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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Malay Archipelago, Volume I. (of II.), by 
+Alfred Russell Wallace
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Malay Archipelago, Volume I. (of II.)
+
+Author: Alfred Russell Wallace
+
+Release Date: February, 2001
+Last Updated: July 19, 2011 [EBook #2530]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Martin Adamson, David Widger and Colin Choat
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO, VOLUME I. (of II.)
+
+By Alfred Russel Wallace
+
+
+
+
+     The land of the orang-utan, and the bird of paradise.
+
+     A narrative of travel, with sketches of man and nature.
+
+
+
+
+     To CHARLES DARWIN,
+
+     AUTHOR OF "THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES,"
+
+     I dedicate this book,
+     Not only as a token of personal esteem and friendship
+     But also
+     To express my deep admiration
+     For
+     His genius and his works.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+PREFACE.
+
+THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.
+
+   CHAPTER I.     PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
+   CHAPTER II.    SINGAPORE.
+   CHAPTER III.   MALACCA AND MOUNT OPHIR.
+   CHAPTER IV.    BORNEO--THE ORANGUTAN.
+   CHAPTER V.     BORNEO--JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.
+   CHAPTER VI.    BORNEO--THE DYAKS.
+   CHAPTER VII.   JAVA.
+   CHAPTER VIII.  SUMATRA.
+   CHAPTER IX.    NATURAL HISTORY OF THE INDO-MALAY ISLANDS.
+   CHAPTER X.     BALI AND LOMBOCK.
+   CHAPTER XI.    LOMBOCK: MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE.
+   CHAPTER XII.   LOMBOCK: HOW THE RAJAH TOOK THE CENSUS.
+   CHAPTER XIII.  TIMOR.
+   CHAPTER XIV.   THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE TIMOR GROUP.
+   CHAPTER XV.    CELEBES.
+   CHAPTER XVI.   CELEBES.
+   CHAPTER XVII.  CELEBES.
+   CHAPTER XVIII. NATURAL HISTORY OF CELEBES.
+   CHAPTER XIX.   BANDA.
+   CHAPTER XX.    AMBOYNA.
+
+     
+PREFACE.
+
+My readers will naturally ask why I have delayed writing this book
+for six years after my return; and I feel bound to give them full
+satisfaction on this point.
+
+When I reached England in the spring of 1862, I found myself surrounded
+by a room full of packing cases containing the collections that I had,
+from time to time, sent home for my private use. These comprised nearly
+three thousand bird-skins of about one thousand species, at least twenty
+thousand beetles and butterflies of about seven thousand species, and
+some quadrupeds and land shells besides. A large proportion of these
+I had not seen for years, and in my then weakened state of health, the
+unpacking, sorting, and arranging of such a mass of specimens occupied a
+long time.
+
+I very soon decided that until I had done something towards naming and
+describing the most important groups in my collection, and had worked
+out some of the more interesting problems of variation and geographical
+distribution (of which I had had glimpses while collecting them), I
+would not attempt to publish my travels. Indeed, I could have printed
+my notes and journals at once, leaving all reference to questions of
+natural history for a future work; but, I felt that this would be as
+unsatisfactory to myself as it would be disappointing to my friends, and
+uninstructive to the public.
+
+Since my return, up to this date, I have published eighteen papers
+in the "Transactions" or "Proceedings of the Linnean Zoological and
+Entomological Societies", describing or cataloguing portions of my
+collections, along with twelve others in various scientific periodicals
+on more general subjects connected with them.
+
+Nearly two thousand of my Coleoptera, and many hundreds of my
+butterflies, have been already described by various eminent naturalists,
+British and foreign; but a much larger number remains undescribed. Among
+those to whom science is most indebted for this laborious work, I must
+name Mr. F. P. Pascoe, late President of the Entomological Society of
+London, who had almost completed the classification and description
+of my large collection of Longicorn beetles (now in his possession),
+comprising more than a thousand species, of which at least nine hundred
+were previously undescribed and new to European cabinets.
+
+The remaining orders of insects, comprising probably more than two
+thousand species, are in the collection of Mr. William Wilson Saunders,
+who has caused the larger portion of them to be described by good
+entomologists. The Hymenoptera alone amounted to more than nine hundred
+species, among which were two hundred and eighty different kinds of
+ants, of which two hundred were new.
+
+The six years' delay in publishing my travels thus enables me to give
+what I hope may be an interesting and instructive sketch of the main
+results yet arrived at by the study of my collections; and as the
+countries I have to describe are not much visited or written about, and
+their social and physical conditions are not liable to rapid change, I
+believe and hope that my readers will gain much more than they will
+lose by not having read my book six years ago, and by this time perhaps
+forgotten all about it.
+
+I must now say a few words on the plan of my work.
+
+My journeys to the various islands were regulated by the seasons and
+the means of conveyance. I visited some islands two or three times at
+distant intervals, and in some cases had to make the same voyage four
+times over. A chronological arrangement would have puzzled my readers.
+They would never have known where they were, and my frequent references
+to the groups of islands, classed in accordance with the peculiarities
+of their animal productions and of their human inhabitants, would have
+been hardly intelligible. I have adopted, therefore, a geographical,
+zoological, and ethnological arrangement, passing from island to island
+in what seems the most natural succession, while I transgress the order
+in which I myself visited them, as little as possible.
+
+I divide the Archipelago into five groups of islands, as follows:
+
+I. THE INDO-MALAY ISLANDS: comprising the Malay Peninsula and Singapore,
+Borneo, Java, and Sumatra.
+
+II. THE TIMOR GROUP: comprising the islands of Timor, Flores, Sumbawa,
+and Lombock, with several smaller ones.
+
+III. CELEBES: comprising also the Sula Islands and Bouton.
+
+IV. THE MOLUCCAN GROUP: comprising Bouru, Ceram, Batchian, Gilolo,
+and Morty; with the smaller islands of Ternate, Tidore, Makian, Kaióa,
+Amboyna, Banda, Goram, and Matabello.
+
+V. THE PAPUAN GROUP: comprising the great island of New Guinea, with
+the Aru Islands, Mysol, Salwatty, Waigiou, and several others. The Ke
+Islands are described with this group on account of their ethnology,
+though zoologically and geographically they belong to the Moluccas.
+
+The chapters relating to the separate islands of each of these groups
+are followed by one on the Natural History of that group; and the work
+may thus be divided into five parts, each treating one of the natural
+divisions of the Archipelago.
+
+The first chapter is an introductory one, on the Physical Geography of
+the whole region; and the last is a general sketch of the races of man
+in the Archipelago and the surrounding countries. With this explanation,
+and a reference to the maps which illustrate the work, I trust that my
+readers will always know where they are, and in what direction they are
+going.
+
+I am well aware that my book is far too small for the extent of the
+subjects it touches upon. It is a mere sketch; but so far as it goes,
+I have endeavoured to make it an accurate one. Almost the whole of the
+narrative and descriptive portions were written on the spot, and
+have had little more than verbal alterations. The chapters on Natural
+History, as well as many passages in other parts of the work, have been
+written in the hope of exciting an interest in the various questions
+connected with the origin of species and their geographical
+distribution. In some cases I have been able to explain my views in
+detail; while in others, owing to the greater complexity of the subject,
+I have thought it better to confine myself to a statement of the more
+interesting facts of the problem, whose solution is to be found in the
+principles developed by Mr. Darwin in his various works. The numerous
+illustrations will, it is believed, add much to the interest and value
+of the book. They have been made from my own sketches, from photographs,
+or from specimens--and such, only subjects that would really illustrate
+the narrative or the descriptions, have been chosen.
+
+I have to thank Messrs. Walter and Henry Woodbury, whose acquaintance
+I had the pleasure of making in Java, for a number of photographs of
+scenery and of natives, which have been of the greatest assistance to
+me. Mr. William Wilson Saunders has kindly allowed me to figure the
+curious horned flies; and to Mr. Pascoe I am indebted for a loan of
+two of the very rare Longicorns which appear in the plate of Bornean
+beetles. All the other specimens figured are in my own collection.
+
+As the main object of all my journeys was to obtain specimens of natural
+history, both for my private collection and to supply duplicates to
+museums and amateurs, I will give a general statement of the number of
+specimens I collected, and which reached home in good condition. I must
+premise that I generally employed one or two, and sometimes three Malay
+servants to assist me; and for nearly half the time had the services of
+an English lad, Charles Allen. I was just eight years away from England,
+but as I travelled about fourteen thousand miles within the Archipelago,
+and made sixty or seventy separate journeys, each involving some
+preparation and loss of time, I do not think that more than six years
+were really occupied in collecting.
+
+I find that my Eastern collections amounted to:
+
+
+     310 specimens of Mammalia.
+     100 specimens of Reptiles.
+     8,050 specimens of Birds.
+     7,500 specimens of Shells.
+     13,100 specimens of Lepidoptera.
+     83,200 specimens of Coleoptera.
+     13,400 specimens of other Insects.
+
+     125,660 specimens of natural history in all.
+
+It now only remains for me to thank all those friends to whom I am
+indebted for assistance or information. My thanks are more especially
+due to the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, through whose
+valuable recommendations I obtained important aid from our own
+Government and from that of Holland; and to Mr. William Wilson Saunders,
+whose kind and liberal encouragement in the early portion of my journey
+was of great service to me. I am also greatly indebted to Mr. Samuel
+Stevens (who acted as my agent), both for the care he took of my
+collections, and for the untiring assiduity with which he kept me
+supplied, both with useful information and with whatever necessaries I
+required.
+
+I trust that these, and all other friends who have been in any way
+interested in my travels and collections, may derive from the perusal of
+my book, some faint reflexion of the pleasures I myself enjoyed amid the
+scenes and objects it describes.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
+
+From a look at a globe or a map of the Eastern hemisphere, we shall
+perceive between Asia and Australia a number of large and small islands
+forming a connected group distinct from those great masses of land, and
+having little connection with either of them. Situated upon the Equator,
+and bathed by the tepid water of the great tropical oceans, this region
+enjoys a climate more uniformly hot and moist than almost any other part
+of the globe, and teems with natural productions which are elsewhere
+unknown. The richest of fruits and the most precious of spices are
+Indigenous here. It produces the giant flowers of the Rafflesia, the
+great green-winged Ornithoptera (princes among the butterfly tribes),
+the man-like Orangutan, and the gorgeous Birds of Paradise. It is
+inhabited by a peculiar and interesting race of mankind--the Malay,
+found nowhere beyond the limits of this insular tract, which has hence
+been named the Malay Archipelago.
+
+To the ordinary Englishman this is perhaps the least known part of the
+globe. Our possessions in it are few and scanty; scarcely any of our
+travellers go to explore it; and in many collections of maps it is
+almost ignored, being divided between Asia and the Pacific Islands. It
+thus happens that few persons realize that, as a whole, it is comparable
+with the primary divisions of the globe, and that some of its separate
+islands are larger than France or the Austrian Empire. The traveller,
+however, soon acquires different ideas. He sails for days or even weeks
+along the shores of one of these great islands, often so great that its
+inhabitants believe it to be a vast continent. He finds that voyages
+among these islands are commonly reckoned by weeks and months, and that
+their several inhabitants are often as little known to each other as are
+the native races of the northern to those of the southern continent of
+America. He soon comes to look upon this region as one apart from the
+rest of the world, with its own races of men and its own aspects of
+nature; with its own ideas, feelings, customs, and modes of speech, and
+with a climate, vegetation, and animated life altogether peculiar to
+itself.
+
+From many points of view these islands form one compact geographical
+whole, and as such they have always been treated by travellers and men
+of science; but, a more careful and detailed study of them under various
+aspects reveals the unexpected fact that they are divisible into two
+portions nearly equal in extent which differ widely in their natural
+products, and really form two parts of the primary divisions of the
+earth. I have been able to prove this in considerable detail by
+my observations on the natural history of the various parts of the
+Archipelago; and, as in the description of my travels and residence in
+the several islands I shall have to refer continually to this view, and
+adduce facts in support of it, I have thought it advisable to commence
+with a general sketch of the main features of the Malayan region as will
+render the facts hereafter brought forward more interesting, and their
+bearing upon the general question more easily understood. I proceed,
+therefore, to sketch the limits and extent of the Archipelago, and to
+point out the more striking features of its geology, physical geography,
+vegetation, and animal life.
+
+Definition and Boundaries.--For reasons which depend mainly on the
+distribution of animal life, I consider the Malay Archipelago to include
+the Malay Peninsula as far as Tenasserim and the Nicobar Islands on the
+west, the Philippines on the north, and the Solomon Islands, beyond New
+Guinea, on the east. All the great islands included within these limits
+are connected together by innumerable smaller ones, so that no one
+of them seems to be distinctly separated from the rest. With but few
+exceptions all enjoy an uniform and very similar climate, and are
+covered with a luxuriant forest vegetation. Whether we study their form
+and distribution on maps, or actually travel from island to island, our
+first impression will be that they form a connected whole, all the parts
+of which are intimately related to each other.
+
+Extent of the Archipelago and Islands.--The Malay Archipelago extends
+for more than 4,000 miles in length from east to west, and is about
+1,300 in breadth from north to south. It would stretch over an expanse
+equal to that of all Europe from the extreme west far into Central Asia,
+or would cover the widest parts of South America, and extend far beyond
+the land into the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It includes three islands
+larger than Great Britain; and in one of them, Borneo, the whole of the
+British Isles might be set down, and would be surrounded by a sea of
+forests. New Guinea, though less compact in shape, is probably larger
+than Borneo. Sumatra is about equal in extent to Great Britain; Java,
+Luzon, and Celebes are each about the size of Ireland. Eighteen more
+islands are, on the average, as large as Jamaica; more than a hundred
+are as large as the Isle of Wight; while the isles and islets of smaller
+size are innumerable.
+
+The absolute extent of land in the Archipelago is not greater than that
+contained by Western Europe from Hungary to Spain; but, owing to the
+manner in which the land is broken up and divided, the variety of its
+productions is rather in proportion to the immense surface over which
+the islands are spread, than to the quantity of land which they contain.
+
+Geological Contrasts.--One of the chief volcanic belts upon the globe
+passes through the Archipelago, and produces a striking contrast in the
+scenery of the volcanic and non-volcanic islands. A curving line, marked
+out by scores of active, and hundreds of extinct, volcanoes may be
+traced through the whole length of Sumatra and Java, and thence by the
+islands of Bali, Lombock, Sumbawa, Flores, the Serwatty Islands, Banda,
+Amboyna, Batchian, Makian, Tidore, Ternate, and Gilolo, to Morty Island.
+Here there is a slight but well-marked break, or shift, of about 200
+miles to the westward, where the volcanic belt begins again in North
+Celebes, and passes by Siau and Sanguir to the Philippine Islands along
+the eastern side of which it continues, in a curving line, to their
+northern extremity. From the extreme eastern bend of this belt at Banda,
+we pass onwards for 1,000 miles over a non-volcanic district to the
+volcanoes observed by Dampier, in 1699, on the north-eastern coast
+of New Guinea, and can there trace another volcanic belt through New
+Britain, New Ireland, and the Solomon Islands, to the eastern limits of
+the Archipelago.
+
+In the whole region occupied by this vast line of volcanoes, and for a
+considerable breadth on each side of it, earthquakes are of continual
+recurrence, slight shocks being felt at intervals of every few weeks or
+months, while more severe ones, shaking down whole villages, and doing
+more or less injury to life and property, are sure to happen, in one
+part or another of this district, almost every year. On many of the
+islands the years of the great earthquakes form the chronological
+epochs of the native inhabitants, by the aid of which the ages of their
+children are remembered, and the dates of many important events are
+determined.
+
+I can only briefly allude to the many fearful eruptions that have taken
+place in this region. In the amount of injury to life and property, and
+in the magnitude of their effects, they have not been surpassed by
+any upon record. Forty villages were destroyed by the eruption of
+Papandayang in Java, in 1772, when the whole mountain was blown up by
+repeated explosions, and a large lake left in its place. By the great
+eruption of Tomboro in Sumbawa, in 1815, 12,000 people were destroyed,
+and the ashes darkened the air and fell thickly upon the earth and sea
+for 300 miles around. Even quite recently, since I left the country, a
+mountain which had been quiescent for more than 200 years suddenly burst
+into activity. The island of Makian, one of the Moluccas, was rent
+open in 1646 by a violent eruption which left a huge chasm on one side,
+extending into the heart of the mountain. It was, when I last visited
+it in 1860, clothed with vegetation to the summit, and contained twelve
+populous Malay villages. On the 29th of December, 1862, after 215 years
+of perfect inaction, it again suddenly burst forth, blowing up and
+completely altering the appearance of the mountain, destroying the
+greater part of the inhabitants, and sending forth such volumes of ashes
+as to darken the air at Ternate, forty miles off, and to almost entirely
+destroy the growing crops on that and the surrounding islands.
+
+The island of Java contains more volcanoes, active and extinct, than
+any other known district of equal extent. They are about forty-five in
+number, and many of them exhibit most beautiful examples of the volcanic
+cone on a large scale, single or double, with entire or truncated
+summits, and averaging 10,000 feet high.
+
+It is now well ascertained that almost all volcanoes have been slowly
+built up by the accumulation of matter--mud, ashes, and lava--ejected
+by themselves. The openings or craters, however, frequently shift their
+position, so that a country may be covered with a more or less irregular
+series of hills in chains and masses, only here and there rising into
+lofty cones, and yet the whole may be produced by true volcanic action.
+In this manner the greater part of Java has been formed. There has been
+some elevation, especially on the south coast, where extensive cliffs
+of coral limestone are found; and there may be a substratum of older
+stratified rocks; but still essentially Java is volcanic, and that noble
+and fertile island--the very garden of the East, and perhaps upon the
+whole the richest, the best cultivated, and the best governed tropical
+island in the world--owes its very existence to the same intense
+volcanic activity which still occasionally devastates its surface.
+
+The great island of Sumatra exhibits, in proportion to its extent, a
+much smaller number of volcanoes, and a considerable portion of it has
+probably a non-volcanic origin.
+
+To the eastward, the long string of islands from Java, passing by the
+north of Timor and away to Banda, are probably all due to volcanic
+action. Timor itself consists of ancient stratified rocks, but is said
+to have one volcano near its centre.
+
+Going northward, Amboyna, a part of Bouru, and the west end of Ceram,
+the north part of Gilolo, and all the small islands around it, the
+northern extremity of Celebes, and the islands of Siau and Sanguir, are
+wholly volcanic. The Philippine Archipelago contains many active
+and extinct volcanoes, and has probably been reduced to its present
+fragmentary condition by subsidences attending on volcanic action.
+
+All along this great line of volcanoes are to be found more or less
+palpable signs of upheaval and depression of land. The range of islands
+south of Sumatra, a part of the south coast of Java and of the islands
+east of it, the west and east end of Timor, portions of all the
+Moluccas, the Ke and Aru Islands, Waigiou, and the whole south and east
+of Gilolo, consist in a great measure of upraised coral-rock, exactly
+corresponding to that now forming in the adjacent seas. In many places
+I have observed the unaltered surfaces of the elevated reefs, with great
+masses of coral standing up in their natural position, and hundreds of
+shells so fresh-looking that it was hard to believe that they had
+been more than a few years out of the water; and, in fact, it is very
+probable that such changes have occurred within a few centuries.
+
+The united lengths of these volcanic belts is about ninety degrees,
+or one-fourth of the entire circumference of the globe. Their width is
+about fifty miles; but, for a space of two hundred miles on each side
+of them, evidences of subterranean action are to be found in recently
+elevated coral-rock, or in barrier coral-reefs, indicating recent
+submergence. In the very centre or focus of the great curve of volcanoes
+is placed the large island of Borneo, in which no sign of recent
+volcanic action has yet been observed, and where earthquakes, so
+characteristic of the surrounding regions, are entirely unknown. The
+equally large island of New Guinea occupies another quiescent area,
+on which no sign of volcanic action has yet been discovered. With the
+exception of the eastern end of its northern peninsula, the large and
+curiously-shaped island of Celebes is also entirely free from volcanoes;
+and there is some reason to believe that the volcanic portion has once
+formed a separate island. The Malay Peninsula is also non-volcanic.
+
+The first and most obvious division of the Archipelago would therefore
+be into quiescent and volcanic regions, and it might, perhaps, be
+expected that such a division would correspond to some differences in
+the character of the vegetation and the forms of life. This is the case,
+however, to a very limited extent; and we shall presently see that,
+although this development of subterranean fires is on so vast a
+scale--has piled up chains of mountains ten or twelve thousand feet
+high--has broken up continents and raised up islands from the ocean--yet
+it has all the character of a recent action which has not yet succeeded
+in obliterating the traces of a more ancient distribution of land and
+water.
+
+Contrasts of Vegetation.--Placed immediately upon the Equator and
+surrounded by extensive oceans, it is not surprising that the various
+islands of the Archipelago should be almost always clothed with a forest
+vegetation from the level of the sea to the summits of the loftiest
+mountains. This is the general rule. Sumatra, New Guinea, Borneo, the
+Philippines and the Moluccas, and the uncultivated parts of Java and
+Celebes, are all forest countries, except a few small and unimportant
+tracts, due perhaps, in some cases, to ancient cultivation or accidental
+fires. To this, however, there is one important exception in the island
+of Timor and all the smaller islands around it, in which there is
+absolutely no forest such as exists in the other islands, and this
+character extends in a lesser degree to Flores, Sumbawa, Lombock, and
+Bali.
+
+In Timor the most common trees are Eucalypti of several species, also
+characteristic of Australia, with sandalwood, acacia, and other sorts
+in less abundance. These are scattered over the country more or less
+thickly, but, never so as to deserve the name of a forest. Coarse
+and scanty grasses grow beneath them on the more barren hills, and a
+luxuriant herbage in the moister localities. In the islands between
+Timor and Java there is often a more thickly wooded country abounding
+in thorny and prickly trees. These seldom reach any great height, and
+during the force of the dry season they almost completely lose
+their leaves, allowing the ground beneath them to be parched up, and
+contrasting strongly with the damp, gloomy, ever-verdant forests of the
+other islands. This peculiar character, which extends in a less degree
+to the southern peninsula of Celebes and the east end of Java, is most
+probably owing to the proximity of Australia. The south-east monsoon,
+which lasts for about two-thirds of the year (from March to November),
+blowing over the northern parts of that country, produces a degree of
+heat and dryness which assimilates the vegetation and physical aspect of
+the adjacent islands to its own. A little further eastward in Timor and
+the Ke Islands, a moister climate prevails; the southeast winds blowing
+from the Pacific through Torres Straits and over the damp forests of New
+Guinea, and as a consequence, every rocky islet is clothed with verdure
+to its very summit. Further west again, as the same dry winds blow
+over a wider and wider extent of ocean, they have time to absorb fresh
+moisture, and we accordingly find the island of Java possessing a less
+and less arid climate, until in the extreme west near Batavia, rain
+occurs more or less all the year round, and the mountains are everywhere
+clothed with forests of unexampled luxuriance.
+
+Contrasts in Depth of Sea.--It was first pointed out by Mr. George
+Windsor Earl, in a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society
+in 1845, and subsequently in a pamphlet "On the Physical Geography
+of South-Eastern Asia and Australia", dated 1855, that a shallow sea
+connected the great islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo with the
+Asiatic continent, with which their natural productions generally
+agreed; while a similar shallow sea connected New Guinea and some of the
+adjacent islands to Australia, all being characterised by the presence
+of marsupials.
