WCP7211

[1]

Mrs Bishop

[1 word illeg.] in Persia + [1 word illeg.] 1891

"An Arabian Wallace."

F. H. Balkwill Esq.

Author of "The testimony of the truth to mans place in nature" &c.

Heap Cottage

Yeovilton

RSO

S. Devon

[2] [Blank page]

[3]

An Arabian Wallace

"For it was in the golden prime of good Haround Alrashid," Tennyson

Wallace's "Malay Archipelago" vividly recalls to the reader happy bygone wanderings in the Arabia nights entertainments." At Wallace's command, continents sink into the sea and become islands and by action of the Jan, volcanoes rise and become ranges of mountains. Here, the country is full of ghosts and spirits, and there, no one must spit over the side of the vessel for fear of provoking the wrath of the Jan. The fisherman draws his net and catches white, blue, red and yellow fishes as of yore, until we almost expect him to bring up a brass pot with the seal of Suleyman ben Daood on the lid. Flying serpents dash through the air, holding on to the tail of the one they are pursuing, as seen by the first of the Ladies of Baghdad, only Wallace calls them Dragon flies, and Malay boys catch them with birdlime on the end of a rod, pull of their wings and basket them to sell for the [4] [Blank page] [5] frying-pan. But whilst many things in the "Arabian Nights" thus shrink on our imagination when confronted with the reality, on the other hand, quite the reverse is the case with regard to geographical distances, as a thousand miles is often passed in a few sentences.

When Wallace takes us to the Islands of Aru, however, recognition becomes definite. "These are the islands of Wak-wak;" and as he describes his emotions, at beholding the beauties of the plumage of the King bird of Paradise, which he obtained there, we almost expect a Princess of the Jan will step out of the vesture; for we are persuaded that some spirit with an exceeding sense of beauty must have lived in and wrought this fairy like robe of feathers.

Turning to the story of "Hasan of El Basrah" in the "Arabian Nights", we are able to make out the following very distinct and interesting route, which goes from Basorah at the head of the Persian Gulf to the islands of Aru.

The itinerary is ^sometimes a little obscure, and, in one place, considerably reverted; but in every such case a further point of the way is so clearly indicated that little doubt is left as to the track or the final goal.

The great care which had been taken in describing the various habits of the nations, and the characteristic natural [6] [Blank page] [7] products or animals of the countries passing through, shows that these night tales were often as useful, to the Sultans or Callips wo listened to them for the instruction they conveyed as for the entertainment ^they received from them.

The story of "Hasan of el Basrah" is a long, probably composite story; of which the journey to the islands of Wak-wak forms the middle third, where it may have been interpolated to give an account of a journey to the home of the Great bird of Paradise, - birds of such beautiful plumage that their very name even now suggests a supernatural being.

A few sentences will give the first part of the story. Hasan, a young goldsmith of Basorah, is kidnapped by one Barham, a majian or fire worshipper, and carried in a vessel to a distant beach, near a mountain from the almost inaccessible top of which, Barham requires some magic wood for certain alchemical processes. In order to procure this wood Hasan is carried to the top of the mountain by Rukhs, and there he is in danger of his life. - A Persian General of they name ^{of Banham} is mentioned in history more than a hundred years before the Moslem era, so that Barham may have been a real character. He appears in several stories as a kidnapper of young Muslims, and is always mentioned in terms of the utmost detestation as a fire-worshipper. [8] [Blank page] [9]

At the time of the tale the Parsees had been driven by the Moslems to the West Coast of India and as ^{so that} Barham would come from thence, and ^{as he so} is now on his return voyage, we may locate the mountain on the coast between Bombay and the Persian Gulf - perhaps near the mouth of the Indus.

