ARTEFACT
THE BLIND SEER OF AMBON
T
he German botanist Georg Eberhard Rumphius devoted his life to the sober study of the natural history of Indonesia, but his personal story was nothing short of a sensational drama, punctuated by ill fortune, wild adventure and heartbreaking tragedy. Born and raised in Hanau, near Frankfurt am Main, Rumphius received a classical education and learned German and Dutch. Seeking to experience the wider world – and escape a Germany torn apart by the devastating Thirty Years' War−hesignedupwitheDutch West India Company and in 1646 boarded the ominous sounding The Black Raven, headed for Brazil. The vessel was promptly shipwrecked, and Rumphius was captured by the Portuguese, who held him as a prisoner for three years. In 1652 he joined the Dutch East India Company military as midshipman and arrived in Batavia (Jakarta) in July 1653, from where he was posted to the Ambon archipelago (part of the Moluccas) in the
‘The vessel carrying the manuscript was attacked and sunk by a French privateer’ 12 THE GARDENS SPRING 2022
east of Indonesia, as an engineer and junior fficer. ftertransferringto he Company’s civilian branch, he rose rapidly through the ranks and by 1666 was ‘secunde’, directly answering to the governor-general in Batavia. Rumphius married a local woman, Suzanna, and became fascinated with the natural history of these famed Spice Islands, developing such knowledge of Amboina (Ambon) that the governor-general, a patron of the
Durian
sciences,waivedRumphius'official duties to enable him to concentrate on his studies. Despite the distance, Rumphius sent to Holland for botanical reference works and communicated with many European scientists and noble patrons such as the Medici in Tuscany. He also embarked on his magnum opus, the Het Amboinsche kruidboek or Herbarium Amboinense, a catalogue of the plants of Amboina, and over a 30-year period compiled six volumes on the island’s natural history. Considering the challenges Herbarium Amboinense had to overcome, it is a wonder that this remarkable work was ever published. For a start, Rumphius lost his sight in 1670 to glaucoma. The unflappablenaturalistcontiuedhiswork with the aid of his wife, who would consult with the women of Amboina and acquire from them ethnobotanical information they would not convey to a man. Then in 1674 Suzanna and one of his daughters were killed by a wall collapse during an earthquake and tsunami. Rumphius pushed on, and 13 years later, with the ill-fated publication almost complete,agreatfiredestoyed r his library, numerous manuscripts, original illustrations for the Herbarium, and many priceless reference works. Finally, in 1690 Rumphius sent his completed manuscripts to Holland for publication, only for the vessel carrying it to be attacked and sunk by a French privateer.
Photos: © Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust
AMONG THE DANIEL SOLANDER LIBRARY’S MANY RARE BOOKS IS A SIX-VOLUME WORK WITH A BACKSTORY THAT ALMOST DEFIES BELIEF. MIGUEL GARCIA REPORTS.