+
+We have here a clue to the most radical contrast in the Archipelago, and
+by following it out in detail I have arrived at the conclusion that
+we can draw a line among the islands, which shall so divide them that
+one-half shall truly belong to Asia, while the other shall no less
+certainly be allied to Australia. I term these respectively the
+Indo-Malayan and the Austro-Malayan divisions of the Archipelago.
+
+On referring to pages 12, 13, and 36 of Mr. Earl's pamphlet, it will be
+seen that he maintains the former connection of Asia and Australia as
+an important part of his view; whereas, I dwell mainly on their
+long continued separation. Notwithstanding this and other important
+differences between us, to him undoubtedly belongs the merit of first
+indicating the division of the Archipelago into an Australian and an
+Asiatic region, which it has been my good fortune to establish by more
+detailed observations.
+
+Contrasts in Natural Productions.--To understand the importance of this
+class of facts, and its bearing upon the former distribution of land and
+sea, it is necessary to consider the results arrived at by geologists
+and naturalists in other parts of the world.
+
+It is now generally admitted that the present distribution of living
+things on the surface of the earth is mainly the result of the last
+series of changes that it has undergone. Geology teaches us that
+the surface of the land, and the distribution of land and water, is
+everywhere slowly changing. It further teaches us that the forms of life
+which inhabit that surface have, during every period of which we possess
+any record, been also slowly changing.
+
+It is not now necessary to say anything about how either of those
+changes took place; as to that, opinions may differ; but as to the fact
+that the changes themselves have occurred, from the earliest geological
+ages down to the present day, and are still going on, there is no
+difference of opinion. Every successive stratum of sedimentary rock,
+sand, or gravel, is a proof that changes of level have taken place; and
+the different species of animals and plants, whose remains are found
+in these deposits, prove that corresponding changes did occur in the
+organic world.
+
+Taking, therefore, these two series of changes for granted, most of the
+present peculiarities and anomalies in the distribution of species may
+be directly traced to them. In our own islands, with a very few trifling
+exceptions, every quadruped, bird, reptile, insect, and plant, is found
+also on the adjacent continent. In the small islands of Sardinia and
+Corsica, there are some quadrupeds and insects, and many plants, quite
+peculiar. In Ceylon, more closely connected to India than Britain is to
+Europe, many animals and plants are different from those found in India,
+and peculiar to the island. In the Galapagos Islands, almost every
+indigenous living thing is peculiar to them, though closely resembling
+other kinds found in the nearest parts of the American continent.
+
+Most naturalists now admit that these facts can only be explained by
+the greater or less lapse of time since the islands were upraised from
+beneath the ocean, or were separated from the nearest land; and this
+will be generally (though not always) indicated by the depth of the
+intervening sea. The enormous thickness of many marine deposits through
+wide areas shows that subsidence has often continued (with intermitting
+periods of repose) during epochs of immense duration. The depth of sea
+produced by such subsidence will therefore generally be a measure of
+time; and in like manner, the change which organic forms have undergone
+is a measure of time. When we make proper allowance for the continued
+introduction of new animals and plants from surrounding countries by
+those natural means of dispersal which have been so well explained by
+Sir Charles Lyell and Mr. Darwin, it is remarkable how closely these two
+measures correspond. Britain is separated from the continent by a very
+shallow sea, and only in a very few cases have our animals or plants
+begun to show a difference from the corresponding continental species.
+Corsica and Sardinia, divided from Italy by a much deeper sea, present
+a much greater difference in their organic forms. Cuba, separated from
+Yucatan by a wider and deeper strait, differs more markedly, so that
+most of its productions are of distinct and peculiar species; while
+Madagascar, divided from Africa by a deep channel three hundred miles
+wide, possesses so many peculiar features as to indicate separation at
+a very remote antiquity, or even to render it doubtful whether the two
+countries have ever been absolutely united.
+
+Returning now to the Malay Archipelago, we find that all the wide
+expanse of sea which divides Java, Sumatra, and Borneo from each other,
+and from Malacca and Siam, is so shallow that ships can anchor in any
+part of it, since it rarely exceeds forty fathoms in depth; and if we go
+as far as the line of a hundred fathoms, we shall include the Philippine
+Islands and Bali, east of Java. If, therefore, these islands have
+been separated from each other and the continent by subsidence of the
+intervening tracts of land, we should conclude that the separation
+has been comparatively recent, since the depth to which the land has
+subsided is so small. It is also to be remarked that the great chain
+of active volcanoes in Sumatra and Java furnishes us with a sufficient
+cause for such subsidence, since the enormous masses of matter they have
+thrown out would take away the foundations of the surrounding district;
+and this may be the true explanation of the often-noticed fact that
+volcanoes and volcanic chains are always near the sea. The subsidence
+they produce around them will, in time, make a sea, if one does not
+already exist.
+
+But, it is when we examine the zoology of these countries that we find
+what we most require--evidence of a very striking character that these
+great islands must have once formed a part of the continent, and could
+only have been separated at a very recent geological epoch. The elephant
+and tapir of Sumatra and Borneo, the rhinoceros of Sumatra and the
+allied species of Java, the wild cattle of Borneo and the kind long
+supposed to be peculiar to Java, are now all known to inhabit some part
+or other of Southern Asia. None of these large animals could possibly
+have passed over the arms of the sea which now separate these countries,
+and their presence plainly indicates that a land communication must have
+existed since the origin of the species. Among the smaller mammals, a
+considerable portion are common to each island and the continent; but
+the vast physical changes that must have occurred during the breaking up
+and subsidence of such extensive regions have led to the extinction of
+some in one or more of the islands, and in some cases there seems also
+to have been time for a change of species to have taken place. Birds
+and insects illustrate the same view, for every family and almost every
+genus of these groups found in any of the islands occurs also on the
+Asiatic continent, and in a great number of cases the species are
+exactly identical. Birds offer us one of the best means of determining
+the law of distribution; for though at first sight it would appear that
+the watery boundaries which keep out the land quadrupeds could be easily
+passed over by birds, yet practically it is not so; for if we leave out
+the aquatic tribes which are pre-eminently wanderers, it is found that
+the others (and especially the Passeres, or true perching-birds, which
+form the vast majority) are generally as strictly limited by straits and
+arms of the sea as are quadrupeds themselves. As an instance, among the
+islands of which I am now speaking, it is a remarkable fact that Java
+possesses numerous birds which never pass over to Sumatra, though they
+are separated by a strait only fifteen miles wide, and with islands in
+mid-channel. Java, in fact, possesses more birds and insects peculiar
+to itself than either Sumatra or Borneo, and this would indicate that it
+was earliest separated from the continent; next in organic individuality
+is Borneo, while Sumatra is so nearly identical in all its animal forms
+with the peninsula of Malacca, that we may safely conclude it to have
+been the most recently dismembered island.
+
+The general result therefore, at which we arrive, is that the great
+islands of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo resemble in their natural
+productions the adjacent parts of the continent, almost as much as such
+widely-separated districts could be expected to do even if they still
+formed a part of Asia; and this close resemblance, joined with the fact
+of the wide extent of sea which separates them being so uniformly and
+remarkably shallow, and lastly, the existence of the extensive range of
+volcanoes in Sumatra and Java, which have poured out vast quantities
+of subterranean matter and have built up extensive plateaux and lofty
+mountain ranges, thus furnishing a vera causa for a parallel line of
+subsidence--all lead irresistibly to the conclusion that at a very
+recent geological epoch, the continent of Asia extended far beyond its
+present limits in a south-easterly direction, including the islands of
+Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, and probably reaching as far as the present
+100-fathom line of soundings.
+
+The Philippine Islands agree in many respects with Asia and the other
+islands, but present some anomalies, which seem to indicate that they
+were separated at an earlier period, and have since been subject to many
+revolutions in their physical geography.
+
+Turning our attention now to the remaining portion of the Archipelago,
+we shall find that all the islands from Celebes and Lombock eastward
+exhibit almost as close a resemblance to Australia and New Guinea as
+the Western Islands do to Asia. It is well known that the natural
+productions of Australia differ from those of Asia more than those of
+any of the four ancient quarters of the world differ from each other.
+Australia, in fact, stands alone: it possesses no apes or monkeys, no
+cats or tigers, wolves, bears, or hyenas; no deer or antelopes, sheep or
+oxen; no elephant, horse, squirrel, or rabbit; none, in short, of those
+familiar types of quadruped which are met with in every other part
+of the world. Instead of these, it has Marsupials only: kangaroos and
+opossums; wombats and the duckbilled Platypus. In birds it is almost as
+peculiar. It has no woodpeckers and no pheasants--families which
+exist in every other part of the world; but instead of them it has the
+mound-making brush-turkeys, the honeysuckers, the cockatoos, and the
+brush-tongued lories, which are found nowhere else upon the globe. All
+these striking peculiarities are found also in those islands which form
+the Austro-Malayan division of the Archipelago.
+
+The great contrast between the two divisions of the Archipelago is
+nowhere so abruptly exhibited as on passing from the island of Bali to
+that of Lombock, where the two regions are in closest proximity. In Bali
+we have barbets, fruit-thrushes, and woodpeckers; on passing over to
+Lombock these are seen no more, but we have abundance of cockatoos,
+honeysuckers, and brush-turkeys, which are equally unknown in Bali, or
+any island further west. [I was informed, however, that there were a
+few cockatoos at one spot on the west of Bali, showing that the
+intermingling of the productions of these islands is now going on.] The
+strait is here fifteen miles wide, so that we may pass in two hours from
+one great division of the earth to another, differing as essentially in
+their animal life as Europe does from America. If we travel from Java
+or Borneo to Celebes or the Moluccas, the difference is still more
+striking. In the first, the forests abound in monkeys of many kinds,
+wild cats, deer, civets, and otters, and numerous varieties of squirrels
+are constantly met with. In the latter none of these occur; but the
+prehensile-tailed Cuscus is almost the only terrestrial mammal seen,
+except wild pigs, which are found in all the islands, and deer (which
+have probably been recently introduced) in Celebes and the Moluccas. The
+birds which are most abundant in the Western Islands are woodpeckers,
+barbets, trogons, fruit-thrushes, and leaf-thrushes; they are seen
+daily, and form the great ornithological features of the country. In
+the Eastern Islands these are absolutely unknown, honeysuckers and small
+lories being the most common birds, so that the naturalist feels himself
+in a new world, and can hardly realize that he has passed from the one
+region to the other in a few days, without ever being out of sight of
+land.
+
+The inference that we must draw from these facts is, undoubtedly, that
+the whole of the islands eastwards beyond Java and Borneo do essentially
+form a part of a former Australian or Pacific continent, although some
+of them may never have been actually joined to it. This continent must
+have been broken up not only before the Western Islands were separated
+from Asia, but probably before the extreme southeastern portion of Asia
+was raised above the waters of the ocean; for a great part of the
+land of Borneo and Java is known to be geologically of quite recent
+formation, while the very great difference of species, and in many cases
+of genera also, between the productions of the Eastern Malay Islands and
+Australia, as well as the great depth of the sea now separating them,
+all point to a comparatively long period of isolation.
+
+It is interesting to observe among the islands themselves how a shallow
+sea always intimates a recent land connexion. The Aru Islands, Mysol,
+and Waigiou, as well as Jobie, agree with New Guinea in their species of
+mammalia and birds much more closely than they do with the Moluccas,
+and we find that they are all united to New Guinea by a shallow sea.
+In fact, the 100-fathom line round New Guinea marks out accurately the
+range of the true Paradise birds.
+
+It is further to be noted--and this is a very interesting point in
+connection with theories of the dependence of special forms of life
+on external conditions--that this division of the Archipelago into
+two regions characterised by a striking diversity in their natural
+productions does not in any way correspond to the main physical or
+climatal divisions of the surface. The great volcanic chain runs through
+both parts, and appears to produce no effect in assimilating their
+productions. Borneo closely resembles New Guinea not only in its vast
+size and its freedom from volcanoes, but in its variety of geological
+structure, its uniformity of climate, and the general aspect of the
+forest vegetation that clothes its surface. The Moluccas are the
+counterpart of the Philippines in their volcanic structure, their
+extreme fertility, their luxuriant forests, and their frequent
+earthquakes; and Bali with the east end of Java has a climate almost
+as dry and a soil almost as arid as that of Timor. Yet between these
+corresponding groups of islands, constructed as it were after the same
+pattern, subjected to the same climate, and bathed by the same oceans,
+there exists the greatest possible contrast when we compare their animal
+productions. Nowhere does the ancient doctrine--that differences
+or similarities in the various forms of life that inhabit different
+countries are due to corresponding physical differences or similarities
+in the countries themselves--meet with so direct and palpable a
+contradiction. Borneo and New Guinea, as alike physically as two
+distinct countries can be, are zoologically wide as the poles asunder;
+while Australia, with its dry winds, its open plains, its stony deserts,
+and its temperate climate, yet produces birds and quadrupeds which are
+closely related to those inhabiting the hot damp luxuriant forests,
+which everywhere clothe the plains and mountains of New Guinea.
+
+In order to illustrate more clearly the means by which I suppose this
+great contrast has been brought about, let us consider what would occur
+if two strongly contrasted divisions of the earth were, by natural
+means, brought into proximity. No two parts of the world differ so
+radically in their productions as Asia and Australia, but the difference
+between Africa and South America is also very great, and these two
+regions will well serve to illustrate the question we are considering.
+On the one side we have baboons, lions, elephants, buffaloes, and
+giraffes; on the other spider-monkeys, pumas, tapirs, anteaters,
+and sloths; while among birds, the hornbills, turacos, orioles, and
+honeysuckers of Africa contrast strongly with the toucans, macaws,
+chatterers, and hummingbirds of America.
+
+Now let us endeavour to imagine (what it is very probable may occur in
+future ages) that a slow upheaval of the bed of the Atlantic should take
+place, while at the same time earthquake-shocks and volcanic action on
+the land should cause increased volumes of sediment to be poured down
+by the rivers, so that the two continents should gradually spread out by
+the addition of newly-formed lands, and thus reduce the Atlantic which
+now separates them, to an arm of the sea a few hundred miles wide. At
+the same time we may suppose islands to be upheaved in mid-channel; and,
+as the subterranean forces varied in intensity, and shifted their points
+of greatest action, these islands would sometimes become connected with
+the land on one side or other of the strait, and at other times again be
+separated from it. Several islands would at one time be joined together,
+at another would be broken up again, until at last, after many long ages
+of such intermittent action, we might have an irregular archipelago
+of islands filling up the ocean channel of the Atlantic, in whose
+appearance and arrangement we could discover nothing to tell us which
+had been connected with Africa and which with America. The animals and
+plants inhabiting these islands would, however, certainly reveal this
+portion of their former history. On those islands which had ever formed
+a part of the South American continent, we should be sure to find such
+common birds as chatterers and toucans and hummingbirds, and some of the
+peculiar American quadrupeds; while on those which had been separated
+from Africa, hornbills, orioles, and honeysuckers would as certainly be
+found. Some portion of the upraised land might at different times have
+had a temporary connection with both continents, and would then contain
+a certain amount of mixture in its living inhabitants. Such seems to
+have been the case with the islands of Celebes and the Philippines.
+Other islands, again, though in such close proximity as Bali and
+Lombock, might each exhibit an almost unmixed sample of the productions
+of the continents of which they had directly or indirectly once formed a
+part.
+
+In the Malay Archipelago we have, I believe, a case exactly parallel
+to that which I have here supposed. We have indications of a vast
+continent, with a peculiar fauna and flora having been gradually and
+irregularly broken up; the island of Celebes probably marking its
+furthest westward extension, beyond which was a wide ocean. At the
+same time Asia appears to have been extending its limits in a southeast
+direction, first in an unbroken mass, then separated into islands as
+we now see it, and almost coming into actual contact with the scattered
+fragments of the great southern land.
+
+From this outline of the subject, it will be evident how important an
+adjunct Natural History is to Geology; not only in interpreting
+the fragments of extinct animals found in the earth's crust, but in
+determining past changes in the surface which have left no geological
+record. It is certainly a wonderful and unexpected fact that an accurate
+knowledge of the distribution of birds and insects should enable us to
+map out lands and continents which disappeared beneath the ocean long
+before the earliest traditions of the human race. Wherever the geologist
+can explore the earth's surface, he can read much of its past history,
+and can determine approximately its latest movements above and below the
+sea-level; but wherever oceans and seas now extend, he can do nothing
+but speculate on the very limited data afforded by the depth of the
+waters. Here the naturalist steps in, and enables him to fill up this
+great gap in the past history of the earth.
+
+One of the chief objects of my travels was to obtain evidence of this
+nature; and my search after such evidence has been rewarded by great
+success, so that I have been able to trace out with some probability the
+past changes which one of the most interesting parts of the earth has
+undergone. It may be thought that the facts and generalizations here
+given would have been more appropriately placed at the end rather than
+at the beginning of a narrative of the travels which supplied the facts.
+In some cases this might be so, but I have found it impossible to give
+such an account as I desire of the natural history of the numerous
+islands and groups of islands in the Archipelago, without constant
+reference to these generalizations which add so much to their interest.
+Having given this general sketch of the subject, I shall be able to show
+how the same principles can be applied to the individual islands of a
+group, as to the whole Archipelago; and thereby make my account of the
+many new and curious animals which inhabit them both, more interesting
+and more instructive than if treated as mere isolated facts.
+
+Contrasts of Races.--Before I had arrived at the conviction that the
+eastern and western halves of the Archipelago belonged to distinct
+primary regions of the earth, I had been led to group the natives of the
+Archipelago under two radically distinct races. In this I differed from
+most ethnologists who had before written on the subject; for it had
+been the almost universal custom to follow William von Humboldt and
+Pritchard, in classing all the Oceanic races as modifications of one
+type. Observation soon showed me, however, that Malays and Papuans
+differed radically in every physical, mental, and moral character; and
+more detailed research, continued for eight years, satisfied me that
+under these two forms, as types, the whole of the peoples of the Malay
+Archipelago and Polynesia could be classified. On drawing the line which
+separates these races, it is found to come near to that which divides
+the zoological regions, but somewhat eastward of it; a circumstance
+which appears to me very significant of the same causes having
+influenced the distribution of mankind that have determined the range of
+other animal forms.
+
+The reason why exactly the same line does not limit both is sufficiently
+intelligible. Man has means of traversing the sea which animals do not
+possess; and a superior race has power to press out or assimilate an
+inferior one. The maritime enterprise and higher civilization of the
+Malay races have enabled them to overrun a portion of the adjacent
+region, in which they have entirely supplanted the indigenous
+inhabitants if it ever possessed any; and to spread much of their
+language, their domestic animals, and their customs far over the
+Pacific, into islands where they have but slightly, or not at all,
+modified the physical or moral characteristics of the people.
+
+I believe, therefore, that all the peoples of the various islands can be
+grouped either with the Malays or the Papuans; and that these two have
+no traceable affinity to each other. I believe, further, that all the
+races east of the line I have drawn have more affinity for each other
+than they have for any of the races west of that line; that, in fact,
+the Asiatic races include the Malays, and all have a continental origin,
+while the Pacific races, including all to the east of the former
+(except perhaps some in the Northern Pacific), are derived, not from
+any existing continent, but from lands which now exist or have recently
+existed in the Pacific Ocean. These preliminary observations will enable
+the reader better to apprehend the importance I attach to the details of
+physical form or moral character, which I shall give in describing the
+inhabitants of many of the islands.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. SINGAPORE.
+
+ (A SKETCH OF THE TOWN AND ISLAND AS SEEN DURING SEVERAL VISITS FROM 1854 TO 1862.)
+
+FEW places are more interesting to a traveller from Europe than the town
+and island of Singapore, furnishing, as it does, examples of a variety
+of Eastern races, and of many different religions and modes of life. The
+government, the garrison, and the chief merchants are English; but
+the great mass of the population is Chinese, including some of the
+wealthiest merchants, the agriculturists of the interior, and most of
+the mechanics and labourers. The native Malays are usually fishermen and
+boatmen, and they form the main body of the police. The Portuguese of
+Malacca supply a large number of the clerks and smaller merchants. The
+Klings of Western India are a numerous body of Mahometans, and,
+with many Arabs, are petty merchants and shopkeepers. The grooms and
+washermen are all Bengalees, and there is a small but highly respectable
+class of Parsee merchants. Besides these, there are numbers of Javanese
+sailors and domestic servants, as well as traders from Celebes, Bali,
+and many other islands of the Archipelago. The harbour is crowded with
+men-of-war and trading vessels of many European nations, and hundreds
+of Malay praus and Chinese junks, from vessels of several hundred tons
+burthen down to little fishing boats and passenger sampans; and the town
+comprises handsome public buildings and churches, Mahometan mosques,
+Hindu temples, Chinese joss-houses, good European houses, massive
+warehouses, queer old Kling and China bazaars, and long suburbs of
+Chinese and Malay cottages.
+
+By far the most conspicuous of the various kinds of people in Singapore,
+and those which most attract the stranger's attention, are the Chinese,
+whose numbers and incessant activity give the place very much the
+appearance of a town in China. The Chinese merchant is generally a fat
+round-faced man with an important and business-like look. He wears the
+same style of clothing (loose white smock, and blue or black trousers)
+as the meanest coolie, but of finer materials, and is always clean and
+neat; and his long tail tipped with red silk hangs down to his heels.
+He has a handsome warehouse or shop in town and a good house in the
+country. He keeps a fine horse and gig, and every evening may be seen
+taking a drive bareheaded to enjoy the cool breeze. He is rich--he
+owns several retail shops and trading schooners, he lends money at high
+interest and on good security, he makes hard bargains, and gets fatter
+and richer every year.
+
+In the Chinese bazaar are hundreds of small shops in which a
+miscellaneous collection of hardware and dry goods are to be found, and
+where many things are sold wonderfully cheap. You may buy gimlets at
+a penny each, white cotton thread at four balls for a halfpenny, and
+penknives, corkscrews, gunpowder, writing-paper, and many other
+articles as cheap or cheaper than you can purchase them in England. The
+shopkeeper is very good-natured; he will show you everything he has, and
+does not seem to mind if you buy nothing. He bates a little, but not so
+much as the Klings, who almost always ask twice what they are willing to
+take. If you buy a few things from him, he will speak to you afterwards
+every time you pass his shop, asking you to walk in and sit down, or
+take a cup of tea; and you wonder how he can get a living where so many
+sell the same trifling articles.
+
+The tailors sit at a table, not on one; and both they and the shoemakers
+work well and cheaply. The barbers have plenty to do, shaving heads and
+cleaning ears; for which latter operation they have a great array of
+little tweezers, picks, and brushes. In the outskirts of the town are
+scores of carpenters and blacksmiths. The former seem chiefly to make
+coffins and highly painted and decorated clothes-boxes. The latter are
+mostly gun-makers, and bore the barrels of guns by hand out of solid
+bars of iron. At this tedious operation they may be seen every day, and
+they manage to finish off a gun with a flintlock very handsomely. All
+about the streets are sellers of water, vegetables, fruit, soup,
+and agar-agar (a jelly made of seaweed), who have many cries
+as unintelligible as those of London. Others carry a portable
+cooking-apparatus on a pole balanced by a table at the other end, and
+serve up a meal of shellfish, rice, and vegetables for two or three
+halfpence--while coolies and boatmen waiting to be hired are everywhere
+to be met with.