Hasan escapes, and, like a knight of old romance, finds a Palace inhabited by seven sister princesses who live here secluded from the world. The youngest princess takes a fancy to Hasan, adopts him as a brother by a solemn vow before her sisters, and Hasan lives here for some time, in a very pleasant manner; his relations with the princesses being as open and above suspicion, as that of Christian with the damsels in the Palace Beautiful; but the time comes, when the ladies are absent, that Hasan wanders into a forbidden garden, and whilst himself hidden, sees some beautiful birds alight, pull off their outer-dresses of feathers, and appear as beautiful maidens who proceed to bathe and sport in a pond on their grounds. Hasan falls in love with one of them, and, on their departure returns to the Palace, where he falls ill. He then confides in his adopted sister, and ^by her advice, watches for the next coming of the wonderful birds, when he secretly steals the feather robe of his beloved, who is consequently left behind when the other bathers fly away. [10] [Blank page]

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Hasan captures the desired maiden and bears her to the Palace, where the Ladies, after some trouble, finally persuade her to marry him according to orthodox Moslem rules.Enriched by many presents from the sisters, Hasan, with his wife, returns to his Mother at Bassorah, and thence removes to Baghdad, where his wife in the process of time presents him with two sons. He now feels inclined to pay a visit of friendship to his adopted sister, but, before setting out on the journey, gives the magic dress of feathers into his Mother's care with strict charge not to let his wife get hold of it. The wife by a stratagem, however, gets introduced to the Caliph's principle wife, the Lady Zubeydeh, and excites her curiosity to see the dress, which Hasan's mother is consequently obliged to produce. Zubeydeh is exceedingly charmed; in the words of the story, "She took it and turned it over wondering at the beauty of its make." - It seems at least possible that this incident may have been founded on fact, and in reality, have suggested the story, as Zubeydeh is a historical character, the principal wife of the Caliph Haroun Alrashid. We have only to suppose that the Caliph's Wezeer, Jaffer, introduced into Zubeida's court a travelling merchant who had one of these ^{birds of paradise} skins for sale, and that, to quote the tale again, "Zubeydeh wondered at it, as did all who were present." She [12] [Blank page] [13] may, very likely, have questioned the merchant about its supposed supernatural origin and the country it came from; and may have been so interested, in what she heard, that she may have wished her lord of the Caliph to hear about it also. Jaffer, with his usual intelligence and amiability, and seeing the capabilities of the materials, may then have employed a professional story-teller to work them up into one of the regular night stories for the Caliph's amusement, when the usual amount of supernatural and magic was added ^{by the narrator} to give the Narrator him sufficient control over the events of the narrative ^story; with which we will now proceed.

Hasan's wife puts on the dress, takes her children in her arms and flies away, giving Hasan's mother as her parting message for Hasan; that if he ever wishes to see her again, he must come to the islands of Wak-wak. Islands supposed by geographers to be "somewhere to the South East of Borneo," but of which we hope to give a much more definitive identification.

On his return home, the distracted Hasan, on learning from his mother of the loss, and the rendezvous his wife has appointed him, sets out, without loss of time, on the almost hopeless quest to find of ^finding the islands of Wak-wak, but first returns on camelback to seek aid and advice from the seven sisters. They look very grave indeed upon the news, and assure Hasan that the distance makes his case almost hopeless; [14] [Blank page] [15] but, upon his persisting in his intention, they summon an old Sheyk, their uncle, who after some persuasion agrees to help Hasan.

We have already located the Palace of the sisters on the Eastern boundary of India, and the further journey of Hasan confirms this position, as the Sheyk takes Hasan away with him upon an elephant, on which they proceed "like the blinding lightning for some days to a cavern (or pass ?) which transverses a high range of mountains, presumably the Himalayas.

At the present day our Indian Officers find the Himalaya passes guarded by Tater or Chinese officials and have to settle with these when they wish to shoot on the Tibetan Plains beyond. Hasan in like manner finds the pass guarded, and is only allowed to go through by the intervention of the old Sheyk.

The direction he is now taking, is certainly not towards the Aru Islands; but on getting through the pass, when they find themselves on an open plain, the Sheyk mounts Hasan on a horse with instructions to ride across the plain until he comes to a pass similarly guarded to that just transversed; and to the chief of this second pass the Sheyk gives him a letter of introducti9on. A characteristic incident follows. "Hasan ceased not to speed along on the horse ten days. X X X X [16] [Blank page]

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The horse neighed beneath him, when there came together horses numerous as the drops of rain x and they began to rub against Hasan's horse. So Hasan feared them and ceased not to proceed with the horses around him"

From Marco Polo to the present tome, travellers through Eastern Tibet, have remarked upon the tameness and curiosity of the droves of small wild horses inhabiting this plateau. Hasan's experience could have happened to him, probably, in no other part of the world. A recent writer in "The Royal Natural History Magazine,! says " In Ladak I have frequently ridden among a herd of Kiang, who would gallop round my pony in circles".

