgeous full moon glitteringly mirrored in the calm sea. Agreeable cool air fanned the brow. Now and then the calls of the guards on the warships could be heard by us. From the Place des Cocotiers, however, where our music band was giving a concert the noble sounds of our anthem rang out which was repeated no less than three times due to the roaring demands of the numerous audience.  For a long time I remained on deck, lost in my thoughts.

Links

  • Location: Numea, New Caledonia
  • ANNO – on  01.06.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Der Meister von Palmyra“. The k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is closed from 1 June to 19 July.