+
+In the interior of the island the Chinese cut down forest trees in the
+jungle, and saw them up into planks; they cultivate vegetables, which
+they bring to market; and they grow pepper and gambir, which form
+important articles of export. The French Jesuits have established
+missions among these inland Chinese, which seem very successful. I lived
+for several weeks at a time with the missionary at Bukit-tima, about the
+centre of the island, where a pretty church has been built and there are
+about 300 converts. While there, I met a missionary who had just arrived
+from Tonquin, where he had been living for many years. The Jesuits still
+do their work thoroughly as of old. In Cochin China, Tonquin, and China,
+where all Christian teachers are obliged to live in secret, and
+are liable to persecution, expulsion, and sometimes death, every
+province--even those farthest in the interior--has a permanent Jesuit
+mission establishment constantly kept up by fresh aspirants, who are
+taught the languages of the countries they are going to at Penang or
+Singapore. In China there are said to be near a million converts; in
+Tonquin and Cochin China, more than half a million. One secret of
+the success of these missions is the rigid economy practised in the
+expenditure of the funds. A missionary is allowed about £30. a year, on
+which he lives in whatever country he may be. This renders it possible
+to support a large number of missionaries with very limited means; and
+the natives, seeing their teachers living in poverty and with none of
+the luxuries of life, are convinced that they are sincere in what they
+teach, and have really given up home and friends and ease and safety,
+for the good of others. No wonder they make converts, for it must be a
+great blessing to the poor people among whom they labour to have a man
+among them to whom they can go in any trouble or distress, who will
+comfort and advise them, who visits them in sickness, who relieves
+them in want, and who they see living from day-to-day in danger of
+persecution and death--entirely for their sakes.
+
+My friend at Bukit-tima was truly a father to his flock. He preached
+to them in Chinese every Sunday, and had evenings for discussion and
+conversation on religion during the week. He had a school to teach their
+children. His house was open to them day and night. If a man came to him
+and said, "I have no rice for my family to eat today," he would give
+him half of what he had in the house, however little that might be. If
+another said, "I have no money to pay my debt," he would give him half
+the contents of his purse, were it his last dollar. So, when he was
+himself in want, he would send to some of the wealthiest among his
+flock, and say, "I have no rice in the house," or "I have given away my
+money, and am in want of such and such articles." The result was that
+his flock trusted and loved him, for they felt sure that he was their
+true friend, and had no ulterior designs in living among them.
+
+The island of Singapore consists of a multitude of small hills, three or
+four hundred feet high, the summits of many of which are still covered
+with virgin forest. The mission-house at Bukit-tima was surrounded
+by several of these wood-topped hills, which were much frequented by
+woodcutters and sawyers, and offered me an excellent collecting ground
+for insects. Here and there, too, were tiger pits, carefully covered
+over with sticks and leaves, and so well concealed, that in several
+cases I had a narrow escape from falling into them. They are shaped
+like an iron furnace, wider at the bottom than the top, and are perhaps
+fifteen or twenty feet deep so that it would be almost impossible for
+a person unassisted to get out of one. Formerly a sharp stake was stuck
+erect in the bottom; but after an unfortunate traveller had been killed
+by falling on one, its use was forbidden. There are always a few tigers
+roaming about Singapore, and they kill on an average a Chinaman every
+day, principally those who work in the gambir plantations, which are
+always made in newly-cleared jungle. We heard a tiger roar once or twice
+in the evening, and it was rather nervous work hunting for insects among
+the fallen trunks and old sawpits when one of these savage animals might
+be lurking close by, awaiting an opportunity to spring upon us.
+
+Several hours in the middle of every fine day were spent in these
+patches of forest, which were delightfully cool and shady by contrast
+with the bare open country we had to walk over to reach them. The
+vegetation was most luxuriant, comprising enormous forest trees, as well
+as a variety of ferns, caladiums, and other undergrowth, and abundance
+of climbing rattan palms. Insects were exceedingly abundant and very
+interesting, and every day furnished scores of new and curious forms.
+
+In about two months I obtained no less than 700 species of beetles,
+a large proportion of which were quite new, and among them were 130
+distinct kinds of the elegant Longicorns (Cerambycidae), so much
+esteemed by collectors. Almost all these were collected in one patch of
+jungle, not more than a square mile in extent, and in all my subsequent
+travels in the East I rarely if ever met with so productive a spot. This
+exceeding productiveness was due in part no doubt to some favourable
+conditions in the soil, climate, and vegetation, and to the season being
+very bright and sunny, with sufficient showers to keep everything
+fresh. But it was also in a great measure dependent, I feel sure, on
+the labours of the Chinese wood-cutters. They had been at work here for
+several years, and during all that time had furnished a continual supply
+of dry and dead and decaying leaves and bark, together with abundance of
+wood and sawdust, for the nourishment of insects and their larvae. This
+had led to the assemblage of a great variety of species in a limited
+space, and I was the first naturalist who had come to reap the harvest
+they had prepared. In the same place, and during my walks in other
+directions, I obtained a fair collection of butterflies and of other
+orders of insects, so that on the whole I was quite satisfied with
+these--my first attempts to gain a knowledge of the Natural History of
+the Malay Archipelago.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. MALACCA AND MOUNT OPHIR.
+
+ (JULY TO SEPTEMBER, 1854.)
+
+BIRDS and most other kinds of animals being scarce at Singapore, I
+left it in July for Malacca, where I spent more than two months in the
+interior, and made an excursion to Mount Ophir. The old and picturesque
+town of Malacca is crowded along the banks of the small river, and
+consists of narrow streets of shops and dwelling houses, occupied by the
+descendants of the Portuguese, and by Chinamen. In the suburbs are
+the houses of the English officials and of a few Portuguese merchants,
+embedded in groves of palms and fruit-trees, whose varied and beautiful
+foliage furnishes a pleasing relief to the eye, as well as most grateful
+shade.
+
+The old fort, the large Government House, and the ruins of a cathedral
+attest the former wealth and importance of this place, which was once
+as much the centre of Eastern trade as Singapore is now. The following
+description of it by Linschott, who wrote two hundred and seventy years
+ago, strikingly exhibits the change it has undergone:
+
+"Malacca is inhabited by the Portuguese and by natives of the country,
+called Malays. The Portuguese have here a fortress, as at Mozambique,
+and there is no fortress in all the Indies, after those of Mozambique
+and Ormuz, where the captains perform their duty better than in this
+one. This place is the market of all India, of China, of the Moluccas,
+and of other islands around about--from all which places, as well
+as from Banda, Java, Sumatra, Siam, Pegu, Bengal, Coromandel, and
+India--arrive ships which come and go incessantly, charged with an
+infinity of merchandises. There would be in this place a much greater
+number of Portuguese if it were not for the inconvenience, and
+unhealthiness of the air, which is hurtful not only to strangers, but
+also to natives of the country. Thence it is that all who live in the
+country pay tribute of their health, suffering from a certain disease,
+which makes them lose either their skin or their hair. And those who
+escape consider it a miracle, which occasions many to leave the country,
+while the ardent desire of gain induces others to risk their health, and
+endeavour to endure such an atmosphere. The origin of this town, as the
+natives say, was very small, only having at the beginning, by reason of
+the unhealthiness of the air, but six or seven fishermen who inhabited
+it. But the number was increased by the meeting of fishermen from Siam,
+Pegu, and Bengal, who came and built a city, and established a peculiar
+language, drawn from the most elegant modes of speaking of other
+nations, so that in fact the language of the Malays is at present the
+most refined, exact, and celebrated of all the East. The name of Malacca
+was given to this town, which, by the convenience of its situation, in
+a short time grew to such wealth, that it does not yield to the most
+powerful towns and regions around about. The natives, both men and
+women, are very courteous and are reckoned the most skillful in the
+world in compliments, and study much to compose and repeat verses and
+love-songs. Their language is in vogue through the Indies, as the French
+is here."
+
+At present, a vessel over a hundred tons hardly ever enters its port,
+and the trade is entirely confined to a few petty products of the
+forests, and to the fruit, which the trees, planted by the old
+Portuguese, now produce for the enjoyment of the inhabitants of
+Singapore. Although rather subject to fevers, it is not at present
+considered very unhealthy.
+
+The population of Malacca consists of several races. The ubiquitous
+Chinese are perhaps the most numerous, keeping up their manners,
+customs, and language; the indigenous Malays are next in point of
+numbers, and their language is the Lingua-franca of the place. Next come
+the descendants of the Portuguese--a mixed, degraded, and degenerate
+race, but who still keep up the use of their mother tongue, though
+ruefully mutilated in grammar; and then there are the English rulers,
+and the descendants of the Dutch, who all speak English. The Portuguese
+spoken at Malacca is a useful philological phenomenon. The verbs have
+mostly lost their inflections, and one form does for all moods, tenses,
+numbers, and persons. Eu vai, serves for "I go," "I went," or, "I will
+go." Adjectives, too, have been deprived of their feminine and
+plural terminations, so that the language is reduced to a marvellous
+simplicity, and, with the admixture of a few Malay words, becomes rather
+puzzling to one who has heard only the pure Lusitanian.
+
+In costume these several peoples are as varied as in their speech. The
+English preserve the tight-fitting coat, waistcoat, and trousers, and
+the abominable hat and cravat; the Portuguese patronise a light jacket,
+or, more frequently, shirt and trousers only; the Malays wear their
+national jacket and sarong (a kind of kilt), with loose drawers; while
+the Chinese never depart in the least from their national dress, which,
+indeed, it is impossible to improve for a tropical climate, whether as
+regards comfort or appearance. The loosely-hanging trousers, and neat
+white half-shirt half-jacket, are exactly what a dress should be in this
+low latitude.
+
+I engaged two Portuguese to accompany me into the interior; one as
+a cook, the other to shoot and skin birds, which is quite a trade in
+Malacca. I first stayed a fortnight at a village called Gading, where
+I was accommodated in the house of some Chinese converts, to whom I was
+recommended by the Jesuit missionaries. The house was a mere shed, but
+it was kept clean, and I made myself sufficiently comfortable. My
+hosts were forming a pepper and gambir plantation, and in the immediate
+neighbourhood were extensive tin-washings, employing over a thousand
+Chinese. The tin is obtained in the form of black grains from beds of
+quartzose sand, and is melted into ingots in rude clay furnaces. The
+soil seemed poor, and the forest was very dense with undergrowth, and
+not at all productive of insects; but, on the other hand, birds were
+abundant, and I was at once introduced to the rich ornithological
+treasures of the Malayan region.
+
+The very first time I fired my gun I brought down one of the most
+curious and beautiful of the Malacca birds, the blue-billed gaper
+(Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus), called by the Malays the "Rainbird." It
+is about the size of a starling, black and rich claret colour with
+white shoulder stripes, and a very large and broad bill of the most pure
+cobalt blue above and orange below, while the iris is emerald green.
+As the skins dry the bill turns dull black, but even then the bird is
+handsome. When fresh killed, the contrast of the vivid blue with the
+rich colours of the plumage is remarkably striking and beautiful.
+The lovely Eastern trogons, with their rich-brown backs, beautifully
+pencilled wings, and crimson breasts, were also soon obtained, as well
+as the large green barbets (Megalaema versicolor)--fruit-eating birds,
+something like small toucans, with a short, straight bristly bill, and
+whose head and neck are variegated with patches of the most vivid blue
+and crimson. A day or two after, my hunter brought me a specimen of
+the green gaper (Calyptomena viridis), which is like a small
+cock-of-the-rock, but entirely of the most vivid green, delicately
+marked on the wings with black bars. Handsome woodpeckers and gay
+kingfishers, green and brown cuckoos with velvety red faces and green
+beaks, red-breasted doves and metallic honeysuckers, were brought in day
+after day, and kept me in a continual state of pleasurable excitement.
+After a fortnight one of my servants was seized with fever, and on
+returning to Malacca, the same disease, attacked the other as well as
+myself. By a liberal use of quinine, I soon recovered, and obtaining
+other men, went to stay at the Government bungalow of Ayer-panas,
+accompanied by a young gentleman, a native of the place, who had a taste
+for natural history.
+
+At Ayer-panas we had a comfortable house to stay in, and plenty of
+room to dry and preserve our specimens; but, owing to there being no
+industrious Chinese to cut down timber, insects were comparatively
+scarce, with the exception of butterflies, of which I formed a very fine
+collection. The manner in which I obtained one fine insect was curious,
+and indicates how fragmentary and imperfect a traveller's collection
+must necessarily be. I was one afternoon walking along a favourite road
+through the forest, with my gun, when I saw a butterfly on the ground.
+It was large, handsome, and quite new to me, and I got close to it
+before it flew away. I then observed that it had been settling on the
+dung of some carnivorous animal. Thinking it might return to the same
+spot, I next day after breakfast took my net, and as I approached the
+place was delighted to see the same butterfly sitting on the same piece
+of dung, and succeeded in capturing it. It was an entirely new species
+of great beauty, and has been named by Mr. Hewitson--Nymphalis calydona.
+I never saw another specimen of it, and it was only after twelve years
+had elapsed that a second individual reached this country from the
+northwestern part of Borneo.
+
+Having determined to visit Mount Ophir, which is situated in the middle
+of the peninsula about fifty miles east of Malacca, we engaged six
+Malays to accompany us and carry our baggage. As we meant to stay at
+least a week at the mountain, we took with us a good supply of rice, a
+little biscuit, butter and coffee, some dried fish and a little brandy,
+with blankets, a change of clothes, insect and bird boxes, nets, guns
+and ammunition. The distance from Ayer-panas was supposed to be about
+thirty miles.
+
+Our first day's march lay through patches of forest, clearings, and
+Malay villages, and was pleasant enough. At night we slept at the house
+of a Malay chief, who lent us a verandah, and gave us a fowl and some
+eggs. The next day the country got wilder and more hilly. We passed
+through extensive forests, along paths often up to our knees in mud,
+and were much annoyed by the leeches for which this district is famous.
+These little creatures infest the leaves and herbage by the side of the
+paths, and when a passenger comes along they stretch themselves out at
+full length, and if they touch any part of his dress or body, quit their
+leaf and adhere to it. They then creep on to his feet, legs, or other
+part of his body and suck their fill, the first puncture being rarely
+felt during the excitement of walking. On bathing in the evening we
+generally found half a dozen or a dozen on each of us, most frequently
+on our legs, but sometimes on our bodies, and I had one who sucked his
+fill from the side of my neck, but who luckily missed the jugular vein.
+There are many species of these forest leeches. All are small, but some
+are beautifully marked with stripes of bright yellow. They probably
+attach themselves to deer or other animals which frequent the forest
+paths, and have thus acquired the singular habit of stretching
+themselves out at the sound of a footstep or of rustling foliage. Early
+in the afternoon we reached the foot of the mountain, and encamped by
+the side of a fine stream, whose rocky banks were overgrown with
+ferns. Our oldest Malay had been accustomed to shoot birds in this
+neighbourhood for the Malacca dealers, and had been to the top of the
+mountain, and while we amused ourselves shooting and insect hunting, he
+went with two others to clear the path for our ascent the next day.
+
+Early next morning we started after breakfast, carrying blankets and
+provisions, as we intended to sleep upon the mountain. After passing
+a little tangled jungle and swampy thickets through which our men had
+cleared a path, we emerged into a fine lofty forest pretty clear of
+undergrowth, and in which we could walk freely. We ascended steadily up
+a moderate slope for several miles, having a deep ravine on our left.
+We then had a level plateau or shoulder to cross, after which the
+ascent was steeper and the forest denser until we came out upon the
+"Padang-batu," or stone field, a place of which we had heard much, but
+could never get anyone to describe intelligibly. We found it to be a
+steep slope of even rock, extending along the mountain side farther than
+we could see. Parts of it were quite bare, but where it was cracked and
+fissured there grew a most luxuriant vegetation, among which the pitcher
+plants were the most remarkable. These wonderful plants never seem to
+succeed well in our hot-houses, and are there seen to little advantage.
+Here they grew up into half climbing shrubs, their curious pitchers
+of various sizes and forms hanging abundantly from their leaves, and
+continually exciting our admiration by their size and beauty. A few
+coniferae of the genus Dacrydium here first appeared, and in the
+thickets just above the rocky surface we walked through groves of those
+splendid ferns Dipteris Horsfieldii and Matonia pectinata, which bear
+large spreading palmate fronds on slender stems six or eight feet high.
+The Matonia is the tallest and most elegant, and is known only from this
+mountain, and neither of them is yet introduced into our hot-houses.
+
+It was very striking to come out from the dark, cool, and shady forest
+in which we had been ascending since we started, on to this hot, open
+rocky slope where we seemed to have entered at one step from a lowland
+to an alpine vegetation. The height, as measured by a sympiesometer, was
+about 2,800 feet. We had been told we should find water at Padang-batu
+as we were exceedingly thirsty; but we looked about for it in vain. At
+last we turned to the pitcher-plants, but the water contained in the
+pitchers (about half a pint in each) was full of insects, and otherwise
+uninviting. On tasting it, however, we found it very palatable though
+rather warm, and we all quenched our thirst from these natural jugs.
+Farther on we came to forest again, but of a more dwarf and stunted
+character than below; and alternately passing along ridges and
+descending into valleys, we reached a peak separated from the true
+summit of the mountain by a considerable chasm. Here our porters gave
+in, and declared they could carry their loads no further; and certainly
+the ascent to the highest peak was very precipitous. But on the spot
+where we were there was no water, whereas it was well known that there
+was a spring close to the summit, so we determined to go on without
+them, and carry with us only what was absolutely necessary. We
+accordingly took a blanket each, and divided our food and other articles
+among us, and went on with only the old Malay and his son.
+
+After descending into the saddle between the two peaks we found the
+ascent very laborious, the slope being so steep, as often to necessitate
+hand-climbing. Besides a bushy vegetation the ground was covered
+knee-deep with mosses on a foundation of decaying leaves and rugged
+rock, and it was a hard hour's climb to the small ledge just below the
+summit, where an overhanging rock forms a convenient shelter, and a
+little basin collects the trickling water. Here we put down our loads,
+and in a few minutes more stood on the summit of Mount Ophir, 4,000
+feet above the sea. The top is a small rocky platform covered with
+rhododendrons and other shrubs. The afternoon was clear, and the view
+fine in its way--ranges of hill and valley everywhere covered with
+interminable forest, with glistening rivers winding among them.
+
+In a distant view a forest country is very monotonous, and no mountain I
+have ever ascended in the tropics presents a panorama equal to that from
+Snowdon, while the views in Switzerland are immeasurably superior.
+When boiling our coffee I took observations with a good boiling-point
+thermometer, as well as with the sympiesometer, and we then enjoyed our
+evening meal and the noble prospect that lay before us. The night was
+calm and very mild, and having made a bed of twigs and branches over
+which we laid our blankets, we passed a very comfortable night. Our
+porters had followed us after a rest, bringing only their rice to cook,
+and luckily we did not require the baggage they left behind them. In the
+morning I caught a few butterflies and beetles, and my friend got a few
+land-shells; and we then descended, bringing with us some specimens of
+the ferns and pitcher-plants of Padang-batu.
+
+The place where we had first encamped at the foot of the mountain being
+very gloomy, we chose another in a kind of swamp near a stream overgrown
+with Zingiberaceous plants, in which a clearing was easily made. Here
+our men built two little huts without sides that would just shelter us
+from the rain; we lived in them for a week, shooting and insect-hunting,
+and roaming about the forests at the foot of the mountain. This was the
+country of the great Argus pheasant, and we continually heard its cry.
+On asking the old Malay to try and shoot one for me, he told me that
+although he had been for twenty years shooting birds in these forests he
+had never yet shot one, and had never even seen one except after it had
+been caught. The bird is so exceedingly shy and wary, and runs along
+the ground in the densest parts of the forest so quickly, that it is
+impossible to get near it; and its sober colours and rich eye-like
+spots, which are so ornamental when seen in a museum, must harmonize
+well with the dead leaves among which it dwells, and render it very
+inconspicuous. All the specimens sold in Malacca are caught in snares,
+and my informant, though he had shot none, had snared plenty.
+
+The tiger and rhinoceros are still found here, and a few years ago
+elephants abounded, but they have lately all disappeared. We found some
+heaps of dung, which seemed to be that of elephants, and some tracks of
+the rhinoceros, but saw none of the animals. However, we kept a fire up
+all night in case any of these creatures should visit us, and two of our
+men declared that they did one day see a rhinoceros. When our rice was
+finished, and our boxes full of specimens, we returned to Ayer-Panas,
+and a few days afterwards went on to Malacca, and thence to Singapore.
+Mount Ophir has quite a reputation for fever, and all our friends were
+astonished at our recklessness in staying so long at its foot; but none
+of us suffered in the least, and I shall ever look back with pleasure
+to my trip as being my first introduction to mountain scenery in the
+Eastern tropics.
+
+The meagreness and brevity of the sketch I have here given of my visit
+to Singapore and the Malay Peninsula is due to my having trusted chiefly
+to some private letters and a notebook, which were lost; and to a paper
+on Malacca and Mount Ophir which was sent to the Royal Geographical
+Society, but which was neither read nor printed owing to press of matter
+at the end of a session, and the MSS. of which cannot now be found. I
+the less regret this, however, as so many works have been written on
+these parts; and I always intended to pass lightly over my travels in
+the western and better known portions of the Archipelago, in order to
+devote more space to the remoter districts, about which hardly anything
+has been written in the English language.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. BORNEO--THE ORANGUTAN.
+
+I ARRIVED at Sarawak on November 1st, 1854, and left it on January 25th,
+1856. In the interval I resided at many different localities, and saw
+a good deal of the Dyak tribes as well as of the Bornean Malays. I
+was hospitably entertained by Sir James Brooke, and lived in his house
+whenever I was at the town of Sarawak in the intervals of my journeys.
+But so many books have been written about this part of Borneo since I
+was there, that I shall avoid going into details of what I saw and heard
+and thought of Sarawak and its ruler, confining myself chiefly to my
+experiences as a naturalist in search of shells, insects, birds and the
+Orangutan, and to an account of a journey through a part of the interior
+seldom visited by Europeans.
+
+The first four months of my visit were spent in various parts of
+the Sarawak River, from Santubong at its mouth up to the picturesque
+limestone mountains and Chinese gold-fields of Bow and Bede. This part
+of the country has been so frequently described that I shall pass it
+over, especially as, owing to its being the height of the wet season, my
+collections were comparatively poor and insignificant.
