GEORGIUS EVERHARDUS RUMPHIUS – the Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet

Not as important as the Herbarium, but a lot more interesting to the general reader, d'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer[1] needs special mention. The book describes assorted crustaceans and shells together with some minerals and rocks, and consists of 340 folio pages, with 60 plates and 5 vignettes. It is, however, not only a description of the region's marine botany as it also catalogues local names, lores and behaviour, as well as political commentary and personal anecdotes. He, for example, tried to eat virtually every creature he came across that seemed the slightest bit edible. It is still of great interest due to the accuracy of his observations.  

Fortunately a new edition, masterfully translated and extensively annotated by Prof. E. M. Beekman, has been published: The Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet by Georgius Everhardus Rumphius and Professor E. M. Beekman (Apr 10, 1999). The new edition is widely available and it is interesting to note that a 1990 scientific survey of Ambon praised Rumphius for his "great accuracy and reliability".

The historical records regarding the manuscript and its publishing are a tad unclear as to who produced the illustrations. The Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië states that Rumphius sent the completed manuscript on 1 September 1699 to his friend H. d'Acquet, the Mayor of Delft and an enthusiastic collector of curios, and that it was published in 1705 in Amsterdam. By choosing that particular title Rumphius showed a talent for marketing as he tried to zero in on the then—17^th and 18^th century—craze of the Dutch for fitting out curiosity cabinets.

On several websites of antiquarian booksellers it is, however, mentioned that all illustrations were lost in the Great Fire of Ambon in1687, or stolen. And apparently for a German edition (1766) of d'Amboinische Raritäten-Kammer oder Abhandlung, a new set of illustrations was made by Maria Sibylla Merian, using shells from notable Dutch collections of the period. (http://www.panteek.com/MerianShells/pages/29.htm)

 

Finally I am pleased to advise readers who are interested in marine biology and keen, or aspiring scuba divers, that they can mount their own scientific survey of the Ambonese sea life. With the book in hand board a flight to Ambon, and from Pattimura airport a short ride will take you to Maluku Divers Resort for a spectacular diving holiday. The diving resort offers unique muck and critter diving facilities in the fairly shallow waters of the slopes of Ambon bay. (www.divingmaluku.com)

Divers who visit the expanse of the muck sites in the Laha region, have often been astonished by the sheer number of species that a day of muck diving in Ambon can produce. Critters rare and unique choose to make a home in the rubble and black sand sites that make up the “Twilight Zone” on the slopes of Ambon’s expansive bay. Muck diving in the region has become legendary, and developed Ambon as a must visit destination in Indonesian diving.

Diving in Ambon includes regular sightings of resident marine life such as rhinopias, many assorted frogfish, mandarin fish, ghost pipefish, harlequin shrimp, flamboyant cuttlefish, blue ring and hairy octopus, thorny and pygmy seahorse, stonefish, inimicus, to name but a few, along with literally hundreds of different species of nudibranch. As the Maluku Divers Resort is the only dedicated dive resort within Ambon Bay, it is “Critters Without Crowds” when diving in Ambon.

In a following post I will dwell on the activities of F. Valentijn who published many of Rumphius' work under his own name.

Reference:  Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië, Martinus Nijhoff, 1919

---

[1] Behelzende eene Beschryvinge van Allerhande zoo Weeke als Harde Schaalvisschen, te Weeten Raare Krabben, Kreeften, en Diergelyke Zeedieren, als mede Allerhande Hoorntjes en Schulpen, die men in d'Amboinsche Zee Vindt