Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-03-23


heard that an English ship had gone
ashore on the coast of Sumatra and
her crew had been captured by the
Natives, and by request of the Eng
lish Consul we intended to visit
Sumatra and try to effect their release.
At 4 a. M, the 18th, we started to
heave up anchor when We found that
something was wrong as we could not
start the anchor from the bottom,
after vainless effo is 10 heave it up
with the capstan we started the
engines at full speed backwards and
succeeded in breaking it from the
bottom. The capstan was manned
and the anchor hove up, when we
found that an old anchor and about
90 ia hons of chain as afoul of our
anchor. 1t had bren burr ed in the
mud Of the bottom for great many
years as it was very rusty. While
getting underway we SAW a boat
coming from the shore one Of the
occupants signaling us to stop, on
coming alongside we learned that the
English Consul had beeu i..formt d
that an English Man of War had
gone 10 Sumatra to release the crew
OF the English ship. AS we were all
ready for sea we decided to proceed
on our way and stood out to sea.
The next day out.we passed through
Banka Straits, these straits are not
very wide, land can be plainly seen
on both sides. The land is low and
thickly wooded. At the entrance of
the straits we passed an English bark
at anchor where she was waiting for
wind to carry her through We
passed number of small island
during the passage, on all Of which
tropical fruits seemed to grow in the
greatest abund nee. After a pleas
ant passage~of two days We came to
anchor off Batavia. Java. where we
found Spanish aud two Holland
Man of Wars laying. This island is
Dutch possession and is their head
quarters in this part Of the world.
They have a very: fine Navy Yard
mere which is situated on a small
sland in the bay: The town is
somewhat after the style Of those in
their own country, it is about 3 miles
from the coast and is reached by a
canal running from the bay to and
through the town. The principal
export of this island is coffee; it is
from here that we obtain our best
coffees. but it is almost matter of
impossibility to get pure Java coffee
n the United States We found the
Dutch very, hOspitable and curteous
to strangers. The inhabitants of
Java are mostly Malays and Java.
nese who are employed on the coffee
plantations. While sitting under a
tree enc afternoon we noticed a leaf
which had fallen from tree, moving
towards tree, we were so surprised
at this curious phenomenon that we
could only sit still and watch it;
after reaching the foot of the tree it
started up the trunk of the tree and
disappeared among the foliage. On
making q closer inspection Of the
ground around the trees we saw other
leaves crawling towards the tree from
which it had fallen, picking one of
these up we found it was indeed
possed with life and motion. They |
resemble three leaves joined together. |
one large leaf between two small |
ones. They live on the leaves OF a
certain kind of tree. We tried TO !
bring several Of these leaves TO the
United States bnt wa could not keep |
them alive, and we were unable to
preserve them after they died.
The East is full of wonderful |
sights, and it would take too much !
space to relate all that we have seen,
and it is a matter of impossibility TO
relate them as we saw them. One /
must see wonderful sights to abtain