+
+In March 1865 I determined to go to the coalworks which were being
+opened near the Simunjon River, a small branch of the Sadong, a river
+east of Sarawak and between it and the Batang-Lupar. The Simunjon enters
+the Sadong River about twenty miles up. It is very narrow and very
+winding, and much overshadowed by the lofty forest, which sometimes
+almost meets over it. The whole country between it and the sea is a
+perfectly level forest-covered swamp, out of which rise a few isolated
+hills, at the foot of one of which the works are situated. From the
+landing-place to the hill a Dyak road had been formed, which consisted
+solely of tree-trunks laid end to end. Along these the barefooted
+natives walk and carry heavy burdens with the greatest ease, but to a
+booted European it is very slippery work, and when one's attention is
+constantly attracted by the various objects of interest around, a few
+tumbles into the bog are almost inevitable. During my first walk along
+this road I saw few insects or birds, but noticed some very handsome
+orchids in flower, of the genus Coelogyne, a group which I afterwards
+found to be very abundant, and characteristic of the district. On the
+slope of the hill near its foot a patch of forest had been cleared away,
+and several rude houses erected, in which were residing Mr. Coulson
+the engineer, and a number of Chinese workmen. I was at first kindly
+accommodated in Mr. Coulson's house, but finding the spot very suitable
+for me and offering great facilities for collecting, I had a small house
+of two rooms and a verandah built for myself. Here I remained nearly
+nine months, and made an immense collection of insects, to which class
+of animals I devoted my chief attention, owing to the circumstances
+being especially favourable.
+
+In the tropics a large proportion of the insects of all orders, and
+especially of the large and favourite group of beetles, are more or less
+dependent on vegetation, and particularly on timber, bark, and leaves
+in various stages of decay. In the untouched virgin forest, the insects
+which frequent such situations are scattered over an immense extent of
+country, at spots where trees have fallen through decay and old age, or
+have succumbed to the fury of the tempest; and twenty square miles of
+country may not contain so many fallen and decayed trees as are to be
+found in any small clearing. The quantity and the variety of beetles
+and of many other insects that can be collected at a given time in any
+tropical locality, will depend, first upon the immediate vicinity of a
+great extent of virgin forest, and secondly upon the quantity of trees
+that for some months past have been, and which are still being cut down,
+and left to dry and decay upon the ground.
+
+Now, during my whole twelve years' collecting in the western and eastern
+tropics, I never enjoyed such advantages in this respect as at the
+Simunjon coalworks. For several months from twenty to fifty Chinamen and
+Dyaks were employed almost exclusively in clearing a large space in the
+forest, and in making a wide opening for a railroad to the Sadong River,
+two miles distant. Besides this, sawpits were established at various
+points in the jungle, and large trees were felled to be cut up into
+beams and planks. For hundreds of miles in every direction a magnificent
+forest extended over plain and mountain, rock and morass, and I arrived
+at the spot just as the rains began to diminish and the daily sunshine
+to increase; a time which I have always found the most favourable season
+for collecting. The number of openings, sunny places, and pathways were
+also an attraction to wasps and butterflies; and by paying a cent each
+for all insects that were brought me, I obtained from the Dyaks and the
+Chinamen many fine locusts and Phasmidae, as well as numbers of handsome
+beetles.
+
+When I arrived at the mines, on the 14th of March, I had collected in
+the four preceding months, 320 different kinds of beetles. In less
+than a fortnight I had doubled this number, an average of about 24 new
+species every day. On one day I collected 76 different kinds, of which
+34 were new to me. By the end of April I had more than a thousand
+species, and they then went on increasing at a slower rate, so that
+I obtained altogether in Borneo about two thousand distinct kinds,
+of which all but about a hundred were collected at this place, and on
+scarcely more than a square mile of ground. The most numerous and most
+interesting groups of beetles were the Longicorns and Rhynchophora, both
+pre-eminently wood-feeders. The former, characterised by their graceful
+forms and long antenna, were especially numerous, amounting to nearly
+three hundred species, nine-tenths of which were entirely new, and many
+of them remarkable for their large size, strange forms, and beautiful
+colouring. The latter correspond to our weevils and allied groups, and
+in the tropics are exceedingly numerous and varied, often swarming upon
+dead timber, so that I sometimes obtained fifty or sixty different kinds
+in a day. My Bornean collections of this group exceeded five hundred
+species.
+
+My collection of butterflies was not large; but I obtained some rare
+and very handsome insects, the most remarkable being the Ornithoptera
+Brookeana, one of the most elegant species known. This beautiful
+creature has very long and pointed wings, almost resembling a sphinx
+moth in shape. It is deep velvety black, with a curved band of spots of
+a brilliant metallic-green colour extending across the wings from tip to
+tip, each spot being shaped exactly like a small triangular feather, and
+having very much the effect of a row of the wing coverts of the Mexican
+trogon, laid upon black velvet. The only other marks are a broad
+neck-collar of vivid crimson, and a few delicate white touches on the
+outer margins of the hind wings. This species, which was then quite new
+and which I named after Sir James Brooke, was very rare. It was seen
+occasionally flying swiftly in the clearings, and now and then settling
+for an instant at puddles and muddy places, so that I only succeeded in
+capturing two or three specimens. In some other parts of the country I
+was assured it was abundant, and a good many specimens have been sent
+to England; but as yet all have been males, and we are quite unable to
+conjecture what the female may be like, owing to the extreme isolation
+of the species, and its want of close affinity to any other known
+insect.
+
+One of the most curious and interesting reptiles which I met with in
+Borneo was a large tree-frog, which was brought me by one of the Chinese
+workmen. He assured me that he had seen it come down in a slanting
+direction from a high tree, as if it flew. On examining it, I found the
+toes very long and fully webbed to their very extremity, so that when
+expanded they offered a surface much larger than the body. The
+forelegs were also bordered by a membrane, and the body was capable of
+considerable inflation. The back and limbs were of a very deep shining
+green colour, the undersurface and the inner toes yellow, while the
+webs were black, rayed with yellow. The body was about four inches long,
+while the webs of each hind foot, when fully expanded, covered a surface
+of four square inches, and the webs of all the feet together about
+twelve square inches. As the extremities of the toes have dilated
+discs for adhesion, showing the creature to be a true tree frog, it is
+difficult to imagine that this immense membrane of the toes can be for
+the purpose of swimming only, and the account of the Chinaman, that it
+flew down from the tree, becomes more credible. This is, I believe, the
+first instance known of a "flying frog," and it is very interesting to
+Darwinians as showing that the variability of the toes which have been
+already modified for purposes of swimming and adhesive climbing, have
+been taken advantage of to enable an allied species to pass through the
+air like the flying lizard. It would appear to be a new species of the
+genus Rhacophorus, which consists of several frogs of a much smaller
+size than this, and having the webs of the toes less developed.
+
+During my stay in Borneo I had no hunter to shoot for me regularly, and,
+being myself fully occupied with insects, I did not succeed in obtaining
+a very good collection of the birds or Mammalia, many of which, however,
+are well known, being identical with species found in Malacca. Among the
+Mammalia were five squirrels,and two tigercats--the Gymnurus Rafflesii,
+which looks like a cross between a pig and a polecat, and the Cynogale
+Bennetti--a rare, otter-like animal, with very broad muzzle clothed with
+long bristles.
+
+One of my chief objects in coming to stay at Simunjon was to see the
+Orangutan (or great man-like ape of Borneo) in his native haunts, to
+study his habits, and obtain good specimens of the different varieties
+and species of both sexes, and of the adult and young animals. In all
+these objects I succeeded beyond my expectations, and will now give some
+account of my experience in hunting the Orangutan, or "Mias," as it is
+called by the natives; and as this name is short, and easily pronounced,
+I shall generally use it in preference to Simia satyrus, or Orangutan.
+
+Just a week after my arrival at the mines, I first saw a Mias. I was out
+collecting insects, not more than a quarter of a mile from the house,
+when I heard a rustling in a tree near, and, looking up, saw a large
+red-haired animal moving slowly along, hanging from the branches by its
+arms. It passed on from tree to tree until it was lost in the jungle,
+which was so swampy that I could not follow it. This mode of progression
+was, however, very unusual, and is more characteristic of the Hylobates
+than of the Orang. I suppose there was some individual peculiarity in
+this animal, or the nature of the trees just in this place rendered it
+the most easy mode of progression.
+
+About a fortnight afterwards I heard that one was feeding in a tree in
+the swamp just below the house, and, taking my gun, was fortunate enough
+to find it in the same place. As soon as I approached, it tried to
+conceal itself among the foliage; but, I got a shot at it, and the
+second barrel caused it to fall down almost dead, the two balls having
+entered the body. This was a male, about half-grown, being scarcely
+three feet high. On April 26th, I was out shooting with two Dyaks, when
+we found another about the same size. It fell at the first shot, but did
+not seem much hurt, and immediately climbed up the nearest tree, when I
+fired, and it again fell, with a broken arm and a wound in the body. The
+two Dyaks now ran up to it, and each seized hold of a hand, telling me
+to cut a pole, and they would secure it. But although one arm was broken
+and it was only a half-grown animal, it was too strong for these young
+savages, drawing them up towards its mouth notwithstanding all their
+efforts, so that they were again obliged to leave go, or they would have
+been seriously bitten. It now began climbing up the tree again; and, to
+avoid trouble, I shot it through the heart.
+
+On May 2nd, I again found one on a very high tree, when I had only a
+small 80-bore gun with me. However, I fired at it, and on seeing me it
+began howling in a strange voice like a cough, and seemed in a great
+rage, breaking off branches with its hands and throwing them down, and
+then soon made off over the tree-tops. I did not care to follow it,
+as it was swampy, and in parts dangerous, and I might easily have lost
+myself in the eagerness of pursuit.
+
+On the 12th of May I found another, which behaved in a very similar
+manner, howling and hooting with rage, and throwing down branches. I
+shot at it five times, and it remained dead on the top of the tree,
+supported in a fork in such a manner that it would evidently not fall.
+I therefore returned home, and luckily found some Dyaks, who came back
+with me, and climbed up the tree for the animal. This was the first
+full-grown specimen I had obtained; but it was a female, and not nearly
+so large or remarkable as the full-grown males. It was, however, 3 ft.
+6 in. high, and its arms stretched out to a width of 6 ft. 6 in. I
+preserved the skin of this specimen in a cask of arrack, and prepared a
+perfect skeleton, which was afterwards purchased for the Derby Museum.
+
+Only four days afterwards some Dyaks saw another Mias near the same
+place, and came to tell me. We found it to be a rather large one, very
+high up on a tall tree. At the second shot it fell rolling over, but
+almost immediately got up again and began to climb. At a third shot it
+fell dead. This was also a full-grown female, and while preparing to
+carry it home, we found a young one face downwards in the bog. This
+little creature was only about a foot long, and had evidently been
+hanging to its mother when she first fell. Luckily it did not appear to
+have been wounded, and after we had cleaned the mud out of its mouth it
+began to cry out, and seemed quite strong and active. While carrying
+it home it got its hands in my beard, and grasped so tightly that I had
+great difficulty in getting free, for the fingers are habitually bent
+inwards at the last joint so as to form complete hooks. At this time it
+had not a single tooth, but a few days afterwards it cut its two lower
+front teeth. Unfortunately, I had no milk to give it, as neither Malays,
+Chinese nor Dyaks ever use the article, and I in vain inquired for
+any female animal that could suckle my little infant. I was therefore
+obliged to give it rice-water from a bottle with a quill in the cork,
+which after a few trials it learned to suck very well. This was very
+meagre diet, and the little creature did not thrive well on it,
+although I added sugar and cocoa-nut milk occasionally, to make it
+more nourishing. When I put my finger in its mouth it sucked with great
+vigour, drawing in its cheeks with all its might in the vain effort to
+extract some milk, and only after persevering a long time would it give
+up in disgust, and set up a scream very like that of a baby in similar
+circumstances.
+
+When handled or nursed, it was very quiet and contented, but when laid
+down by itself would invariably cry; and for the first few nights was
+very restless and noisy. I fitted up a little box for a cradle, with a
+soft mat for it to lie upon, which was changed and washed every day; and
+I soon found it necessary to wash the little Mias as well. After I had
+done so a few times, it came to like the operation, and as soon as it
+was dirty would begin crying and not leave off until I took it out and
+carried it to the spout, when it immediately became quiet, although
+it would wince a little at the first rush of the cold water and make
+ridiculously wry faces while the stream was running over its head. It
+enjoyed the wiping and rubbing dry amazingly, and when I brushed its
+hair seemed to be perfectly happy, lying quite still with its arms and
+legs stretched out while I thoroughly brushed the long hair of its back
+and arms. For the first few days it clung desperately with all four
+hands to whatever it could lay hold of, and I had to be careful to
+keep my beard out of its way, as its fingers clutched hold of hair more
+tenaciously than anything else, and it was impossible to free myself
+without assistance. When restless, it would struggle about with its
+hands up in the air trying to find something to take hold of, and, when
+it had got a bit of stick or rag in two or three of its hands, seemed
+quite happy. For want of something else, it would often seize its own
+feet, and after a time it would constantly cross its arms and grasp with
+each hand the long hair that grew just below the opposite shoulder. The
+great tenacity of its grasp soon diminished, and I was obliged to
+invent some means to give it exercise and strengthen its limbs. For this
+purpose I made a short ladder of three or four rounds, on which I put
+it to hang for a quarter of an hour at a time. At first it seemed much
+pleased, but it could not get all four hands in a comfortable position,
+and, after changing about several times, would leave hold of one hand
+after the other, and drop onto the floor. Sometimes when hanging only
+by two hands, it would loose one, and cross it to the opposite shoulder,
+grasping its own hair; and, as this seemed much more agreeable than
+the stick, it would then loose the other and tumble down, when it would
+cross both and lie on its back quite contentedly, never seeming to be
+hurt by its numerous tumbles. Finding it so fond of hair, I endeavoured
+to make an artificial mother, by wrapping up a piece of buffalo-skin
+into a bundle, and suspending it about a foot from the floor. At first
+this seemed to suit it admirably, as it could sprawl its legs about and
+always find some hair, which it grasped with the greatest tenacity. I
+was now in hopes that I had made the little orphan quite happy; and so
+it seemed for some time, until it began to remember its lost parent, and
+try to suck. It would pull itself up close to the skin, and try about
+everywhere for a likely place; but, as it only succeeded in getting
+mouthfuls of hair and wool, it would be greatly disgusted, and scream
+violently, and, after two or three attempts, let go altogether. One day
+it got some wool into its throat, and I thought it would have choked,
+but after much gasping it recovered, and I was obliged to take the
+imitation mother to pieces again, and give up this last attempt to
+exercise the little creature.
+
+After the first week I found I could feed it better with a spoon, and
+give it a little more varied and more solid food. Well-soaked biscuit
+mixed with a little egg and sugar, and sometimes sweet potatoes, were
+readily eaten; and it was a never-failing amusement to observe the
+curious changes of countenance by which it would express its approval
+or dislike of what was given to it. The poor little thing would lick its
+lips, draw in its cheeks, and turn up its eyes with an expression of
+the most supreme satisfaction when it had a mouthful particularly to its
+taste. On the other hand, when its food was not sufficiently sweet or
+palatable, it would turn the mouthful about with its tongue for a moment
+as if trying to extract what flavour there was, and then push it all
+out between its lips. If the same food was continued, it would set up a
+scream and kick about violently, exactly like a baby in a passion.
+
+After I had had the little Mias about three weeks, I fortunately
+obtained a young hare-lip monkey (Macacus cynomolgus), which, though
+small, was very active, and could feed itself. I placed it in the
+same box with the Mias, and they immediately became excellent friends,
+neither exhibiting the least fear of the other. The little monkey would
+sit upon the other's stomach, or even on its face, without the least
+regard to its feelings. While I was feeding the Mias, the monkey would
+sit by, picking up all that was spilt, and occasionally putting out its
+hands to intercept the spoon; and as soon as I had finished would pick
+off what was left sticking to the Mias' lips, and then pull open its
+mouth and see if any still remained inside; afterwards lying down on the
+poor creature's stomach as on a comfortable cushion. The little helpless
+Mias would submit to all these insults with the most exemplary patience,
+only too glad to have something warm near it, which it could clasp
+affectionately in its arms. It sometimes, however, had its revenge; for
+when the monkey wanted to go away, the Mias would hold on as long as it
+could by the loose skin of its back or head, or by its tail, and it was
+only after many vigorous jumps that the monkey could make his escape.
+
+It was curious to observe the different actions of these two animals,
+which could not have differed much in age. The Mias, like a very young
+baby, lying on its back quite helpless, rolling lazily from side to
+side, stretching out all four hands into the air, wishing to grasp
+something, but hardly able to guide its fingers to any definite object;
+and when dissatisfied, opening wide its almost toothless mouth, and
+expressing its wants by a most infantine scream. The little monkey, on
+the other hand, in constant motion, running and jumping about wherever
+it pleased, examining everything around it, seizing hold of the smallest
+object with the greatest precision, balancing itself on the edge of the
+box or running up a post, and helping itself to anything eatable that
+came in its way. There could hardly be a greater contrast, and the baby
+Mias looked more baby-like by the comparison.
+
+When I had had it about a month, it began to exhibit some signs of
+learning to run alone. When laid upon the floor it would push itself
+along by its legs, or roll itself over, and thus make an unwieldy
+progression. When lying in the box it would lift itself up to the edge
+into almost an erect position, and once or twice succeeded in tumbling
+out. When left dirty, or hungry, or otherwise neglected, it would scream
+violently until attended to, varied by a kind of coughing or pumping
+noise very similar to that which is made by the adult animal. If no one
+was in the house, or its cries were not attended to, it would be quiet
+after a little while, but the moment it heard a footstep would begin
+again harder than ever.
+
+After five weeks it cut its two upper front teeth, but in all this time
+it had not grown the least bit, remaining both in size and weight the
+same as when I first procured it. This was no doubt owing to the want
+of milk or other equally nourishing food. Rice-water, rice, and biscuits
+were but a poor substitute, and the expressed milk of the cocoa-nut
+which I sometimes gave it did not quite agree with its stomach. To this
+I imputed an attack of diarrhoea from which the poor little creature
+suffered greatly, but a small dose of castor-oil operated well, and
+cured it. A week or two afterwards it was again taken ill, and this time
+more seriously. The symptoms were exactly those of intermittent fever,
+accompanied by watery swellings on the feet and head. It lost all
+appetite for its food, and, after lingering for a week a most pitiable
+object, died, after being in my possession nearly three months. I much
+regretted the loss of my little pet, which I had at one time looked
+forward to bringing up to years of maturity, and taking home to England.
+For several months it had afforded me daily amusement by its curious
+ways and the inimitably ludicrous expression of its little countenance.
+Its weight was three pounds nine ounces, its height fourteen inches,
+and the spread of its arms twenty-three inches. I preserved its skin and
+skeleton, and in doing so found that when it fell from the tree it must
+have broken an arm and a leg, which had, however, united so rapidly that
+I had only noticed the hard swellings on the limbs where the irregular
+junction of the bones had taken place.
+
+Exactly a week after I had caught this interesting little animal, I
+succeeded in shooting a full-grown male Orangutan. I had just come home
+from an entomologising excursion when Charles [Charles Allen, an English
+lad of sixteen, accompanied me as an assistant] rushed in out of breath
+with running and excitement, and exclaimed, interrupted by gasps, "Get
+the gun, sir,--be quick,--such a large Mias!" "Where is it?" I asked,
+taking hold of my gun as I spoke, which happened luckily to have one
+barrel loaded with ball. "Close by, sir--on the path to the mines--he
+can't get away." Two Dyaks chanced to be in the house at the time, so I
+called them to accompany me, and started off, telling Charley to bring
+all the ammunition after me as soon as possible. The path from our
+clearing to the mines led along the side of the hill a little way up its
+slope, and parallel with it at the foot a wide opening had been made for
+a road, in which several Chinamen were working, so that the animal could
+not escape into the swampy forest below without descending to cross
+the road or ascending to get round the clearings. We walked cautiously
+along, not making the least noise, and listening attentively for any
+sound which might betray the presence of the Mias, stopping at intervals
+to gaze upwards. Charley soon joined us at the place where he had seen
+the creature, and having taken the ammunition and put a bullet in
+the other barrel, we dispersed a little, feeling sure that it must be
+somewhere near, as it had probably descended the hill, and would not be
+likely to return again.
+
+After a short time I heard a very slight rustling sound overhead, but on
+gazing up could see nothing. I moved about in every direction to get a
+full view into every part of the tree under which I had been standing,
+when I again heard the same noise but louder, and saw the leaves shaking
+as if caused by the motion of some heavy animal which moved off to an
+adjoining tree. I immediately shouted for all of them to come up and try
+and get a view, so as to allow me to have a shot. This was not an easy
+matter, as the Mias had a knack of selecting places with dense foliage
+beneath. Very soon, however, one of the Dyaks called me and pointed
+upwards, and on looking I saw a great red hairy body and a huge black
+face gazing down from a great height, as if wanting to know what was
+making such a disturbance below. I instantly fired, and he made off at
+once, so that I could not then tell whether I had hit him.
+
+He now moved very rapidly and very noiselessly for so large an animal,
+so I told the Dyaks to follow and keep him in sight while I loaded.
+The jungle was here full of large angular fragments of rock from the
+mountain above, and thick with hanging and twisted creepers. Running,
+climbing, and creeping among these, we came up with the creature on the
+top of a high tree near the road, where the Chinamen had discovered him,
+and were shouting their astonishment with open mouths: "Ya Ya, Tuan;
+Orangutan, Tuan." Seeing that he could not pass here without descending,
+he turned up again towards the hill, and I got two shots, and following
+quickly, had two more by the time he had again reached the path, but he
+was always more or less concealed by foliage, and protected by the large
+branch on which he was walking. Once while loading I had a splendid view
+of him, moving along a large limb of a tree in a semi-erect posture, and
+showing it to be an animal of the largest size. At the path he got on
+to one of the loftiest trees in the forest, and we could see one leg
+hanging down useless, having been broken by a ball. He now fixed himself
+in a fork, where he was hidden by thick foliage, and seemed disinclined
+to move. I was afraid he would remain and die in this position, and as
+it was nearly evening. I could not have got the tree cut down that day.
+I therefore fired again, and he then moved off, and going up the hill
+was obliged to get on to some lower trees, on the branches of one of
+which he fixed himself in such a position that he could not fall, and
+lay all in a heap as if dead, or dying.
+
+I now wanted the Dyaks to go up and cut off the branch he was resting
+on, but they were afraid, saying he was not dead, and would come and
+attack them. We then shook the adjoining tree, pulled the hanging
+creepers, and did all we could to disturb him, but without effect, so I
+thought it best to send for two Chinamen with axes to cut down the tree.
+While the messenger was gone, however, one of the Dyaks took courage
+and climbed towards him, but the Mias did not wait for him to get near,
+moving off to another tree, where he got on to a dense mass of branches
+and creepers which almost completely hid him from our view. The tree was
+luckily a small one, so when the axes came we soon had it cut through;
+but it was so held up by jungle ropes and climbers to adjoining trees
+that it only fell into a sloping position. The Mias did not move, and
+I began to fear that after all we should not get him, as it was near
+evening, and half a dozen more trees would have to be cut down before
+the one he was on would fall. As a last resource we all began pulling at
+the creepers, which shook the tree very much, and, after a few minutes,
+when we had almost given up all hope, down he came with a crash and a
+thud like the fall of a giant. And he was a giant, his head and body
+being fully as large as a man's. He was of the kind called by the
+Dyaks "Mias Chappan," or "Mias Pappan," which has the skin of the face
+broadened out to a ridge or fold at each side. His outstretched arms
+measured seven feet three inches across, and his height, measuring
+fairly from the top of the head to the heel was four feet two inches.