After passing the Tibetan Plain Hasan arrives at the second pass, where he finds an imposing building in which is a great saloon, built of marble, where grave Sheykhs seated on chairs with many books before them, are each teaching several pupils, whilst before them are gold perfuming dishes with fire and incense. In fact, we have here, a fair description of such Buddhist Monasteries as still exist on the boundary line between Eastern China and Tibet. At the present time travellers across this boundary are obliged to present letters at these monasteries accrediting them from acknowledged authority, before they can proceed on their way.

Hasan is now put in the right direction, and to get over avoid [18] [Blank page] [19] the tedium of a description of the journey across China, after being given a fresh letter of introduction he is mounted on one of the flying Jan who quickly conveys him to a place where we have a fresh sure indication of his route, as he finds himself on an ocean coast in "Camphor land " and his letter is addressed to "Hasoon King of Camphor-land".

Commercial camphor is produced from the camphor laurel, growing on the Coast of China, bordering Siam; also from the islands of Formosa and Japan, but not east^westward of the Gulf of Siam. There is, however, a more aromatic camphor, obtained from a pineferous tress which is found on several of the large East Indian islands as far east ^west as Sumatra. But this is so highly valued by Native chiefs and courts for ceremonial purposes, that it scarcely ever finds its way into commerce. Hasan has, therefore, arrived at some large island, east of the Malay peninsula, which we will suppose to be Celebes. Formosa is indeed more exactly described, but the subsequent voyage although possible, does not so easilyagree ^correspond with it.

The distance from Baghdad is now immense, and, although our author's materials are excellent, we feel that he is more and more uncertain in handling them.

Hasan's next stage might almost be given in the words used by Wallace to describe his own final voyage to the islands of [20] [Blank page] [21] Aru, to which he started from Macassar in Celebes: he says , " the trade to these islands (the Aru) has existed from very early times, and it is from them that birds of Paradise of the two kinds known to Linnaeus were first brought. The native vessels can only make voyages once a year, owing to the Monsoons. x x x . Even to the Macassar people themselves the voyage to the Aru islands is looked upon rather as a wild and romantic expedition." Wallace waits, accordingly, until the "large Praus" are about to start. In like manner Hasan stays with King Hasoon for a month, on his invitation, until the ships are ready for their usual trip to the islands of Wak-wak. In due time he sails, and is landed on the islands, where he finds on the shore "setees;" buildings erected for the convenience and temporary residence of the merchants and their goods; also for the islanders, who now come from the surrounding country to deal with them.

Wallace describes "Dobbo", the temporary village where the Aru islanders the Chinese and Bugis traders, in much the same terms. "It is situated" says he, "on a spit of sand, and there is a good anchorage for vessels on one side of the village" x x The houses are of varied sizes, but are all built of one pattern being merely thatched sheds, a small portion of which next the entrance is used as a dwelling"

xx Wallace, Malay Archipelago, Vol xx p. 158 [22] [Blank page] [23] Both Wallace and Hasan take possession of an empty "settee" to await the arrival of the islanders, but now, that our Author has brought Hasan to the home of the birds of Paradise, a considerable fault in the continuity of the narrative occurs, which seems to throw us out together. Hasan's islanders are a powerful, warlike and highly civilised people; and whilst many od the larger East Indian islands were so inhabited at the time of the tale end, in some, the civilisation is, even now, only faded; there is no sign that the Aru islanders have ever risen above barbarism. Not only does this discrepancy occur, but Hasan is sent on a further pilgrimage, by the female General of the troops, to whom he has introduced himself by using King Hasoon's name, making a double journey which almost takes him into the Indian Ocean. The General tells him that t his wife to is in "the seventh island of Wak-wak - a direction of seven months journey." First, he has to pass through the "Land of Birds" , where by "vehemence of the cries of the birds, and the flapping of their wings, one haereth not what another utter eth" - some sea-bird's breeding place, doubtless. Then he goes through the Land of wild beasts "and by reason of the cries of the beasts of prey we shall hear nothing else."

