‘Certainly few Dutch naturalists come to mind. Apart from van Buren, of course, for the fauna.’
‘To be sure, and he is a constellation in himself. I am so sorry he is no longer here; we were great friends. But you will no doubt meet him in Pulo Prabang, where, as I understand it, you mean to accompany Edward Fox.’
‘I shall look forward to it. But am I mistaken in supposing that he withdrew from Java because of the British conquest of the island?’
‘Quite mistaken, I am happy to say. We are excellent friends. He dislikes Bonaparte as much as we do, like so many of the Dutch officials who are now working with us. His removal was settled upon well before our arrival, primarily for the sake of Mrs van Buren, who is a Malay lady from those parts, but also for the sake of the orang-utang and some of the smaller gibbons, which are to be met with there and not here, to say nothing of the gallinae or nectarineas. I have never been to Pulo Prabang, alas, but I understand it possesses all the advantages of Borneo without the drawback of head-hunters.’
When they had finished the birds of paradise aviary, which was no small undertaking, and when Stephen had expressed his unqualified support for Raffles’
projected zoological society and garden in London, Raffles said, ‘It can hardly be
necessary for a man of your reputation, but if you should care for a letter of introduction to van Buren, nothing could be easier.’
‘That would be very kind. Yet on reflection perhaps I ought to present myself at his door. If it were known that I had been introduced by the Governor of Java, my character as a wholly unofficial naturalist travelling with his friend Aubrey might suffer. On the other hand – I may assume that you know the conditions of my attachment to Mr Fox’s mission?’
‘Yes,
sir.’
‘On the other hand, then, I should be most grateful if you would recommend me to a considerable merchant here, capable of dealing with bills of exchange, who has dealings with a colleague in Pulo Prabang.’
‘You would not object to a Chinese?’ asked Raffles, having considered for a moment. ‘They carry out almost all the banking business, bill discounting and so on in these regions.’
‘Never in life. It was a Parsee or a Chinese I had in mind:
I have always heard excellent accounts of their probity.’
‘The better sort can put John Company to shame. Here in Batavia we have Shao Yen, who has interests out as far as the
Moluccas and up to Penang. He is under some obligation to me. I will find out whether he has a correspondent in Pulo Prabang.’
‘I may have occasion to disburse considerable sums, and it might be more convenient to draw them locally than to carry them about. But my chief reason is that I wish to appear in Pulo Prabang as a man of substance from the outset, not as a mere moneyed adventurer. If I go to Shao Yen with your recommendation he will treat me with respect; this respect will be conveyed to his correspondent; and an intelligent banker or merchant is often capable of giving valuable information. Yet obviously he is not going to do so for a stranger unless that stranger is uncommonly well vouched for; and although I can display quantities of gold and letters of credit, they would not serve as well as a word from you.’
‘You flatter me; but I cannot pretend you are mistaken. I shall ask him to call tomorrow morning. What else can I do to be of assistance?’
‘Could your people give me a list of the members of the French mission?’
‘I am afraid not, apart from Duplessis and the infamous couple, whose names you know already. Their frigate only arrived a few days ago. It has already been removed from Prabang harbour, because the sailors made such a nuisance of themselves ashore. But Duplessis will not have audience of the Sultan until after the change of the moon. He is hunting with his cousin of Kawang, in the hope of a two-horned rhinoceros.’
‘So much the better. Would it perhaps be possible to have a very brief sketch of the Sultan and his chief advisers?’
‘Certainly. As for the Sultan, of course, Fox knows everything about him – his Javanese ancestors, his wives, mothers-in-law, concubines, minions – but the office may turn up something new about his council. How those dear gibbons hoot and howl, upon my word. Did you hear the bell?’
‘I believe I did.’
‘Then perhaps we should go in. My wife thought of beginning with a dish that might amuse you, bird’s-nest soup; and
she maintains that soup must be ate hot. But before we go, see if you can make out the big gibbon to the left of the casuarina tree, even though the light is so poor. He is a siamang. Ho, Frederick!’ The gibbon answered with a melodious hoo-hoohoo, and the Governor hurried in.
‘Pray, Captain Aubrey, tell us about your voyage,’ he said, his soup-spoon poised half way.
‘Well, sir,’ said Jack, ‘it was as uneventful as a voyage could well be until we were off an island in the Tristan group, and then it was on the point of becoming very, very much more eventful than we wished. There was a prodigious swell setting from the west, and as we lay there off Inaccessible, for that is the island’s name, the breeze died away to a clock-calm: we were rolling so as to spew our oakum, and although we had sent up preventer-stays and swifted the shrouds – but I am afraid, sir, I use too many sea-terms.’
‘Not at all, not at all. I believe, Captain, that I was at sea well before you.’
‘Indeed, sir? Forgive me: I had no idea.’
‘Yes. I was born aboard my father’s ship, a West-Indiaman, off Jamaica, ha, ha.’
The rest of the evening was passed with voyages, passages to India and beyond, some extraordinarily fast, some extraordinarily slow, and with an account of Jack’s friend Duval carrying the news of the battle of the Nile to Bombay by way of the desert and the Euphrates.
Shao Yen was a tall thin man in a plain grey robe, more like an austere monk than a merchant; but he grasped the situation at once. They spoke in English, he having had much to do with the East India Company’s people in Canton in his youth and having lived in Macao during the two recent English occupations as well as in Penang. Raffles left them together after a few general remarks of a friendly nature and when the proper civilities were over Stephen said, ‘When I go to Pulo Prabang it may be necessary for me to purchase the good-will of certain influential men. For this purpose I have a fair amount of gold. It appears to me that the best way of proceeding would be to deposit it with you and, subject of course to the usual commissions and charges, to carry a letter of credit to your correspondent in Pub Prabang and to draw on him.’
Shao Yen replied, ‘Certainly. But when you say a fair amount have you any approximate sum in mind?’
‘It is made up of different currencies: it would weigh about three hundredweight.’
‘Then may I observe that if either or both of my correspondents – for I have two –
were to scrape the island bare they could not produce a tenth part of the amount you speak of. It is a very poor island. But in my opinion that tenth part, tactfully presented, would buy all the good-will that is to be had.’
‘In this case there is likely to be some competition.’
‘Yes,’ said Shao Yen. He looked down for a few moments and then said, ‘It might answer very well if I were to give you a letter of credit for what I believe my correspondent can produce and then notes of hand for various sums: my paper is good from Penang to Macao.’
‘That would answer admirably: thank you. And may I beg you to impress upon your correspondent that I should wish any large transaction to be entirely confidential? Ordinary money-changing may as well be public as not, but I should be sorry if it were thought I could be squeezed for thousands.’
Shao Yen bowed, smiled, and said, ‘I have two correspondents, both from Shantung and both discreet; but Lin Liang has the smaller house; he is less conspicuous, and perhaps I should direct your letter of credit to him.’
Having drunk tea with Shao Yen and eaten little cakes from a multitude of trays, Stephen looked for Jack Aubrey, but found to his disappointment that he had already set off for Anjer to bring the Diane up to Batavia, so that not a moment should be lost.