+The body just below the arms was three feet two inches round, and
+was quite as long as a man's, the legs being exceedingly short in
+proportion. On examination we found he had been dreadfully wounded. Both
+legs were broken, one hip-joint and the root of the spine completely
+shattered, and two bullets were found flattened in his neck and jaws.
+Yet he was still alive when he fell. The two Chinamen carried him home
+tied to a pole, and I was occupied with Charley the whole of the next
+day preparing the skin and boiling the bones to make a perfect skeleton,
+which are now preserved in the Museum at Derby.
+
+About ten days after this, on June 4th, some Dyaks came to tell us that
+the day before a Mias had nearly killed one of their companions. A few
+miles down the river there is a Dyak house, and the inhabitants saw a
+large Orang feeding on the young shoots of a palm by the riverside. On
+being alarmed he retreated towards the jungle which was close by, and a
+number of the men, armed with spears and choppers, ran out to intercept
+him. The man who was in front tried to run his spear through the
+animal's body, but the Mias seized it in his hands, and in an instant
+got hold of the man's arm, which he seized in his mouth, making his
+teeth meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he tore and lacerated in
+a dreadful manner. Had not the others been close behind, the man
+would have been more seriously injured, if not killed, as he was quite
+powerless; but they soon destroyed the creature with their spears
+and choppers. The man remained ill for a long time, and never fully
+recovered the use of his arm.
+
+They told me the dead Mias was still lying where it had been killed, so
+I offered them a reward to bring it up to our landing-place immediately,
+which they promised to do. They did not come, however, until the next
+day, and then decomposition had commenced, and great patches of the hair
+came off, so that it was useless to skin it. This I regretted much, as
+it was a very fine full-grown male. I cut off the head and took it home
+to clean, while I got my men to make a closed fence about five feet high
+around the rest of the body, which would soon be devoured by maggots,
+small lizards, and ants, leaving me the skeleton. There was a great gash
+in his face, which had cut deep into the bone, but the skull was a very
+fine one, and the teeth were remarkably large and perfect.
+
+On June 18th I had another great success, and obtained a fine adult
+male. A Chinaman told me he had seen him feeding by the side of the path
+to the river, and I found him at the same place as the first individual
+I had shot. He was feeding on an oval green fruit having a fine red
+arillus, like the mace which surrounds the nutmeg, and which alone he
+seemed to eat, biting off the thick outer rind and dropping it in a
+continual shower. I had found the same fruit in the stomach of some
+others which I had killed. Two shots caused this animal to loose his
+hold, but he hung for a considerable time by one hand, and then fell
+flat on his face and was half buried in the swamp. For several minutes
+he lay groaning and panting, while we stood close around, expecting
+every breath to be his last. Suddenly, however, by a violent effort
+he raised himself up, causing us all to step back a yard or two, when,
+standing nearly erect, he caught hold of a small tree, and began to
+ascend it. Another shot through the back caused him to fall down dead. A
+flattened bullet was found in his tongue, having entered the lower part
+of the abdomen and completely traversed the body, fracturing the first
+cervical vertebra. Yet it was after this fearful wound that he had
+risen, and begun climbing with considerable facility. This also was a
+full-grown male of almost exactly the same dimensions as the other two I
+had measured.
+
+On June 21st I shot another adult female, which was eating fruit in a
+low tree, and was the only one which I ever killed by a single ball.
+
+On June 24th I was called by a Chinaman to shoot a Mias, which, he said,
+was on a tree close by his house, at the coal-mines. Arriving at the
+place, we had some difficulty in finding the animal, as he had gone off
+into the jungle, which was very rocky and difficult to traverse. At last
+we found him up a very high tree, and could see that he was a male of
+the largest size. As soon as I had fired, he moved higher up the tree,
+and while he was doing so I fired again; and we then saw that one arm
+was broken. He had now reached the very highest part of an immense tree,
+and immediately began breaking off boughs all around, and laying them
+across and across to make a nest. It was very interesting to see how
+well he had chosen his place, and how rapidly he stretched out his
+unwounded arm in every direction, breaking off good-sized boughs with
+the greatest ease, and laying them back across each other, so that in
+a few minutes he had formed a compact mass of foliage, which entirely
+concealed him from our sight. He was evidently going to pass the night
+here, and would probably get away early the next morning, if not wounded
+too severely. I therefore fired again several times, in hopes of making
+him leave his nest; but, though I felt sure I had hit him, as at each
+shot he moved a little, he would not go away. At length he raised
+himself up, so that half his body was visible, and then gradually sank
+down, his head alone remaining on the edge of the nest. I now felt sure
+he was dead, and tried to persuade the Chinaman and his companion to cut
+down the tree; but it was a very large one, and they had been at work
+all day, and nothing would induce them to attempt it. The next morning,
+at daybreak, I came to the place, and found that the Mias was evidently
+dead, as his head was visible in exactly the same position as before.
+I now offered four Chinamen a day's wages each to cut the tree down
+at once, as a few hours of sunshine would cause decomposition on the
+surface of the skin; but, after looking at it and trying it, they
+determined that it was very big and very hard, and would not attempt
+it. Had I doubled my offer, they would probably have accepted it, as it
+would not have been more than two or three hours' work; and had I been
+on a short visit only, I would have done so; but as I was a resident,
+and intended remaining several months longer, it would not have answered
+to begin paying too exorbitantly, or I should have got nothing done in
+the future at a lower rate.
+
+For some weeks after, a cloud of flies could be seen all day, hovering
+over the body of the dead Mias; but in about a month all was quiet, and
+the body was evidently drying up under the influence of a vertical sun
+alternating with tropical rains. Two or three months later two Malays,
+on the offer of a dollar, climbed the tree and let down the dried
+remains. The skin was almost entirely enclosing the skeleton, and
+inside were millions of the pupa-cases of flies and other insects, with
+thousands of two or three species of small necrophagous beetles. The
+skull had been much shattered by balls, but the skeleton was perfect,
+except one small wristbone, which had probably dropped out and been
+carried away by a lizard.
+
+Three days after I had shot this one and lost it, Charles found three
+small Orangs feeding together. We had a long chase after them, and had a
+good opportunity of seeing how they make their way from tree to tree by
+always choosing those limbs whose branches are intermingled with
+those of some other tree, and then grasping several of the small twigs
+together before they venture to swing themselves across. Yet they do
+this so quickly and certainly, that they make way among the trees at the
+rate of full five or six miles an hour, as we had continually to run to
+keep up with them. One of these we shot and killed, but it remained high
+up in the fork of a tree; and, as young animals are of comparatively
+little interest, I did not have the tree cut down to get it.
+
+At this time I had the misfortune to slip among some fallen trees,
+and hurt my ankle; and, not being careful enough at first, it became a
+severe inflamed ulcer, which would not heal, and kept me a prisoner in
+the house the whole of July and part of August. When I could get out
+again, I determined to take a trip up a branch of the Simunjon River to
+Semabang, where there was said to be a large Dyak house, a mountain with
+abundance of fruit, and plenty of Orangs and fine birds. As the river
+was very narrow, and I was obliged to go in a very small boat with
+little luggage, I only took with me a Chinese boy as a servant. I
+carried a cask of medicated arrack to put Mias skins in, and stores and
+ammunition for a fortnight. After a few miles, the stream became very
+narrow and winding, and the whole country on each side was flooded. On
+the banks were an abundance of monkeys--the common Macacus cynomolgus,
+a black Semnopithecus, and the extraordinary long-nosed monkey (Nasalis
+larvatus), which is as large as a three-year old child, has a very long
+tail, and a fleshy nose longer than that of the biggest-nosed man. The
+further we went on the narrower and more winding the stream became;
+fallen trees sometimes blocked up our passage, and sometimes tangled
+branches and creepers met completely across it, and had to be cut away
+before we could get on. It took us two days to reach Semabang, and we
+hardly saw a bit of dry land all the way. In the latter part of the
+journey I could touch the bushes on each side for miles; and we were
+often delayed by the screw-pines (Pandanus), which grow abundantly in
+the water, falling across the stream. In other places dense rafts of
+floating grass completely filled up the channel, making our journey a
+constant succession of difficulties.
+
+Near the landing-place we found a fine house, 250 feet long, raised high
+above the ground on posts, with a wide verandah and still wider platform
+of bamboo in front of it. Almost all the people, however, were away on
+some excursion after edible birds'-nests or bees'-wax, and there only
+remained in the house two or three old men and women with a lot of
+children. The mountain or hill was close by, covered with a complete
+forest of fruit-trees, among which the Durian and Mangosteen were very
+abundant; but the fruit was not yet quite ripe, except a little here
+and there. I spent a week at this place, going out everyday in various
+directions about the mountain, accompanied by a Malay, who had stayed
+with me while the other boatmen returned. For three days we found no
+Orangs, but shot a deer and several monkeys. On the fourth day, however,
+we found a Mias feeding on a very lofty Durian tree, and succeeded in
+killing it, after eight shots. Unfortunately it remained in the tree,
+hanging by its hands, and we were obliged to leave it and return home,
+as it was several miles off. As I felt pretty sure it would fall during
+the night, I returned to the place early the next morning, and found
+it on the ground beneath the tree. To my astonishment and pleasure, it
+appeared to be a different kind from any I had yet seen; for although a
+full-grown male, by its fully developed teeth and very large canines,
+it had no sign of the lateral protuberance on the face, and was about
+one-tenth smaller in all its dimensions than the other adult males.
+The upper incisors, however, appeared to be broader than in the larger
+species, a character distinguishing the Simia morio of Professor Owen,
+which he had described from the cranium of a female specimen. As it was
+too far to carry the animal home, I set to work and skinned the body on
+the spot, leaving the head, hands, and feet attached, to be finished at
+home. This specimen is now in the British Museum.
+
+At the end of a week, finding no more Orangs, I returned home; and,
+taking in a few fresh stores, and this time accompanied by Charles, went
+up another branch of the river, very similar in character, to a place
+called Menyille, where there were several small Dyak houses and one
+large one. Here the landing place was a bridge of rickety poles, over a
+considerable distance of water; and I thought it safer to leave my cask
+of arrack securely placed in the fork of a tree. To prevent the natives
+from drinking it, I let several of them see me put in a number of snakes
+and lizards; but I rather think this did not prevent them from tasting
+it. We were accommodated here in the verandah of the large house, in
+which were several great baskets of dried human heads, the trophies of
+past generations of head-hunters. Here also there was a little mountain
+covered with fruit-trees, and there were some magnificent Durian trees
+close by the house, the fruit of which was ripe; and as the Dyaks looked
+upon me as a benefactor in killing the Mias, which destroys a great deal
+of their fruit, they let us eat as much as we liked; we revelled in this
+emperor of fruits in its greatest perfection.
+
+The very day after my arrival in this place, I was so fortunate as to
+shoot another adult male of the small Orang, the Mias-kassir of the
+Dyaks. It fell when dead, but caught in a fork of the tree and remained
+fixed. As I was very anxious to get it, I tried to persuade two young
+Dyaks who were with me to cut down the tree, which was tall, perfectly
+straight and smooth-barked, and without a branch for fifty or sixty
+feet. To my surprise, they said they would prefer climbing up it, but it
+would be a good deal of trouble, and, after a little talking together,
+they said they would try. They first went to a clump of bamboo that
+stood near, and cut down one of the largest stems. From this they
+chopped off a short piece, and splitting it, made a couple of stout
+pegs, about a foot long and sharp at one end. Then cutting a thick piece
+of wood for a mallet, they drove one of the pegs into the tree and hung
+their weight upon it. It held, and this seemed to satisfy them, for they
+immediately began making a quantity of pegs of the same kind, while I
+looked on with great interest, wondering how they could possibly ascend
+such a lofty tree by merely driving pegs in it, the failure of any one
+of which at a good height would certainly cause their death. When about
+two dozen pegs were made, one of them began cutting some very long and
+slender bamboo from another clump, and also prepared some cord from the
+bark of a small tree. They now drove in a peg very firmly at about three
+feet from the ground, and bringing one of the long bamboos, stood it
+upright close to the tree, and bound it firmly to the two first pegs, by
+means of the bark cord and small notches near the head of each peg.
+One of the Dyaks now stood on the first peg and drove in a third, about
+level with his face, to which he tied the bamboo in the same way, and
+then mounted another step, standing on one foot, and holding by the
+bamboo at the peg immediately above him, while he drove in the next one.
+In this manner he ascended about twenty feet; when the upright bamboo
+was becoming thin, another was handed up by his companion, and this was
+joined by tying both bamboos to three or four of the pegs. When this
+was also nearly ended, a third was added, and shortly after, the lowest
+branches of the tree were reached, along which the young Dyak scrambled,
+and soon sent the Mias tumbling down headlong. I was exceedingly struck
+by the ingenuity of this mode of climbing, and the admirable manner in
+which the peculiar properties of the bamboo were made available. The
+ladder itself was perfectly safe, since if any one peg were loose or
+faulty, and gave way, the strain would be thrown on several others
+above and below it. I now understood the use of the line of bamboo pegs
+sticking in trees, which I had often seen, and wondered for what purpose
+they could have been put there. This animal was almost identical in size
+and appearance with the one I had obtained at Semabang, and was the only
+other male specimen of the Simia morio which I obtained. It is now in
+the Derby Museum.
+
+I afterwards shot two adult females and two young ones of different
+ages, all of which I preserved. One of the females, with several young
+ones, was feeding on a Durian tree with unripe fruit; and as soon as she
+saw us she began breaking off branches and the great spiny fruits
+with every appearance of rage, causing such a shower of missiles as
+effectually kept us from approaching too near the tree. This habit of
+throwing down branches when irritated has been doubted, but I have, as
+here narrated, observed it myself on at least three separate occasions.
+It was however always the female Mias who behaved in this way, and
+it may be that the male, trusting more to his great strength and his
+powerful canine teeth, is not afraid of any other animal, and does not
+want to drive them away, while the parental instinct of the female leads
+her to adopt this mode of defending herself and her young ones.
+
+In preparing the skins and skeletons of these animals, I was much
+troubled by the Dyak dogs, which, being always kept in a state of
+semi-starvation, are ravenous for animal food. I had a great iron pan,
+in which I boiled the bones to make skeletons, and at night I covered
+this over with boards, and put heavy stones upon it; but the dogs
+managed to remove these and carried away the greater part of one of my
+specimens. On another occasion they gnawed away a good deal of the upper
+leather of my strong boots, and even ate a piece of my mosquito-curtain,
+where some lamp-oil had been spilt over it some weeks before.
+
+On our return down the stream, we had the fortune to fall in with a
+very old male Mias, feeding on some low trees growing in the water. The
+country was flooded for a long distance, but so full of trees and stumps
+that the laden boat could not be got in among them, and if it could have
+been we should only have frightened the Mias away. I therefore got into
+the water, which was nearly up to my waist, and waded on until I was
+near enough for a shot. The difficulty then was to load my gun again,
+for I was so deep in the water that I could not hold the gun sloping
+enough to pour the powder in. I therefore had to search for a shallow
+place, and after several shots under these trying circumstances, I was
+delighted to see the monstrous animal roll over into the water. I now
+towed him after me to the stream, but the Malays objected to having the
+animal put into the boat, and he was so heavy that I could not do it
+without their help. I looked about for a place to skin him, but not a
+bit of dry ground was to be seen, until at last I found a clump of two
+or three old trees and stumps, between which a few feet of soil had
+collected just above the water, which was just large enough for us to
+drag the animal upon it. I first measured him, and found him to be by
+far the largest I had yet seen, for, though the standing height was the
+same as the others (4 feet 2 inches), the outstretched arms were 7
+feet 9 inches, which was six inches more than the previous one, and
+the immense broad face was 13 1/2 inches wide, whereas the widest I had
+hitherto seen was only 11 1/2 inches. The girth of the body was 3 feet
+7 1/2 inches. I am inclined to believe, therefore, that the length and
+strength of the arms, and the width of the face continues increasing to
+a very great age, while the standing height, from the sole of the foot
+to the crown of the head, rarely if ever exceeds 4 feet 2 inches.
+
+As this was the last Mias I shot, and the last time I saw an adult
+living animal, I will give a sketch of its general habits, and any other
+facts connected with it. The Orangutan is known to inhabit Sumatra and
+Borneo, and there is every reason to believe that it is confined to
+these two great islands, in the former of which, however, it seems to be
+much more rare. In Borneo it has a wide range, inhabiting many districts
+on the southwest, southeast, northeast, and northwest coasts, but
+appears to be chiefly confined to the low and swampy forests. It seems,
+at first sight, very inexplicable that the Mias should be quite unknown
+in the Sarawak valley, while it is abundant in Sambas, on the west, and
+Sadong, on the east. But when we know the habits and mode of life of
+the animal, we see a sufficient reason for this apparent anomaly in
+the physical features of the Sarawak district. In the Sadong, where I
+observed it, the Mias is only found when the country is low level and
+swampy, and at the same time covered with a lofty virgin forest. From
+these swamps rise many isolated mountains, on some of which the Dyaks
+have settled and covered with plantations of fruit trees. These are a
+great attraction to the Mias, which comes to feed on the unripe fruits,
+but always retires to the swamp at night. Where the country becomes
+slightly elevated, and the soil dry, the Mias is no longer to be found.
+For example, in all the lower part of the Sadong valley it abounds, but
+as soon as we ascend above the limits of the tides, where the country,
+though still flat, is high enough to be dry, it disappears. Now the
+Sarawak valley has this peculiarity--the lower portion though swampy, is
+not covered with a continuous lofty forest, but is principally occupied
+by the Nipa palm; and near the town of Sarawak where the country becomes
+dry, it is greatly undulated in many parts, and covered with small
+patches of virgin forest, and much second-growth jungle on the ground,
+which has once been cultivated by the Malays or Dyaks.
+
+Now it seems probable to me that a wide extent of unbroken and equally
+lofty virgin forest is necessary to the comfortable existence of these
+animals. Such forests form their open country, where they can roam in
+every direction with as much facility as the Indian on the prairie, or
+the Arab on the desert, passing from tree-top to tree-top without ever
+being obliged to descend upon the earth. The elevated and the drier
+districts are more frequented by man, more cut up by clearings and low
+second-growth jungle--not adapted to its peculiar mode of progression,
+and where it would therefore be more exposed to danger, and more
+frequently obliged to descend upon the earth. There is probably also a
+greater variety of fruit in the Mias district, the small mountains which
+rise like islands out of it serving as gardens or plantations of a sort,
+where the trees of the uplands are to be found in the very midst of the
+swampy plains.
+
+It is a singular and very interesting sight to watch a Mias making his
+way leisurely through the forest. He walks deliberately along some of
+the larger branches in the semi-erect attitude which the great length
+of his arms and the shortness of his legs cause him naturally to assume;
+and the disproportion between these limbs is increased by his walking
+on his knuckles, not on the palm of the hand, as we should do. He seems
+always to choose those branches which intermingle with an adjoining
+tree, on approaching which he stretches out his long arms, and seizing
+the opposing boughs, grasps them together with both hands, seems to try
+their strength, and then deliberately swings himself across to the next
+branch, on which he walks along as before. He never jumps or springs,
+or even appears to hurry himself, and yet manages to get along almost
+as quickly as a person can run through the forest beneath. The long
+and powerful arms are of the greatest use to the animal, enabling it
+to climb easily up the loftiest trees, to seize fruits and young leaves
+from slender boughs which will not bear its weight, and to gather leaves
+and branches with which to form its nest. I have already described how
+it forms a nest when wounded, but it uses a similar one to sleep on
+almost every night. This is placed low down, however, on a small tree
+not more than from twenty to fifty feet from the ground, probably
+because it is warmer and less exposed to wind than higher up. Each Mias
+is said to make a fresh one for himself every night; but I should think
+that is hardly probable, or their remains would be much more abundant;
+for though I saw several about the coal-mines, there must have been many
+Orangs about every day, and in a year their deserted nests would become
+very numerous. The Dyaks say that, when it is very wet, the Mias covers
+himself over with leaves of pandanus, or large ferns, which has perhaps
+led to the story of his making a hut in the trees.
+
+The Orang does not leave his bed until the sun has well risen and has
+dried up the dew upon the leaves. He feeds all through the middle of the
+day, but seldom returns to the same tree two days running. They do not
+seem much alarmed at man, as they often stared down upon me for several
+minutes, and then only moved away slowly to an adjacent tree. After
+seeing one, I have often had to go half a mile or more to fetch my gun,
+and in nearly every case have found it on the same tree, or within
+a hundred yards, when I returned. I never saw two full-grown animals
+together, but both males and females are sometimes accompanied by
+half-grown young ones, while, at other times, three or four young ones
+were seen in company. Their food consists almost exclusively of fruit,
+with occasionally leaves, buds, and young shoots. They seem to prefer
+unripe fruits, some of which were very sour, others intensely bitter,
+particularly the large red, fleshy arillus of one which seemed an
+especial favourite. In other cases they eat only the small seed of a
+large fruit, and they almost always waste and destroy more than they
+eat, so that there is a continual rain of rejected portions below the
+tree they are feeding on. The Durian is an especial favourite, and
+quantities of this delicious fruit are destroyed wherever it grows
+surrounded by forest, but they will not cross clearings to get at them.
+It seems wonderful how the animal can tear open this fruit, the outer
+covering of which is so thick and tough, and closely covered with strong
+conical spines. It probably bites off a few of these first, and then,
+making a small hole, tears open the fruit with its powerful fingers.
+
+The Mias rarely descends to the ground, except when pressed by hunger,
+it seeks succulent shoots by the riverside; or, in very dry weather,
+has to search after water, of which it generally finds sufficient in the
+hollows of leaves. Only once I saw two half-grown Orangs on the ground
+in a dry hollow at the foot of the Simunjon hill. They were playing
+together, standing erect, and grasping each other by the arms. It may
+be safely stated, however, that the Orang never walks erect, unless when
+using its hands to support itself by branches overhead or when attacked.
+Representations of its walking with a stick are entirely imaginary.
+
+The Dyaks all declare that the Mias is never attacked by any animal in
+the forest, with two rare exceptions; and the accounts I received
+of these are so curious that I give them nearly in the words of my
+informants, old Dyak chiefs, who had lived all their lives in the places
+where the animal is most abundant. The first of whom I inquired said:
+"No animal is strong enough to hurt the Mias, and the only creature he
+ever fights with is the crocodile. When there is no fruit in the jungle,
+he goes to seek food on the banks of the river where there are plenty
+of young shoots that he likes, and fruits that grow close to the water.
+Then the crocodile sometimes tries to seize him, but the Mias gets upon
+him, and beats him with his hands and feet, and tears him and kills
+him." He added that he had once seen such a fight, and that he believes
+that the Mias is always the victor.
+
+My next informant was the Orang Kaya, or chief of the Balow Dyaks, on
+the Simunjon River. He said: "The Mias has no enemies; no animals
+dare attack it but the crocodile and the python. He always kills the
+crocodile by main strength, standing upon it, pulling open its jaws, and
+ripping up its throat. If a python attacks a Mias, he seizes it with his
+hands, and then bites it, and soon kills it. The Mias is very strong;
+there is no animal in the jungle so strong as he."