The names of the wild beasts in the story are not very correctly given, but we may assume this land to have been Sumatra, with its elephants, two rhinoceroses, tapirs [24] [Blank page] [25] tigers, two leopards and smaller cats, bears, orang-utans and other monkeys, buffaloes, deer and other ruminants and wild boars, is beyond question, the Island, pre-eminent on the face of the earth, for wild beasts.

After the land of wild beasts, he goes through the land of fiery Jan, "Where by reason of the vehemence of the cries of the Jan and the rising of the flames, and the flying about of sparks, and the smoke from their mouths and the harsh sounds from their throats, etc." he beings almost to repent his journey. This island can hardly be any other than Java, which, says Wallace, "contains more volcanoes, active and extinct, than any other district of equal extent" in the World.

All this Hasan duly transverses, ere he finds himself again, according to our reckoning, on the Aru islands.

This extraordinary double in his route may be explained in the following manner. The skins of the birds of Paradise reached Western Asia by two different routes. Some having gone to China and been taken by inland caravans, by which merchants, for untold ages, have transported goods from China to India, Western Asia and even to Europe; whilst other skins went more directly by Arab traders past Singapore, Cape Comorin and the Persian Gulf to Bassorah, and so to Baghdad; and our Author in collecting his materials for the story may excusably have confused the two routes. In our own time [26] [Blank page] [27] rhubarb comes to us both ways from China, that by sea via Singapore, being known as East India, whilst that coming by caravans through Central Asia is known as Russian or Turkey rhubarb.

On arriving at the chief island of Wak-wak, Hasan finds his wife and children family is reconciled to her his wife, and after many adventures they ^all eventually escape and return home together.

On the way back Hasan and family ^they call upon the seven sisters to return thanks for their aid. The youngest thereupon unbraids the wife for her treachery in leaving Hasan, but she only laughs and replies in effect that it ^had served him right for his treachery in capturing her. - We hope they lived happily ever after.

But the most characteristic evidence that the islands of Wak-wak are the Aru islands has yet to be considered. When Hasan first lands on the Aru islands he receives the following explanation of the name Wak-wak. "This name is the proper appellation of a tree whose branches resemble the heads of the sons of Adan, and when the sun riseth upon it those heads all cry out, saying in their cry "Wak-wak! extolled to be the perfection of the King, the excellent Creator!"*

Shakespeare was inspirited to write the ode beginning

*Lane's A. N.Entertainments Vol. III, p. 4646 [28] "Hard! hark! the lark at Heaven's gate sings."

by a skylark singing at daybreak. But although the sight of the beautiful plumage of a bird of Paradise held in his hand at Baghdad, may have so inspired a poetical, and devout, Muslim author that he could imagine the living birds, in the branches of a tree, uttering as with human voice, the words of praise to God just quoted; yet surely he would never have commenced by such a incongruous and discordant invocation as Wak-wak! unless these sounds had been taken from the ^some characteristic and impressive reality; for ^and this is the real cry of these birds, and it was this peculiarity, in the description Wallace gives of them, which first drew our attention to Hasan's tale. Wallace says, "One day I got under a tree where a number of great Paradise birds were assembled. x x x Their voice is most extraordinary. At early morn, before the Sun was risen we hear a loud cry of 'Wawk-wawk, wok-wok' which resounds through the forest changing its direction continually." * x x x "The great bird of Paradise is very active and vigorous and seen in constant motion all day long. It is very abundant. x x Their note is 'Wawk-wawk-wawk-wok-wok-wok' and is so loud and shrill, as to be heard a great distance and to form the most prominent characteristic

* Malay Archipelago, Vol. II. p. 225-392 [29] [Blank page] [30] animal sound in the Aru islands."

The italics are ours, as we think these words show, clearly enough, why the Aru islands were known to the Arabs as the islands of Wak-wak. The tale of Hasan ins probably a thousand years old, and traces a most intricate route, for eight thousand miles or so, with a care and accuracy which makes the geography of our own Chaucer, let us say, seem infantile by comparison. The moral to be drawn, for "him who would be admonished", seems to be , a warning not to marry beautiful ladies who adorn themselves in plumes of birds of Paradise. But, alas, who takes such morals seriously when fortunes, or marriages are to be made? Birds of Paradise seem doomed, and yet it seems a pity that a being whose beauty has excited admiration for ages should be exterminated; as, once destroyed, no power on earth can ever reproduce its wonderful plumage.