DECEMBER 29, 1855. 



THE DAILY UNION. 



East Indian Archipelago. 



A very instructive and readable book has 



lately been issued from the press, entitled " The 



Prisoner of Weltevreden, and a Glance at the 



East Indian Archipelago." The author is Capt. 



Walter M. Gibson, who was some time ago ar- 



iSted and imprisoned at Weltevreden, and after- 



ards escaped. Even now he has pending a dc- 



iand for redress. 



The resources of this paradise of earth are but 

 eginning to be developed, owing mainly to the 

 xceeding jealousy with which the Dutch regard 

 he intrusion of outside barbarians. The New 

 .'ork Commercial Advertiser, which gives a brief 

 eview of the work, remarks that Capt. Gibson 

 s not a skillful writer his energy and enthusi- 

 ism are more remarkable than his judgment; 

 ind to add to the evils of a defective style, he 

 las rendered some portions of his narrative very 

 obscure by the introduction of far-fetched alle- 

 gory, which the illustrations are scarcely suffi- 

 cient to explain. Still the book is a very enter- 

 feaipiug one, and, for example, read what he says of 



THE ORANG-KUBUS, OR HAIRY MEN OP SUMATRA. 



I got a glimpse, amid a thick bower of foliage, 

 at a height 9f about eighty feet, of a dark brown 

 form, seeming to me as large as a human being.; 

 and when Bahdoo saw it, he cried out, " orang 

 kubu ! orang kubu !" 



I raised a shout, and we all cried out at the top 

 of our voices. I struck at some low drooping 

 limbs with the pike in my hand ; and then we 

 heard rustles and leaping sounds at other points 

 in the great tree tops near the form we had seen ; 

 this one shifted, slid down a limb, came nearer to 

 view, and then we could partly see a very human- 

 like form, holding a little creature with a Very 

 1 human-like face, peering down upon us. 



The sailor had raised the carbine and was 

 about to fire, when I bid him stop ; it seemed 

 likp murder to sh ^ ''. at that human face, for I 

 had heard something of wild and hairy faces, 

 j roaming in the forest not far from the waters of 

 Palembang. I again raised a shout Bahdoo 

 made a peculiar piercing cry, and again the crea- 

 ture moved; it leaped, others leaped, and the 

 huge tre- shook. Downward came the sounds, 

 leaping, rustling, crashing, then dark bodies shot 

 before us, down, plunge into the creek. 



<1 stood with weapons grasped, expect- 



.ttack ; but, after hearing a quick flounder 



; .-h in the water, up sprang five or six 



aturea, for a moment but diruly seen, 



then up the bank and away into the thick forest 



on the other sido. 



Three-fourths of the day was now gone, and I 

 had seen enough for one day's excursion. The 

 boat was put about, and rowed quickly down the 

 canopied stream pulled with hands again through 

 the ^narrow neck, where the leafy tops brushed 

 our backs. Our fatigue felt lightened when we 

 shot out of the leafy cavern into the warm day- 

 light on the main stream we had left ; and our in- 

 creasing fatrgue was all forgotten when, upon 

 turning the bend of the stream into the Moosee, 

 we beheld the graceful, golden tipped spars of 

 the Flirt walking up among the towering tree tops.i 

 A light breeze had risen, filling the clipper's 

 main and foretop sail, with which she 



ward to me by many Arab and Chinese traders I 

 have met with. The Kubus deposit the gum they 

 collect, and other articles to exchange, in a cer- 

 tain place, when traders are in the neighborhood ; 

 then they strike with a club upon a suspended 

 hollow log, called taloh by the Malays, making a 

 loud, drum-sound and run off back into the re- 

 cesses of the forest. The traders come to the 

 spot, take away the gum, and leave what they 

 think proper. After they have gone, the Kubus 

 cautiously venture out of the thicket, and carry 

 off what has been left for them. Sometimes this 

 mode of barter is reversed the trader^ deposit- 

 ing trinkets and cloths then beat a gong, and 

 retire ; whilst the wild men come and take away 

 what has been offered, and honestly and gener- 

 ously leave all that they have got of gum or other 

 articles. Thus the chief material for the purify- 

 ing incense used in the ceremonial of the Church 

 of Home is gathered by these rude hands. 



Marsden, who resided many years on the west- 

 ern coast of Sumatra, in his account of the abo- 

 rigines of the island, ^ays that he had heard of 

 two species of people, dispersed in the woods, 

 and avoiding all communication with the other 

 inhabitants ; these were the orang Kubu, and 

 the orang Gugar : the former being, as he under- 

 stood, very numerous on the south-east coast be- 

 tween the Palembang and Jambee territories. 

 He speaks of having heard of several that had 

 been caught and put to work as slaves ; and of a 

 young Kubu female that was captured by a man 

 in the Laboon country. He says that the Gugars 

 are much scarcer than the Kubus, differing in 

 little, but the use of some uncouth kind of speech, 

 from the orang utan of Borneo they being en- 

 tirely covered with hair. But Marsden is rather 

 skeptical about the existence of these beings of 

 doubtful humanity. 



You will have an opportunity when at Palem- 

 bang, said the Dutch officer, to learn something 

 more definite about these creature*; and may 

 probably see some of them in the possession of 

 the old pensioned Sultan, who resides there. I 

 lid learn much more about these wild people at 

 Palembang and at Batavia, which I shall relate 

 ty the course of my narrative. 

 3 ^,v ------ * 1.1 v 



CABIN OF BONES. In the Placerville A..\eri- 

 of Saturday, Aug. lf>tb, we find the follow- 



ing: ; /$J& 



On Weber Creek, forty-five miles east of Salt 

 ike City, is a large cabin literally filled with the 

 >nes and carcasses of animals. But how came 

 ley there ? All will remember the account we 

 'jave of a drove of cattle on their way from the 

 ites to Salt Lake, last fall, getting snowed in on 

 'the mountains, that all but two of the animals 

 and one of the men perished two men escaping 

 by taking each an animal and making the best of 

 their chances through the deep and rapidly fall- 

 ing snows to Salt Lake. 



The third man, after laboring in the snow for a 

 tinn , determined on returning to the ^abin and 

 wait till relief could be sent hint, but he perish- 

 ed before it reached him. The starving cattle , 

 rushed into f,he cabin to screen themselvt -, from 

 the cold, and as they fell and died, others made 

 their way v in only to perish in their turn and 

 make room for yet others, and this T&pide"U r what 

 it will doubtless long remain the ;C*&1jfi;f' bones. 



- *-'' 



he cool wafts of air that 



nnrls 



away from the lumbering bark, that crept 

 ' ^md, with all sails set. It was sweet, y 

 r>i 'u '^'//'^ and adventurf S to sit upon 