+
+It is very remarkable that an animal so large, so peculiar, and of such
+a high type of form as the Orangutan, should be confined to so limited
+a district--to two islands, and those almost the last inhabited by
+the higher Mammalia; for, east of Borneo and Java, the Quadrumania,
+Ruminants, Carnivora, and many other groups of Mammalia diminish
+rapidly, and soon entirely disappear. When we consider, further, that
+almost all other animals have in earlier ages been represented by allied
+yet distinct forms--that, in the latter part of the tertiary period,
+Europe was inhabited by bears, deer, wolves, and cats; Australia by
+kangaroos and other marsupials; South America by gigantic sloths and
+ant-eaters; all different from any now existing, though intimately
+allied to them--we have every reason to believe that the Orangutan, the
+Chimpanzee, and the Gorilla have also had their forerunners. With what
+interest must every naturalist look forward to the time when the caves
+and tertiary deposits of the tropics may be thoroughly examined, and the
+past history and earliest appearance of the great man-like apes be made
+known at length.
+
+I will now say a few words as to the supposed existence of a Bornean
+Orang as large as the Gorilla. I have myself examined the bodies of
+seventeen freshly-killed Orangs, all of which were carefully measured;
+and of seven of them, I preserved the skeleton. I also obtained two
+skeletons killed by other persons. Of this extensive series, sixteen
+were fully adult, nine being males, and seven females. The adult males
+of the large Orangs only varied from 4 feet 1 inch to 4 feet 2 inches
+in height, measured fairly to the heel, so as to give the height of the
+animal if it stood perfectly erect; the extent of the outstretched arms,
+from 7 feet 2 inches to 7 feet 8 inches; and the width of the face, from
+10 inches to 13 1/2 inches. The dimensions given by other naturalists
+closely agree with mine. The largest Orang measured by Temminck was 4
+feet high. Of twenty-five specimens collected by Schlegel and Muller,
+the largest old male was 4 feet 1 inch; and the largest skeleton in
+the Calcutta Museum was, according to Mr. Blyth, 4 feet 1 1/2 inch.
+My specimens were all from the northwest coast of Borneo; those of the
+Dutch from the west and south coasts; and no specimen has yet reached
+Europe exceeding these dimensions, although the total number of skins
+and skeletons must amount to over a hundred.
+
+Strange to say, however, several persons declare that they have measured
+Orangs of a much larger size. Temminck, in his Monograph of the Orang,
+says that he has just received news of the capture of a specimen 5 feet
+3 inches high. Unfortunately, it never seems to have a reached Holland,
+for nothing has since been heard of any such animal. Mr. St. John, in
+his "Life in the Forests of the Far East," vol. ii. p. 237, tells us
+of an Orang shot by a friend of his, which was 5 feet 2 inches from the
+heel to the top of the head, the arm 17 inches in girth, and the wrist
+12 inches! The head alone was brought to Sarawak, and Mr. St. John tells
+us that he assisted to measure this, and that it was 15 inches broad
+by 14 long. Unfortunately, even this skull appears not to have been
+preserved, for no specimen corresponding to these dimensions has yet
+reached England.
+
+In a letter from Sir James Brooke, dated October 1857 in which he
+acknowledges the receipt of my Papers on the Orang, published in the
+"Annals and Magazine of Natural History," he sends me the measurements
+of a specimen killed by his nephew, which I will give exactly as I
+received it: "September 3rd, 1867, killed female Orangutan. Height, from
+head to heel, 4 feet 6 inches. Stretch from fingers to fingers across
+body, 6 feet 1 inch. Breadth of face, including callosities, 11 inches."
+Now, in these dimensions, there is palpably one error; for in every
+Orang yet measured by any naturalist, an expanse of arms of 6 feet 1
+inch corresponds to a height of about 3 feet 6 inches, while the largest
+specimens of 4 feet to 4 feet 2 inches high, always have the extended
+arms as much as 7 feet 3 inches to 7 feet 8 inches. It is, in fact, one
+of the characters of the genus to have the arms so long that an animal
+standing nearly erect can rest its fingers on the ground. A height of
+4 feet 6 inches would therefore require a stretch of arms of at least 8
+feet! If it were only 6 feet to that height, as given in the dimensions
+quoted, the animal would not be an Orang at all, but a new genus of
+apes, differing materially in habits and mode of progression. But Mr.
+Johnson, who shot this animal, and who knows Orangs well, evidently
+considered it to be one; and we have therefore to judge whether it is
+more probable that he made a mistake of two feet in the stretch of the
+arms, or of one foot in the height. The latter error is certainly the
+easiest to make, and it will bring his animal into agreement, as to
+proportions and size, with all those which exist in Europe. How easy it
+is to be deceived as to the height of these animals is well shown in
+the case of the Sumatran Orang, the skin of which was described by Dr.
+Clarke Abel. The captain and crew who killed this animal declared that
+when alive he exceeded the tallest man, and looked so gigantic that they
+thought he was 7 feet high; but that, when he was killed and lay upon
+the ground, they found he was only about 6 feet. Now it will hardly be
+credited that the skin of this identical animal exists in the Calcutta
+Museum, and Mr. Blyth, the late curator, states "that it is by no means
+one of the largest size"; which means that it is about 4 feet high!
+
+Having these undoubted examples of error in the dimensions of Orangs,
+it is not too much to conclude that Mr. St. John's friend made a similar
+error of measurement, or rather, perhaps, of memory; for we are not told
+that the dimensions were noted down at the time they were made. The only
+figures given by Mr. St. John on his own authority are that "the head
+was 15 inches broad by 14 inches long." As my largest male was 13 1/2
+broad across the face, measured as soon as the animal was killed, I
+can quite understand that when the head arrived at Sarawak from the
+Batang-Lupar, after two or three days' voyage, it was so swollen by
+decomposition as to measure an inch more than when it was fresh. On the
+whole, therefore, I think it will be allowed, that up to this time
+we have not the least reliable evidence of the existence of Orangs in
+Borneo more than 4 feet 2 inches high.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. BORNEO--JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.
+
+ (NOVEMBER 1855 TO JANUARY 1856.)
+
+As the wet season was approaching, I determined to return to Sarawak,
+sending all my collections with Charles Allen around by sea, while I
+myself proposed to go up to the sources of the Sadong River and descend
+by the Sarawak valley. As the route was somewhat difficult, I took the
+smallest quantity of baggage, and only one servant, a Malay lad named
+Bujon, who knew the language of the Sadong Dyaks, with whom he had
+traded. We left the mines on the 27th of November, and the next day
+reached the Malay village of Gúdong, where I stayed a short time to buy
+fruit and eggs, and called upon the Datu Bandar, or Malay governor of
+the place. He lived in a large, and well-built house, very dirty outside
+and in, and was very inquisitive about my business, and particularly
+about the coal-mines. These puzzle the natives exceedingly, as they
+cannot understand the extensive and costly preparations for working
+coal, and cannot believe it is to be used only as fuel when wood is so
+abundant and so easily obtained. It was evident that Europeans seldom
+came here, for numbers of women skeltered away as I walked through the
+village and one girl about ten or twelve years old, who had just brought
+a bamboo full of water from the river, threw it down with a cry of
+horror and alarm the moment she caught sight of me, turned around and
+jumped into the stream. She swam beautifully, and kept looking back as
+if expecting I would follow her, screaming violently all the time; while
+a number of men and boys were laughing at her ignorant terror.
+
+At Jahi, the next village, the stream became so swift in consequence of
+a flood, that my heavy boat could make no way, and I was obliged to send
+it back and go on in a very small open one. So far the river had been
+very monotonous, the banks being cultivated as rice-fields, and little
+thatched huts alone breaking the unpicturesque line of muddy bank
+crowned with tall grasses, and backed by the top of the forest behind
+the cultivated ground. A few hours beyond Jahi we passed the limits
+of cultivation, and had the beautiful virgin forest coming down to the
+water's edge, with its palms and creepers, its noble trees, its ferns,
+and epiphytes. The banks of the river were, however, still generally
+flooded, and we had some difficulty in finding a dry spot to sleep
+on. Early in the morning we reached Empugnan, a small Malay village,
+situated at the foot of an isolated mountain which had been visible from
+the mouth of the Simunjon River. Beyond here the tides are not felt,
+and we now entered upon a district of elevated forest, with a finer
+vegetation. Large trees stretch out their arms across the stream,
+and the steep, earthy banks are clothed with ferns and zingiberaceous
+plants.
+
+Early in the afternoon we arrived at Tabókan, the first village of the
+Hill Dyaks. On an open space near the river, about twenty boys were
+playing at a game something like what we call "prisoner's base;" their
+ornaments of beads and brass wire and their gay-coloured kerchiefs and
+waist-cloths showing to much advantage, and forming a very pleasing
+sight. On being called by Bujon, they immediately left their game to
+carry my things up to the "headhouse,"--a circular building attached to
+most Dyak villages, and serving as a lodging for strangers, the place
+for trade, the sleeping-room of the unmarried youths, and the general
+council-chamber. It is elevated on lofty posts, has a large fireplace in
+the middle and windows in the roof all round, and forms a very pleasant
+and comfortable abode. In the evening it was crowded with young men and
+boys, who came to look at me. They were mostly fine young fellows, and
+I could not help admiring the simplicity and elegance of their costume.
+Their only dress is the long "chawat," or waist-cloth, which hangs down
+before and behind. It is generally of blue cotton, ending in three
+broad bands of red, blue, and white. Those who can afford it wear a
+handkerchief on the head, which is either red, with a narrow border
+of gold lace, or of three colours, like the "chawat." The large flat
+moon-shaped brass earrings, the heavy necklace of white or black beads,
+rows of brass rings on the arms and legs, and armlets of white shell,
+all serve to relieve and set off the pure reddish brown skin and
+jet-black hair. Add to this the little pouch containing materials for
+betel-chewing, and a long slender knife, both invariably worn at the
+side, and you have the everyday dress of the young Dyak gentleman.
+
+The "Orang Kaya," or rich man, as the chief of the tribe is called,
+now came in with several of the older men; and the "bitchara" or talk
+commenced, about getting a boat and men to take me on the next morning.
+As I could not understand a word of their language, which is very
+different from Malay, I took no part in the proceedings, but was
+represented by my boy Bujon, who translated to me most of what was said.
+A Chinese trader was in the house, and he, too, wanted men the next day;
+but on his hinting this to the Orang Kaya, he was sternly told that a
+white man's business was now being discussed, and he must wait another
+day before his could be thought about.
+
+After the "bitchara" was over and the old chiefs gone, I asked the young
+men to play or dance, or amuse themselves in their accustomed way; and
+after some little hesitation they agreed to do so. They first had a
+trial of strength, two boys sitting opposite each other, foot being
+placed against foot, and a stout stick grasped by both their hands. Each
+then tried to throw himself back, so as to raise his adversary up from
+the ground, either by main strength or by a sudden effort. Then one of
+the men would try his strength against two or three of the boys; and
+afterwards they each grasped their own ankle with a hand, and while one
+stood as firm as he could, the other swung himself around on one leg, so
+as to strike the other's free leg, and try to overthrow him. When these
+games had been played all around with varying success, we had a novel
+kind of concert. Some placed a leg across the knee, and struck the
+fingers sharply on the ankle, others beat their arms against their sides
+like a cock when he is going to crow, this making a great variety of
+clapping sounds, while another with his hand under his armpit produced a
+deep trumpet note; and, as they all kept time very well, the effect was
+by no means unpleasing. This seemed quite a favourite amusement with
+them, and they kept it up with much spirit.
+
+The next morning we started in a boat about thirty feet long, and
+only twenty-eight inches wide. The stream here suddenly changes its
+character. Hitherto, though swift, it had been deep and smooth, and
+confined by steep banks. Now it rushed and rippled over a pebbly, sandy,
+or rocky bed, occasionally forming miniature cascades and rapids, and
+throwing up on one side or the other broad banks of finely coloured
+pebbles. No paddling could make way here, but the Dyaks with bamboo
+poles propelled us along with great dexterity and swiftness, never
+losing their balance in such a narrow and unsteady vessel, though
+standing up and exerting all their force. It was a brilliant day, and
+the cheerful exertions of the men, the rushing of the sparkling waters,
+with the bright and varied foliage, which from either bank stretched
+over our heads, produced an exhilarating sensation which recalled my
+canoe voyages on the grander waters of South America.
+
+Early in the afternoon we reached the village of Borotói, and, though it
+would have been easy to reach the next one before night, I was obliged
+to stay, as my men wanted to return and others could not possibly go on
+with me without the preliminary talking. Besides, a white man was too
+great a rarity to be allowed to escape them, and their wives would never
+have forgiven them if, when they returned from the fields, they found
+that such a curiosity had not been kept for them to see. On entering the
+house to which I was invited, a crowd of sixty or seventy men, women,
+and children gathered around me, and I sat for half an hour like some
+strange animal submitted for the first time to the gaze of an inquiring
+public. Brass rings were here in the greatest profusion, many of the
+women having their arms completely covered with them, as well as their
+legs from the ankle to the knee. Round the waist they wear a dozen
+or more coils of fine rattan stained red, to which the petticoat is
+attached. Below this are generally a number of coils of brass wire, a
+girdle of small silver coins, and sometimes a broad belt of brass ring
+armour. On their heads they wear a conical hat without a crown, formed
+of variously coloured beads, kept in shape by rings of rattan, and
+forming a fantastic but not unpicturesque headdress.
+
+Walking out to a small hill near the village, cultivated as a
+rice-field, I had a fine view of the country, which was becoming quite
+hilly, and towards the south, mountainous. I took bearings and sketches
+of all that was visible, an operation which caused much astonishment
+to the Dyaks who accompanied me, and produced a request to exhibit the
+compass when I returned. I was then surrounded by a larger crowd than
+before, and when I took my evening meal in the midst of a circle of
+about a hundred spectators anxiously observing every movement and
+criticising every mouthful, my thoughts involuntarily recurred to the
+lion at feeding time. Like those noble animals, I too was used to it,
+and it did not affect my appetite. The children here were more shy than
+at Tabókan, and I could not persuade them to play. I therefore turned
+showman myself, and exhibited the shadow of a dog's head eating, which
+pleased them so much that all the village in succession came out to
+see it. The "rabbit on the wall" does not do in Borneo, as there is
+no animal it resembles. The boys had tops shaped something like
+whipping-tops, but spun with a string.
+
+The next morning we proceeded as before, but the river had become so
+rapid and shallow and the boats were all so small, that though I had
+nothing with me but a change of clothes, a gun, and a few cooking
+utensils, two were required to take me on. The rock which appeared
+here and there on the riverbank was an indurated clay-slate, sometimes
+crystalline, and thrown up almost vertically. Right and left of us rose
+isolated limestone mountains, their white precipices glistening in
+the sun and contrasting beautifully with the luxuriant vegetation that
+elsewhere clothed them. The river bed was a mass of pebbles, mostly
+pure white quartz, but with abundance of jasper and agate, presenting a
+beautifully variegated appearance. It was only ten in the morning when
+we arrived at Budw, and, though there were plenty of people about, I
+could not induce them to allow me to go on to the next village. The
+Orang Kaya said that if I insisted on having men, of course he would get
+them, but when I took him at his word and said I must have them, there
+came a fresh remonstrance; and the idea of my going on that day seemed
+so painful that I was obliged to submit. I therefore walked out over
+the rice-fields, which are here very extensive, covering a number of the
+little hills and valleys into which the whole country seems broken up,
+and obtained a fine view of hills and mountains in every direction.
+
+In the evening the Orang Kaya came in full dress (a spangled velvet
+jacket, but no trousers), and invited me over to his house, where he
+gave me a seat of honour under a canopy of white calico and coloured
+handkerchiefs. The great verandah was crowded with people, and large
+plates of rice with cooked and fresh eggs were placed on the ground as
+presents for me. A very old man then dressed himself in bright-coloured
+cloths and many ornaments, and sitting at the door, murmured a long
+prayer or invocation, sprinkling rice from a basin he held in his hand,
+while several large gongs were loudly beaten and a salute of muskets
+fired off. A large jar of rice wine, very sour but with an agreeable
+flavour, was then handed around, and I asked to see some of their
+dances. These were, like most savage performances, very dull and
+ungraceful affairs; the men dressing themselves absurdly like women, and
+the girls making themselves as stiff and ridiculous as possible. All the
+time six or eight large Chinese gongs were being beaten by the vigorous
+arms of as many young men, producing such a deafening discord that I was
+glad to escape to the round house, where I slept very comfortably with
+half a dozen smoke-dried human skulls suspended over my head.
+
+The river was now so shallow that boats could hardly get along. I
+therefore preferred walking to the next village, expecting to see
+something of the country, but was much disappointed, as the path lay
+almost entirely through dense bamboo thickets. The Dyaks get two crops
+off the ground in succession; one of rice, and the other of sugar-cane,
+maize, and vegetables. The ground then lies fallow eight or ten years,
+and becomes covered with bamboos and shrubs, which often completely
+arch over the path and shut out everything from the view. Three hours'
+walking brought us to the village of Senankan, where I was again obliged
+to remain the whole day, which I agreed to do on the promise of the
+Orang Kaya that his men should next day take me through two other
+villages across to Senna, at the head of the Sarawak River. I amused
+myself as I best could till evening, by walking about the high ground
+near, to get views of the country and bearings of the chief mountains.
+There was then another public audience, with gifts of rice and eggs, and
+drinking of rice wine. These Dyaks cultivate a great extent of ground,
+and supply a good deal of rice to Sarawak. They are rich in gongs, brass
+trays, wire, silver coins, and other articles in which a Dyak's wealth
+consists; and their women and children are all highly ornamented with
+bead necklaces, shells, and brass wire.
+
+In the morning I waited some time, but the men that were to accompany me
+did not make their appearance. On sending to the Orang Kaya I found that
+both he and another head-man had gone out for the day, and on inquiring
+the reason was told that they could not persuade any of their men to
+go with me because the journey was a long and fatiguing one. As I was
+determined to get on, I told the few men that remained that the chiefs
+had behaved very badly, and that I should acquaint the Rajah with their
+conduct, and I wanted to start immediately. Every man present made some
+excuse, but others were sent for, and by dint of threats and promises,
+and the exertion of all Bujon's eloquence, we succeeded in getting off
+after two hours' delay.
+
+For the first few miles our path lay over a country cleared for
+rice-fields, consisting entirely of small but deep and sharply-cut
+ridges and valleys without a yard of level ground. After crossing the
+Kayan river, a main branch of the Sadong, we got on to the lower slopes
+of the Seboran Mountain, and the path lay along a sharp and moderately
+steep ridge, affording an excellent view of the country. Its features
+were exactly those of the Himalayas in miniature, as they are described
+by Dr. Hooker and other travellers, and looked like a natural model
+of some parts of those vast mountains on a scale of about a
+tenth--thousands of feet being here represented by hundreds. I now
+discovered the source of the beautiful pebbles which had so pleased me
+in the riverbed. The slatey rocks had ceased, and these mountains seemed
+to consist of a sandstone conglomerate, which was in some places a mere
+mass of pebbles cemented together. I might have known that such small
+streams could not produce such vast quantities of well-rounded pebbles
+of the very hardest materials. They had evidently been formed in past
+ages, by the action of some continental stream or seabeach, before the
+great island of Borneo had risen from the ocean. The existence of such a
+system of hills and valleys reproducing in miniature all the features of
+a great mountain region, has an important bearing on the modern theory
+that the form of the ground is mainly due to atmospheric rather than
+to subterranean action. When we have a number of branching valleys and
+ravines running in many different directions within a square mile,
+it seems hardly possible to impute their formation, or even their
+origination, to rents and fissures produced by earthquakes. On the other
+hand, the nature of the rock, so easily decomposed and removed by water,
+and the known action of the abundant tropical rains, are in this case,
+at least, quite sufficient causes for the production of such valleys.
+But the resemblance between their forms and outlines, their mode of
+divergence, and the slopes and ridges that divide them, and those of the
+grand mountain scenery of the Himalayas, is so remarkable, that we are
+forcibly led to the conclusion that the forces at work in the two cases
+have been the same, differing only in the time they have been in action,
+and the nature of the material they have had to work upon.
+
+About noon we reached the village of Menyerry, beautifully situated on
+a spur of the mountain about 600 feet above the valley, and affording
+a delightful view of the mountains of this part of Borneo. I here got a
+sight of Penrissen Mountain, at the head of the Sarawak River, and one
+of the highest in the district, rising to about 6,000 feet above the
+sea. To the south the Rowan, and further off the Untowan Mountains in
+the Dutch territory appeared equally lofty. Descending from Menyerry we
+again crossed the Kayan, which bends round the spur, and ascended to the
+pass which divides the Sadong and Sarawak valleys, and which is about
+2,000 feet high. The descent from this point was very fine. A stream,
+deep in a rocky gorge, rushed on each side of us, to one of which we
+gradually descended, passing over many lateral gullys and along the
+faces of some precipices by means of native bamboo bridges. Some of
+these were several hundred feet long and fifty or sixty high, a single
+smooth bamboo four inches diameter forming the only pathway, while a
+slender handrail of the same material was often so shaky that it could
+only be used as a guide rather than a support.
+
+Late in the afternoon we reached Sodos, situated on a spur between two
+streams, but so surrounded by fruit trees that little could be seen
+of the country. The house was spacious, clean and comfortable, and the
+people very obliging. Many of the women and children had never seen a
+white man before, and were very sceptical as to my being the same colour
+all over, as my face. They begged me to show them my arms and body, and
+they were so kind and good-tempered that I felt bound to give them some
+satisfaction, so I turned up my trousers and let them see the colour of
+my leg, which they examined with great interest.
+
+In the morning early we continued our descent along a fine valley, with
+mountains rising 2,000 or 3,000 feet in every direction. The little
+river rapidly increased in size until we reached Senna, when it had
+become a fine pebbly stream navigable for small canoes. Here again the
+upheaved slatey rock appeared, with the same dip and direction as in the
+Sadong River. On inquiring for a boat to take me down the stream, I was
+told that the Senna Dyaks, although living on the river-banks, never
+made or used boats. They were mountaineers who had only come down into
+the valley about twenty years before, and had not yet got into new
+habits. They are of the same tribe as the people of Menyerry and Sodos.
+They make good paths and bridges, and cultivate much mountain land, and
+thus give a more pleasing and civilized aspect to the country than where
+the people move about only in boats, and confine their cultivation to
+the banks of the streams.
+
+After some trouble I hired a boat from a Malay trader, and found three
+Dyaks who had been several times with Malays to Sarawak, and thought
+they could manage it very well. They turned out very awkward, constantly
+running aground, striking against rocks, and losing their balance so as
+almost to upset themselves and the boat--offering a striking contrast
+to the skill of the Sea Dyaks. At length we came to a really dangerous
+rapid where boats were often swamped, and my men were afraid to pass it.
+Some Malays with a boatload of rice here overtook us, and after safely
+passing down kindly sent back one of their men to assist me. As it was,
+my Dyaks lost their balance in the critical part of the passage, and
+had they been alone would certainly have upset the boat. The river now
+became exceedingly picturesque, the ground on each side being partially
+cleared for ricefields, affording a good view of the country. Numerous
+little granaries were built high up in trees overhanging the river, and
+having a bamboo bridge sloping up to them from the bank; and here and
+there bamboo suspension bridge crossed the stream, where overhanging
+trees favoured their construction.
+
+I slept that night in the village of the Sebungow Dyaks, and the next
+day reached Sarawak, passing through a most beautiful country where
+limestone mountains with their fantastic forms and white precipices shot
+up on every side, draped and festooned with a luxuriant vegetation.
+The banks of the Sarawak River are everywhere covered with fruit trees,
+which supply the Dyaks with a great deal of their food. The Mangosteen,
+Lansat, Rambutan, Jack, Jambou, and Blimbing, are all abundant; but
+most abundant and most esteemed is the Durian, a fruit about which very
+little is known in England, but which both by natives and Europeans
+in the Malay Archipelago is reckoned superior to all others. The old
+traveller Linschott, writing in 1599, says: "It is of such an excellent
+taste that it surpasses in flavour all the other fruits of the world,
+according to those who have tasted it." And Doctor Paludanus adds: "This
+fruit is of a hot and humid nature. To those not used to it, it seems at
+first to smell like rotten onions, but immediately when they have tasted
+it, they prefer it to all other food. The natives give it honourable
+titles, exalt it, and make verses on it." When brought into a house the
+smell is often so offensive that some persons can never bear to taste
+it. This was my own case when I first tried it in Malacca, but in Borneo
+I found a ripe fruit on the ground, and, eating it out of doors, I at
+once became a confirmed Durian eater.
+
+The Durian grows on a large and lofty forest tree, somewhat resembling
+an elm in its general character, but with a more smooth and scaly bark.
+The fruit is round or slightly oval, about the size of a large cocoanut,
+of a green colour, and covered all over with short stout spines
+the bases of which touch each other, and are consequently somewhat
+hexagonal, while the points are very strong and sharp. It is so
+completely armed, that if the stalk is broken off it is a difficult
+matter to lift one from the ground. The outer rind is so thick and
+tough, that from whatever height it may fall it is never broken. From
+the base to the apex five very faint lines may be traced, over which
+the spines arch a little; these are the sutures of the carpels, and show
+where the fruit may be divided with a heavy knife and a strong hand.
+The five cells are satiny white within, and are each filled with an oval
+mass of cream-coloured pulp, imbedded in which are two or three seeds
+about the size of chestnuts. This pulp is the eatable part, and its
+consistency and flavour are indescribable. A rich butter-like custard
+highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it,
+but intermingled with it come wafts of flavour that call to mind
+cream-cheese, onion-sauce, brown sherry, and other incongruities. Then
+there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else
+possesses, but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither acid, nor
+sweet, nor juicy; yet one feels the want of none of these qualities, for
+it is perfect as it is. It produces no nausea or other bad effect, and
+the more you eat of it the less you feel inclined to stop. In fact
+to eat Durians is a new sensation, worth a voyage to the East to
+experience.
+
+When the fruit is ripe it falls of itself, and the only way to eat
+Durians in perfection is to get them as they fall; and the smell is
+then less overpowering. When unripe, it makes a very good vegetable if
+cooked, and it is also eaten by the Dyaks raw. In a good fruit season
+large quantities are preserved salted, in jars and bamboos, and kept the
+year round, when it acquires a most disgusting odour to Europeans, but
+the Dyaks appreciate it highly as a relish with their rice. There are in
+the forest two varieties of wild Durians with much smaller fruits, one
+of them orange-coloured inside; and these are probably the origin of
+the large and fine Durians, which are never found wild. It would not,
+perhaps, be correct to say that the Durian is the best of all fruits,
+because it cannot supply the place of the subacid juicy kinds, such as
+the orange, grape, mango, and mangosteen, whose refreshing and cooling
+qualities are so wholesome and grateful; but as producing a food of the
+most exquisite flavour, it is unsurpassed. If I had to fix on two only,
+as representing the perfection of the two classes, I should certainly
+choose the Durian and the Orange as the king and queen of fruits.
+
+The Durian is, however, sometimes dangerous. When the fruit begins to
+ripen it falls daily and almost hourly, and accidents not unfrequently
+happen to persons walking or working under the trees. When a Durian
+strikes a man in its fall, it produces a dreadful wound, the strong
+spines tearing open the flesh, while the blow itself is very heavy; but
+from this very circumstance death rarely ensues, the copious effusion
+of blood preventing the inflammation which might otherwise take place. A
+Dyak chief informed me that he had been struck down by a Durian falling
+on his head, which he thought would certainly have caused his death, yet
+he recovered in a very short time.
+
+Poets and moralists, judging from our English trees and fruits, have
+thought that small fruits always grew on lofty trees, so that their fall
+should be harmless to man, while the large ones trailed on the ground.
+Two of the largest and heaviest fruits known, however, the Brazil-nut
+fruit (Bertholletia) and Durian, grow on lofty forest trees, from which
+they fall as soon as they are ripe, and often wound or kill the native
+inhabitants. From this we may learn two things: first, not to draw
+general conclusions from a very partial view of nature; and secondly,
+that trees and fruits, no less than the varied productions of the animal
+kingdom, do not appear to be organized with exclusive reference to the
+use and convenience of man.
+
+During my many journeys in Borneo, and especially during my various
+residences among the Dyaks, I first came to appreciate the admirable
+qualities of the Bamboo. In those parts of South America which I had
+previously visited, these gigantic grasses were comparatively scarce;
+and where found but little used, their place being taken as to one class
+of uses by the great variety of Palms, and as to another by calabashes
+and gourds. Almost all tropical countries produce Bamboos, and wherever
+they are found in abundance the natives apply them to a variety of
+uses. Their strength, lightness, smoothness, straightness, roundness and
+hollowness, the facility and regularity with which they can be split,
+their many different sizes, the varying length of their joints, the
+ease with which they can be cut and with which holes can be made through
+them, their hardness outside, their freedom from any pronounced taste
+or smell, their great abundance, and the rapidity of their growth and
+increase, are all qualities which render them useful for a hundred
+different purposes, to serve which other materials would require much
+more labour and preparation. The Bamboo is one of the most wonderful
+and most beautiful productions of the tropics, and one of nature's most
+valuable gifts to uncivilized man.
+
+The Dyak houses are all raised on posts, and are often two or three
+hundred feet long and forty or fifty wide. The floor is always formed
+of strips split from large Bamboos, so that each may be nearly flat and
+about three inches wide, and these are firmly tied down with rattan to
+the joists beneath. When well made, this is a delightful floor to walk
+upon barefooted, the rounded surfaces of the bamboo being very smooth
+and agreeable to the feet, while at the same time affording a firm hold.
+But, what is more important, they form with a mat over them an excellent
+bed, the elasticity of the Bamboo and its rounded surface being far
+superior to a more rigid and a flatter floor. Here we at once find a use
+for Bamboo which cannot be supplied so well by another material without
+a vast amount of labour--palms and other substitutes requiring much
+cutting and smoothing, and not being equally good when finished. When,
+however, a flat, close floor is required, excellent boards are made by
+splitting open large Bamboos on one side only, and flattening them out
+so as to form slabs eighteen inches wide and six feet long, with which
+some Dyaks floor their houses. These with constant rubbing of the feet
+and the smoke of years become dark and polished, like walnut or old oak,
+so that their real material can hardly be recognised. What labour is
+here saved to a savage whose only tools are an axe and a knife, and who,
+if he wants boards, must hew them out of the solid trunk of a tree, and
+must give days and weeks of labour to obtain a surface as smooth and
+beautiful as the Bamboo thus treated affords him. Again, if a temporary
+house is wanted, either by the native in his plantation or by the
+traveller in the forest, nothing is so convenient as the Bamboo, with
+which a house can be constructed with a quarter of the labour and time
+than if other materials are used.
+
+As I have already mentioned, the Hill Dyaks in the interior of Sarawak
+make paths for long distances from village to village and to their
+cultivated grounds, in the course of which they have to cross many
+gullies and ravines, and even rivers; or sometimes, to avoid a long
+circuit, to carry the path along the face of a precipice. In all these
+cases the bridges they construct are of Bamboo, and so admirably adapted
+is the material for this purpose, that it seems doubtful whether they
+ever would have attempted such works if they had not possessed it. The
+Dyak bridge is simple but well designed. It consists merely of stout
+Bamboos crossing each other at the road-way like the letter X, and
+rising a few feet above it. At the crossing they are firmly bound
+together, and to a large Bamboo which lays upon them and forms the only
+pathway, with a slender and often very shaky one to serve as a handrail.
+When a river is to be crossed, an overhanging tree is chosen from which
+the bridge is partly suspended and partly supported by diagonal struts
+from the banks, so as to avoid placing posts in the stream itself, which
+would be liable to be carried away by floods. In carrying a path along
+the face of a precipice, trees and roots are made use of for suspension;
+struts arise from suitable notches or crevices in the rocks, and if
+these are not sufficient, immense Bamboos fifty or sixty feet long are
+fixed on the banks or on the branch of a tree below. These bridges
+are traversed daily by men and women carrying heavy loads, so that any
+insecurity is soon discovered, and, as the materials are close at hand,
+immediately repaired. When a path goes over very steep ground, and
+becomes slippery in very wet or very dry weather, the Bamboo is used
+in another way. Pieces are cut about a yard long, and opposite notches
+being made at each end, holes are formed through which pegs are driven,
+and firm and convenient steps are thus formed with the greatest ease and
+celerity. It is true that much of this will decay in one or two seasons,
+but it can be so quickly replaced as to make it more economical than
+using a harder and more durable wood.
+
+One of the most striking uses to which Bamboo is applied by the Dyaks,
+is to assist them in climbing lofty trees by driving in pegs in the way
+I have already described at page 85. This method is constantly used in
+order to obtain wax, which is one of the most valuable products of the
+country. The honey-bee of Borneo very generally hangs its combs under
+the branches of the Tappan, a tree which towers above all others in the
+forest, and whose smooth cylindrical trunk often rises a hundred feet
+without a branch. The Dyaks climb these lofty trees at night,
+building up their Bamboo ladder as they go, and bringing down gigantic
+honeycombs. These furnish them with a delicious feast of honey and young
+bees, besides the wax, which they sell to traders, and with the proceeds
+buy the much-coveted brass wire, earrings, and bold-edged handkerchiefs
+with which they love to decorate themselves. In ascending Durian and
+other fruit trees which branch at from thirty to fifty feet from the
+ground, I have seen them use the Bamboo pegs only, without the upright
+Bamboo which renders them so much more secure.
+
+The outer rind of the Bamboo, split and shaved thin, is the strongest
+material for baskets; hen-coops, bird-cages, and conical fish-traps
+are very quickly made from a single joint, by splitting off the skin in
+narrow strips left attached to one end, while rings of the same material
+or of rattan are twisted in at regular distances. Water is brought to
+the houses by little aqueducts formed of large Bamboos split in half
+and supported on crossed sticks of various heights so as to give it
+a regular fall. Thin long-jointed Bamboos form the Dyaks' only
+water-vessels, and a dozen of them stand in the corner of every house.
+They are clean, light, and easily carried, and are in many ways superior
+to earthen vessels for the same purpose. They also make excellent
+cooking utensils; vegetables and rice can be boiled in them to
+perfection, and they are often used when travelling. Salted fruit or
+fish, sugar, vinegar, and honey are preserved in them instead of in jars
+or bottles. In a small Bamboo case, prettily carved and ornamented,
+the Dyak carries his sirih and lime for betel chewing, and his little
+long-bladed knife has a Bamboo sheath. His favourite pipe is a huge
+hubble-bubble, which he will construct in a few minutes by inserting a
+small piece of Bamboo for a bowl obliquely into a large cylinder about
+six inches from the bottom containing water, through which the smoke
+passes to a long slender Bamboo tube. There are many other small matters
+for which Bamboo is daily used, but enough has now been mentioned to
+show its value. In other parts of the Archipelago I have myself seen it
+applied to many new uses, and it is probable that my limited means of
+observation did not make me acquainted with one-half the ways in which
+it is serviceable to the Dyaks of Sarawak.
+
+While upon the subject of plants I may here mention a few of the more
+striking vegetable productions of Borneo. The wonderful Pitcher-plants,
+forming the genus Nepenthes of botanists, here reach their greatest
+development. Every mountain-top abounds with them, running along
+the ground, or climbing over shrubs and stunted trees; their elegant
+pitchers hanging in every direction. Some of these are long and slender,
+resembling in form the beautiful Philippine lace-sponge (Euplectella),
+which has now become so common; others are broad and short. Their
+colours are green, variously tinted and mottled with red or purple.
+The finest yet known were obtained on the summit of Kini-balou, in
+North-west Borneo. One of the broad sort, Nepenthes rajah, will hold two
+quarts of water in its pitcher. Another, Nepenthes Edwardsiania, has
+a narrow pitcher twenty inches long; while the plant itself grows to a
+length of twenty feet.
+
+Ferns are abundant, but are not so varied as on the volcanic mountains
+of Java; and Tree-ferns are neither so plentiful nor so large as on that
+island. They grow, however, quite down to the level of the sea, and are
+generally slender and graceful plants from eight to fifteen feet high.
+Without devoting much time to the search I collected fifty species of
+Ferns in Borneo, and I have no doubt a good botanist would have obtained
+twice the number. The interesting group of Orchids is very abundant,
+but, as is generally the case, nine-tenths of the species have small
+and inconspicuous flowers. Among the exceptions are the fine Coelogynes,
+whose large clusters of yellow flowers ornament the gloomiest
+forests, and that most extraordinary plant, Vanda Lowii, which last
+is particularly abundant near some hot springs at the foot of the
+Penin-jauh Mountain. It grows on the lower branches of trees, and its
+strange pendant flower-spires often hang down so as almost to reach the
+ground. These are generally six or eight feet long, bearing large and
+handsome flowers three inches across, and varying in colour from orange
+to red, with deep purple-red spots. I measured one spike, which reached
+the extraordinary length of nine feet eight inches, and bore thirty-six
+flowers, spirally arranged upon a slender thread-like stalk. Specimens
+grown in our English hot-houses have produced flower-spires of equal
+length, and with a much larger number of blossoms.
+
+Flowers were scarce, as is usual in equatorial forests, and it was only
+at rare intervals that I met with anything striking. A few fine
+climbers were sometimes seen, especially a handsome crimson and yellow
+Aeschynanthus, and a fine leguminous plant with clusters of large
+Cassia-like flowers of a rich purple colour. Once I found a number
+of small Anonaceous trees of the genus Polyalthea, producing a most
+striking effect in the gloomy forest shades. They were about thirty feet
+high, and their slender trunks were covered with large star-like crimson
+flowers, which clustered over them like garlands, and resembled some
+artificial decoration more than a natural product.
+
+The forests abound with gigantic trees with cylindrical, buttressed, or
+furrowed stems, while occasionally the traveller comes upon a wonderful
+fig-tree, whose trunk is itself a forest of stems and aerial roots.
+Still more rarely are found trees which appear to have begun growing in
+mid-air, and from the same point send out wide-spreading branches above
+and a complicated pyramid of roots descending for seventy or eighty feet
+to the ground below, and so spreading on every side, that one can stand
+in the very centre with the trunk of the tree immediately overhead.
+Trees of this character are found all over the Archipelago, and the
+accompanying illustration (taken from one which I often visited in the
+Aru Islands) will convey some idea of their general character. I believe
+that they originate as parasites, from seeds carried by birds and
+dropped in the fork of some lofty tree. Hence descend aerial roots,
+clasping and ultimately destroying the supporting tree, which is in time
+entirely replaced by the humble plant which was at first dependent upon
+it. Thus we have an actual struggle for life in the vegetable kingdom,
+not less fatal to the vanquished than the struggles among animals which
+we can so much more easily observe and understand. The advantage of
+quicker access to light and warmth and air, which is gained in one way
+by climbing plants, is here obtained by a forest tree, which has the
+means of starting in life at an elevation which others can only attain
+after many years of growth, and then only when the fall of some other
+tree has made room for then. Thus it is that in the warm and moist and
+equable climate of the tropics, each available station is seized upon
+and becomes the means of developing new forms of life especially adapted
+to occupy it.
+
+On reaching Sarawak early in December, I found there would not be an
+opportunity of returning to Singapore until the latter end of January.
+I therefore accepted Sir James Brooke's invitation to spend a week with
+him and Mr. St. John at his cottage on Peninjauh. This is a very steep
+pyramidal mountain of crystalline basaltic rock, about a thousand feet
+high, and covered with luxuriant forest. There are three Dyak villages
+upon it, and on a little platform near the summit is the rude wooden
+lodge where the English Rajah was accustomed to go for relaxation and
+cool fresh air. It is only twenty miles up the river, but the road
+up the mountain is a succession of ladders on the face of precipices,
+bamboo bridges over gullies and chasms, and slippery paths over rocks
+and tree-trunks and huge boulders as big as houses. A cool spring under
+an overhanging rock just below the cottage furnished us with refreshing
+baths and delicious drinking water, and the Dyaks brought us daily
+heaped-up baskets of Mangosteens and Lansats, two of the most delicious
+of the subacid tropical fruits. We returned to Sarawak for Christmas
+(the second I had spent with Sir James Brooke), when all the Europeans
+both in the town and from the out-stations enjoyed the hospitality of
+the Rajah, who possessed in a pre-eminent degree the art of making every
+one around him comfortable and happy.
+
+A few days afterwards I returned to the mountain with Charles and a
+Malay boy named Ali and stayed there three weeks for the purpose of
+making a collection of land-shells, butterflies and moths, ferns and
+orchids. On the hill itself ferns were tolerably plentiful, and I made
+a collection of about forty species. But what occupied me most was
+the great abundance of moths which on certain occasions I was able to
+capture. As during the whole of my eight years' wanderings in the East
+I never found another spot where these insects were at all plentiful,
+it will be interesting to state the exact conditions under which I here
+obtained them.
+
+On one side of the cottage there was a verandah, looking down the whole
+side of the mountain and to its summit on the right, all densely clothed
+with forest. The boarded sides of the cottage were whitewashed, and the
+roof of the verandah was low, and also boarded and whitewashed. As soon
+as it got dark I placed my lamp on a table against the wall, and with
+pins, insect-forceps, net, and collecting-boxes by my side, sat down
+with a book. Sometimes during the whole evening only one solitary moth
+would visit me, while on other nights they would pour in, in a continual
+stream, keeping me hard at work catching and pinning till past midnight.
+They came literally by the thousands. These good nights were very few.
+During the four weeks that I spent altogether on the hill I only had
+four really good nights, and these were always rainy, and the best
+of them soaking wet. But wet nights were not always good, for a rainy
+moonlight night produced next to nothing. All the chief tribes of moths
+were represented, and the beauty and variety of the species was very
+great. On good nights I was able to capture from a hundred to two
+hundred and fifty moths, and these comprised on each occasion from half
+to two-thirds that number of distinct species. Some of them would settle
+on the wall, some on the table, while many would fly up to the roof and
+give me a chase all over the verandah before I could secure them. In
+order to show the curious connection between the state of weather and
+the degree in which moths were attracted to light, I add a list of my
+captures each night of my stay on the hill:
+
+
+     Date (1855)    No. of Moths     Remarks
+
+     Dec. 13th             1     Fine; starlight.
+          14th            75     Drizzly and fog.
+          15th            41     Showery; cloudy.
+          16th           158     (120 species.) Steady rain.
+          17th            82     Wet; rather moonlight.
+          18th             9     Fine; moonlight.
+          19th             2     Fine; clear moonlight.
+          31st           200     (130 species.) Dark and windy;
+                                 heavy rain.
+
+     Date (1856)
+     Jan. 1st            185      Very wet.
+          2d              68      Cloudy and showers.
+          3d              50      Cloudy.
+          4th             12      Fine.
+          5th             10      Fine.
+          6th              8      Very fine.
+          7th              8      Very fine.
+          8th             10      Fine.
+          9th             36      Showery.
+         10th             30      Showery.
+         11th            260      Heavy rain all night, and dark.
+         12th             56      Showery.
+         13th             44      Showery; some moonlight.
+         14th              4      Fine; moonlight.
+         15th             24      Rain; moonlight.
+         16th              6      Showers; moonlight.
+         17th              6      Showers; moonlight.
+         18th              1      Showers; moonlight.
+     Total             1,386
+
+It thus appears that on twenty-six nights I collected 1,386 moths, but
+that more than 800 of them were collected on four very wet and dark
+nights. My success here led me to hope that, by similar arrangements, I
+might on every island be able to obtain an abundance of these insects;
+but, strange to say, during the six succeeding years, I was never once
+able to make any collections at all approaching those at Sarawak. The
+reason for this I can pretty well understand to be owing to the absence
+of some one or other essential condition that were here all combined.
+Sometimes the dry season was the hindrance; more frequently residence
+in a town or village not close to virgin forest, and surrounded by other
+houses whose lights were a counter-attraction; still more frequently
+residence in a dark palm-thatched house, with a lofty roof, in whose
+recesses every moth was lost the instant it entered. This last was the
+greatest drawback, and the real reason why I never again was able to
+make a collection of moths; for I never afterwards lived in a solitary
+jungle-house with a low boarded and whitewashed verandah, so constructed
+as to prevent insects at once escaping into the upper part of the house,
+quite out of reach.
+
+After my long experience, my numerous failures, and my one success, I
+feel sure that if any party of naturalists ever make a yacht-voyage to
+explore the Malayan Archipelago, or any other tropical region, making
+entomology one of their chief pursuits, it would well repay them to
+carry a small framed verandah, or a verandah-shaped tent of white
+canvas, to set up in every favourable situation, as a means of making
+a collection of nocturnal Lepidoptera, and also of obtaining rare
+specimens of Coleoptera and other insects. I make the suggestion here,
+because no one would suspect the enormous difference in results that
+such an apparatus would produce; and because I consider it one of the
+curiosities of a collector's experience, to have found out that some
+such apparatus is required.
+
+When I returned to Singapore I took with me the Malay lad named Ali,
+who subsequently accompanied me all over the Archipelago. Charles
+Allen preferred staying at the Mission-house, and afterwards obtained
+employment in Sarawak and in Singapore, until he again joined me four
+years later at Amboyna in the Moluccas.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. BORNEO--THE DYAKS.
+
+THE manners and customs of the aborigines of Borneo have been described
+in great detail, and with much fuller information than I possess, in the
+writings of Sir James Brooke, Messrs. Low, St. John, Johnson Brooke,
+and many others. I do not propose to go over the ground again, but shall
+confine myself to a sketch, from personal observation, of the general
+character of the Dyaks, and of such physical, moral, and social
+characteristics as have been less frequently noticed.
+
+The Dyak is closely allied to the Malay, and more remotely to the
+Siamese, Chinese, and other Mongol races. All these are characterised by
+a reddish-brown or yellowish-brown skin of various shades, by jet-black
+straight hair, by the scanty or deficient beard, by the rather small and
+broad nose, and high cheekbones; but none of the Malayan races have the
+oblique eyes which are characteristic of the more typical Mongols. The
+average stature of the Dyaks is rather more than that of the Malays,
+while it is considerably under that of most Europeans. Their forms are
+well proportioned, their feet and hands small, and they rarely or never
+attain the bulk of body so often seen in Malays and Chinese.
+
+I am inclined to rank the Dyaks above the Malays in mental capacity,
+while in moral character they are undoubtedly superior to them. They
+are simple and honest, and become the prey of the Malay and Chinese
+traiders, who cheat and plunder them continually. They are more lively,
+more talkative, less secretive, and less suspicious than the Malay,
+and are therefore pleasanter companions. The Malay boys have little
+inclination for active sports and games, which form quite a feature in
+the life of the Dyak youths, who, besides outdoor games of skill and
+strength, possess a variety of indoor amusements. One wet day, in a Dyak
+house, when a number of boys and young men were about me, I thought
+to amuse them with something new, and showed them how to make "cat's
+cradle" with a piece of string. Greatly to my surprise, they knew all
+about it, and more than I did; for, after Charles and I had gone through
+all the changes we could make, one of the boys took it off my hand, and
+made several new figures which quite puzzled me. They then showed me a
+number of other tricks with pieces of string, which seemed a favourite
+amusement with them.
+
+Even these apparently trifling matters may assist us to form a truer
+estimate of the Dyaks' character and social condition. We learn thereby,
+that these people have passed beyond that first stage of savage life in
+which the struggle for existence absorbs all of the faculties, and in
+which every thought and idea is connected with war or hunting, or the
+provision for their immediate necessities. These amusements indicate a
+capability of civilization, an aptitude to enjoy other than mere sensual
+pleasures, which might be taken advantage of to elevate their whole
+intellectual and social life.
+
+The moral character of the Dyaks is undoubtedly high--a statement which
+will seem strange to those who have heard of them only as head-hunters
+and pirates. The Hill Dyaks of whom I am speaking, however, have never
+been pirates, since they never go near the sea; and head-hunting is a
+custom originating in the petty wars of village with village, and tribe
+with tribe, which no more implies a bad moral character than did the
+custom of the slave-trade a hundred years ago imply want of general
+morality in all who participated in it. Against this one stain on their
+character (which in the case of the Sarawak Dyaks no longer exists)
+we have to set many good points. They are truthful and honest to a
+remarkable degree. From this cause it is very often impossible to get
+from them any definite information, or even an opinion. They say, "If
+I were to tell you what I don't know, I might tell a lie;" and whenever
+they voluntarily relate any matter of fact, you may be sure they are
+speaking the truth. In a Dyak village the fruit trees have each their
+owner, and it has often happened to me, on asking an inhabitant to
+gather me some fruit, to be answered, "I can't do that, for the owner of
+the tree is not here;" never seeming to contemplate the possibility of
+acting otherwise. Neither will they take the smallest thing belonging to
+an European. When living at Simunjon, they continually came to my house,
+and would pick up scraps of torn newspaper or crooked pins that I had
+thrown away, and ask as a great favour whether they might have them.
+Crimes of violence (other than head-hunting) are almost unknown; for
+in twelve years, under Sir James Brooke's rule, there had been only one
+case of murder in a Dyak tribe, and that one was committed by a stranger
+who had been adopted into the tribe. In several other matters of
+morality they rank above most uncivilized, and even above many civilized
+nations. They are temperate in food and drink, and the gross sensuality
+of the Chinese and Malays is unknown among them. They have the usual
+fault of all people in a half-savage state--apathy and dilatoriness,
+but, however annoying this may be to Europeans who come in contact
+with them, it cannot be considered a very grave offence, or be held to
+outweigh their many excellent qualities.
+
+During my residence among the Hill Dyaks, I was much struck by the
+apparent absence of those causes which are generally supposed to check
+the increase of population, although there were plain indications
+of stationary or but slowly increasing numbers. The conditions most
+favourable to a rapid increase of population are: an abundance of food,
+a healthy climate, and early marriages. Here these conditions all exist.
+The people produce far more food than they consume, and exchange the
+surplus for gongs and brass cannon, ancient jars, and gold and silver
+ornaments, which constitute their wealth. On the whole, they appear very
+free from disease, marriages take place early (but not too early),
+and old bachelors and old maids are alike unknown. Why, then, we must
+inquire, has not a greater population been produced? Why are the Dyak
+villages so small and so widely scattered, while nine-tenths of the
+country is still covered with forest?
+
+Of all the checks to population among savage nations mentioned by
+Malthus--starvation, disease, war, infanticide, immorality, and
+infertility of the women--the last is that which he seems to think least
+important, and of doubtful efficacy; and yet it is the only one that
+seems to me capable of accounting for the state of the population among
+the Sarawak Dyaks. The population of Great Britain increases so as to
+double itself in about fifty years. To do this it is evident that each
+married couple must average three children who live to be married at the
+age of about twenty-five. Add to these those who die in infancy, those
+who never marry, or those who marry late in life and have no offspring,
+the number of children born to each marriage must average four or five,
+and we know that families of seven or eight are very common, and of ten
+and twelve by no means rare. But from inquiries at almost every Dyak
+tribe I visited, I ascertained that the women rarely had more than three
+or four children, and an old chief assured me that he had never known a
+woman to have more than seven.
+
+In a village consisting of a hundred and fifty families, only one
+consisted of six children living, and only six of five children, the
+majority of families appearing to be two, three, or four. Comparing this
+with the known proportions in European countries, it is evident that the
+number of children to each marriage can hardly average more than three
+or four; and as even in civilized countries half the population die
+before the age of twenty-five, we should have only two left to replace
+their parents; and so long as this state of things continued,
+the population must remain stationary. Of course this is a mere
+illustration; but the facts I have stated seem to indicate that
+something of the kind really takes place; and if so, there is no
+difficulty in understanding the smallness and almost stationary
+population of the Dyak tribes.
+
+We have next to inquire what is the cause of the small number of births
+and of living children in a family. Climate and race may have something
+to do with this, but a more real and efficient cause seems to me to
+be the hard labour of the women, and the heavy weights they constantly
+carry. A Dyak woman generally spends the whole day in the field, and
+carries home every night a heavy load of vegetables and firewood, often
+for several miles, over rough and hilly paths; and not unfrequently
+has to climb up a rocky mountain by ladders, and over slippery
+stepping-stones, to an elevation of a thousand feet. Besides this, she
+has an hour's work every evening to pound the rice with a heavy wooden
+stamper, which violently strains every part of the body. She begins this
+kind of labour when nine or ten years old, and it never ceases but with
+the extreme decrepitude of age. Surely we need not wonder at the limited
+number of her progeny, but rather be surprised at the successful efforts
+of nature to prevent the extermination of the race.
+
+One of the surest and most beneficial effects of advancing civilization,
+will be the amelioration of the condition of these women. The
+precept and example of higher races will make the Dyak ashamed of his
+comparatively idle life, while his weaker partner labours like a beast
+of burthen. As his wants become increased and his tastes refined, the
+women will have more household duties to attend to, and will then cease
+to labour in the field--a change which has already to a great extent
+taken place in the allied Malay, Javanese, and Bugis tribes. Population
+will then certainly increase more rapidly, improved systems of
+agriculture and some division of labour will become necessary in order
+to provide the means of existence, and a more complicated social state
+will take the place of the simple conditions of society which now occur
+among them. But, with the sharper struggle for existence that will
+then arise, will the happiness of the people as a whole be increased
+or diminished? Will not evil passions be aroused by the spirit of
+competition, and crimes and vices, now unknown or dormant, be called
+into active existence? These are problems that time alone can solve; but
+it is to be hoped that education and a high-class European example may
+obviate much of the evil that too often arises in analogous cases, and
+that we may at length be able to point to one instance of an uncivilized
+people who have not become demoralized, and finally exterminated, by
+contact with European civilization.
+
+A few words in conclusion, about the government of Sarawak. Sir James
+Brooke found the Dyaks oppressed and ground down by the most cruel
+tyranny. They were cheated by the Malay traders and robbed by the Malay
+chiefs. Their wives and children were often captured and sold into
+slavery, and hostile tribes purchased permission from their cruel rulers
+to plunder, enslave, and murder them. Anything like justice or redress
+for these injuries was utterly unattainable. From the time Sir James
+obtained possession of the country, all this was stopped. Equal justice
+was awarded to Malay, Chinaman, and Dyak. The remorseless pirates from
+the rivers farther east were punished, and finally shut up within their
+own territories, and the Dyak, for the first time, could sleep in peace.
+His wife and children were now safe from slavery; his house was no
+longer burned over his head; his crops and his fruits were now his own
+to sell or consume as he pleased. And the unknown stranger who had done
+all this for them, and asked for nothing in return, what could he be?
+How was it possible for them to realize his motives? Was it not natural
+that they should refuse to believe he was a man? For of pure benevolence
+combined with great power, they had had no experience among men. They
+naturally concluded that he was a superior being, come down upon earth
+to confer blessings on the afflicted. In many villages where he had not
+been seen, I was asked strange questions about him. Was he not as old
+as the mountains? Could he not bring the dead to life? And they firmly
+believe that he can give them good harvests, and make their fruit-trees
+bear an abundant crop.
+
+In forming a proper estimate of Sir James Brooke's government it must
+ever be remembered that he held Sarawak solely by the goodwill of the
+native inhabitant. He had to deal with two races, one of whom, the
+Mahometan Malays, looked upon the other race, the Dyaks, as savages
+and slaves, only fit to be robbed and plundered. He has effectually
+protected the Dyaks, and has invariably treated them as, in his sight,
+equal to the Malays; and yet he has secured the affection and goodwill
+of both. Notwithstanding the religious prejudice, of Mahometans, he
+has induced them to modify many of their worst laws and customs, and to
+assimilate their criminal code to that of the civilized world. That his
+government still continues, after twenty-seven years--notwithstanding
+his frequent absences from ill-health, notwithstanding conspiracies of
+Malay chiefs, and insurrections of Chinese gold-diggers, all of
+which have been overcome by the support of the native population, and
+notwithstanding financial, political, and domestic troubles is due, I
+believe, solely to the many admirable qualities which Sir James Brooke
+possessed, and especially to his having convinced the native population,
+by every action of his life, that he ruled them, not for his own
+advantage, but for their good.
+
+Since these lines were written, his noble spirit has passed away.
+But though, by those who knew him not, he may be sneered at as an
+enthusiastic adventurer, abused as a hard-hearted despot, the universal
+testimony of everyone who came in contact with him in his adopted
+country, whether European, Malay, or Dyak, will be, that Rajah Brooke
+was a great, a wise, and a good ruler; a true and faithful friend--a man
+to be admired for his talents, respected for his honesty and courage,
+and loved for his genuine hospitality, his kindness of disposition, and
+his tenderness of heart.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. JAVA.
+
+I SPENT three months and a half in Java, from July 18th to October 31st,
+1861, and shall briefly describe my own movements, and my observations
+of the people and the natural history of the country. To all those who
+wish to understand how the Dutch now govern Java, and how it is that
+they are enabled to derive a large annual revenue from it, while the
+population increases, and the inhabitants are contented, I recommend the
+study of Mr. Money's excellent and interesting work, "How to Manage a
+Colony." The main facts and conclusions of that work I most heartily
+concur in, and I believe that the Dutch system is the very best that
+can be adopted, when a European nation conquers or otherwise acquires
+possession of a country inhabited by an industrious but semi-barbarous
+people. In my account of Northern Celebes, I shall show how successfully
+the same system has been applied to a people in a very different state
+of civilization from the Javanese; and in the meanwhile will state in
+the fewest words possible what that system is.
+
+The mode of government now adopted in Java is to retain the whole series
+of native rulers, from the village chief up to princes, who, under the
+name of Regents, are the heads of districts about the size of a
+small English county. With each Regent is placed a Dutch Resident, or
+Assistant Resident, who is considered to be his "elder brother," and
+whose "orders" take the form of "recommendations," which are, however,
+implicitly obeyed. Along with each Assistant Resident is a Controller,
+a kind of inspector of all the lower native rulers, who periodically
+visits every village in the district, examines the proceedings of the
+native courts, hears complaints against the head-men or other native
+chiefs, and superintends the Government plantations. This brings us to
+the "culture system," which is the source of all the wealth the Dutch
+derive from Java, and is the subject of much abuse in this country
+because it is the reverse of "free trade." To understand its uses and
+beneficial effects, it is necessary first to sketch the common results
+of free European trade with uncivilized peoples.
+
+Natives of tropical climates have few wants, and, when these are
+supplied, are disinclined to work for superfluities without some strong
+incitement. With such a people the introduction of any new or systematic
+cultivation is almost impossible, except by the despotic orders of
+chiefs whom they have been accustomed to obey, as children obey their
+parents. The free competition of European traders, however introduces
+two powerful inducements to exertion. Spirits or opium is a temptation
+too strong for most savages to resist, and to obtain these he will sell
+whatever he has, and will work to get more. Another temptation he cannot
+resist, is goods on credit. The trader offers him gay cloths, knives,
+gongs, guns, and gunpowder, to be paid for by some crop perhaps not
+yet planted, or some product yet in the forest. He has not sufficient
+forethought to take only a moderate quantity, and not enough energy to
+work early and late in order to get out of debt; and the consequence is
+that he accumulates debt upon debt, and often remains for years, or
+for life, a debtor and almost a slave. This is a state of things
+which occurs very largely in every part of the world in which men of a
+superior race freely trade with men of a lower race. It extends trade
+no doubt for a time, but it demoralizes the native, checks true
+civilization--and does not lead to any permanent increase in the wealth
+of the country; so that the European government of such a country must
+be carried on at a loss.
+
+The system introduced by the Dutch was to induce the people, through
+their chiefs, to give a portion of their time, to the cultivation of
+coffee, sugar, and other valuable products. A fixed rate of wages--low
+indeed, but, about equal to that of all places where European
+competition has not artificially raised it--was paid to the labourers
+engaged in clearing the ground and forming the plantations under
+Government superintendence. The produce is sold to the Government at a
+low, fixed price. Out of the net profit a percentage goes to the chiefs,
+and the remainder is divided among the workmen. This surplus in good
+years is something considerable. On the whole, the people are well fed
+and decently clothed, and have acquired habits of steady industry and
+the art of scientific cultivation, which must be of service to them in
+the future. It must be remembered, that the Government expended capital
+for years before any return was obtained; and if they now derive a large
+revenue, it is in a way which is far less burthensome, and far more
+beneficial to the people, than any tax that could be levied.
+
+But although the system may be a good one, and as well adapted to the
+development of arts and industry in a half civilized people as it is
+to the material advantage of the governing country, it is not pretended
+that in practice it is perfectly carried out. The oppressive and servile
+relations between chiefs and people, which have continued for perhaps a
+thousand years, cannot be at once abolished; and some evil must result
+from those relations, until the spread of education and the gradual
+infusion of European blood causes it naturally and insensibly to
+disappear. It is said that the Residents, desirous of showing a large
+increase in the products of their districts, have sometimes pressed the
+people to such continued labour on the plantations that their rice crops
+have been materially diminished, and famine has been the result. If this
+has happened, it is certainly not a common thing, and is to be set down
+to the abuse of the system, by the want of judgment, or want of humanity
+in the Resident.
+
+A tale has lately been written in Holland, and translated into English,
+entitled "Max Havelaar;" or, the "Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading
+Company," and with our usual one-sidedness in all relating to the Dutch
+Colonial System, this work has been excessively praised, both for its
+own merits, and for its supposed crushing exposure of the iniquities of
+the Dutch government of Java. Greatly to my surprise, I found it a very
+tedious and long-winded story, full of rambling digressions; and whose
+only point is to show that the Dutch Residents and Assistant Residents
+wink at the extortions of the native princes; and that in some districts
+the natives have to do work without payment, and have their goods taken
+away from them without compensation. Every statement of this kind is
+thickly interspersed with italics and capital letters; but as the names
+are all fictitious, and neither dates, figures, nor details are
+ever given, it is impossible to verify or answer them. Even if not
+exaggerated, the facts stated are not nearly so bad as those of the
+oppression by free-trade indigo-planters, and torturing by native
+tax-gatherers under British rule in India, with which the readers of
+English newspapers were familiar a few years ago. Such oppression,
+however, is not fairly to be imputed in either case to the particular
+form of government, but is rather due to the infirmity of human nature,
+and to the impossibility of at once destroying all trace of ages of
+despotism on the one side, and of slavish obedience to their chiefs on
+the other.
+
+It must be remembered, that the complete establishment of the Dutch
+power in Java is much more recent than that of our rule in India, and
+that there have been several changes of government, and in the mode of
+raising revenue. The inhabitants have been so recently under the rule
+of their native princes, that it is not easy at once to destroy the
+excessive reverence they feel for their old masters, or to diminish the
+oppressive exactions which the latter have always been accustomed to
+make. There is, however, one grand test of the prosperity, and even
+of the happiness, of a community, which we can apply here--the rate of
+increase of the population.
+
+It is universally admitted that when a country increases rapidly in
+population, the people cannot be very greatly oppressed or very badly
+governed. The present system of raising a revenue by the cultivation of
+coffee and sugar, sold to Government at a fixed price, began in 1832.
+Just before this, in 1826, the population by census was 5,500,000, while
+at the beginning of the century it was estimated at 3,500,000. In 1850,
+when the cultivation system had been in operation eighteen years, the
+population by census was over 9,500,000, or an increase of 73 per
+cent in twenty-four years. At the last census, in 1865, it amounted to
+14,168,416, an increase of very nearly 50 per cent in fifteen years--a
+rate which would double the population in about twenty-six years. As
+Java (with Madura) contains about 38,500 geographical square miles, this
+will give an average of 368 persons to the square mile, just double that
+of the populous and fertile Bengal Presidency as given in Thornton's
+Gazetteer of India, and fully one-third more than that of Great Britain
+and Ireland at the last Census. If, as I believe, this vast population
+is on the whole contented and happy, the Dutch Government should
+consider well before abruptly changing a system which has led to such
+great results.
+
+Taking it as a whole, and surveying it from every point of view, Java
+is probably the very finest and most interesting tropical island in the
+world. It is not first in size, but it is more than 600 miles long, and
+from 60 to 120 miles wide, and in area is nearly equal to England; and
+it is undoubtedly the most fertile, the most productive, and the most
+populous island within the tropics. Its whole surface is magnificently
+varied with mountain and forest scenery. It possesses thirty-eight
+volcanic mountains, several of which rise to ten or twelve thousand feet
+high. Some of these are in constant activity, and one or other of them
+displays almost every phenomenon produced by the action of subterranean
+fires, except regular lava streams, which never occur in Java. The
+abundant moisture and tropical heat of the climate causes these
+mountains to be clothed with luxuriant vegetation, often to their very
+summits, while forests and plantations cover their lower slopes. The
+animal productions, especially the birds and insects, are beautiful
+and varied, and present many peculiar forms found nowhere else upon the
+globe.
+
+The soil throughout the island is exceedingly fertile, and all the
+productions of the tropics, together with many of the temperate zones,
+can be easily cultivated. Java too possesses a civilization, a history
+and antiquities of its own, of great interest. The Brahminical religion
+flourished in it from an epoch of unknown antiquity until about the
+year 1478, when that of Mahomet superseded it. The former religion
+was accompanied by a civilization which has not been equalled by the
+conquerors; for, scattered through the country, especially in the
+eastern part of it, are found buried in lofty forests, temples, tombs,
+and statues of great beauty and grandeur; and the remains of extensive
+cities, where the tiger, the rhinoceros, and the wild bull now roam
+undisturbed. A modern civilization of another type is now spreading over
+the land. Good roads run through the country from end to end; European
+and native rulers work harmoniously together; and life and property are
+as well secured as in the best governed states of Europe. I believe,
+therefore, that Java may fairly claim to be the finest tropical island
+in the world, and equally interesting to the tourist seeking after
+new and beautiful scenes; to the naturalist who desires to examine
+the variety and beauty of tropical nature; or to the moralist and the
+politician who want to solve the problem of how man may be best governed
+under new and varied conditions.
+
+The Dutch mail steamer brought me from Ternate to Sourabaya, the chief
+town and port in the eastern part of Java, and after a fortnight spent
+in packing up and sending off my last collections, I started on a short
+journey into the interior. Travelling in Java is very luxurious but very
+expensive, the only way being to hire or borrow a carriage, and then pay
+half a crown a mile for post-horses, which are changed at regular posts
+every six miles, and will carry you at the rate of ten miles an hour
+from one end of the island to the other. Bullock carts or coolies are
+required to carry all extra baggage. As this kind of travelling would
+not suit my means, I determined on making only a short journey to
+the district at the foot of Mount Arjuna, where I was told there were
+extensive forests, and where I hoped to be able to make some good
+collections. The country for many miles behind Sourabaya is perfectly
+flat and everywhere cultivated; being a delta or alluvial plain, watered
+by many branching streams. Immediately around the town the evident signs
+of wealth and of an industrious population were very pleasing; but as
+we went on, the constant succession of open fields skirted by rows of
+bamboos, with here and there the white buildings and a tall chimney of
+a sugar-mill, became monotonous. The roads run in straight lines
+for several miles at a stretch, and are bordered by rows of dusty
+tamarind-trees. At each mile there are little guardhouses, where a
+policeman is stationed; and there is a wooden gong, which by means of
+concerted signals may be made to convey information over the country
+with great rapidity. About every six or seven miles is the post-house,
+where the horses are changed as quickly as were those of the mail in the
+old coaching days in England.
+
+I stopped at Modjo-kerto, a small town about forty miles south of
+Sourabaya, and the nearest point on the high road to the district
+I wished to visit. I had a letter of introduction to Mr. Ball, an
+Englishman, long resident in Java and married to a Dutch lady; and he
+kindly invited me to stay with him until I could fix on a place to suit
+me. A Dutch Assistant Resident as well as a Regent or native Javanese
+prince lived here. The town was neat, and had a nice open grassy space
+like a village green, on which stood a magnificent fig-tree (allied to
+the Banyan of India, but more lofty), under whose shade a kind of market
+is continually held, and where the inhabitants meet together to lounge
+and chat. The day after my arrival, Mr. Ball drove me over to the
+village of Modjo-agong, where he was building a house and premises
+for the tobacco trade, which is carried on here by a system of native
+cultivation and advance purchase, somewhat similar to the indigo trade
+in British India. On our way we stayed to look at a fragment of the
+ruins of the ancient city of Modjo-pahit, consisting of two lofty brick
+masses, apparently the sides of a gateway. The extreme perfection and
+beauty of the brickwork astonished me. The bricks are exceedingly fine
+and hard, with sharp angles and true surfaces. They are laid with
+great exactness, without visible mortar or cement, yet somehow fastened
+together so that the joints are hardly perceptible, and sometimes the
+two surfaces coalesce in a most incomprehensible manner.
+
+Such admirable brickwork I have never seen before or since. There was no
+sculpture here, but an abundance of bold projections and finely-worked
+mouldings. Traces of buildings exist for many miles in every direction,
+and almost every road and pathway shows a foundation of brickwork
+beneath it--the paved roads of the old city. In the house of the Waidono
+or district chief at Modjo-agong, I saw a beautiful figure carved in
+high relief out of a block of lava, and which had been found buried in
+the ground near the village. On my expressing a wish to obtain some
+such specimen, Mr. B. asked the chief for it, and much to my surprise he
+immediately gave it me. It represented the Hindu goddess Durga, called
+in Java, Lora Jong-grang (the exalted virgin). She has eight arms, and
+stands on the back of a kneeling bull. Her lower right hand holds the
+tail of the bull, while the corresponding left hand grasps the hair of a
+captive, Dewth Mahikusor, the personification of vice, who has attempted
+to slay her bull. He has a cord round his waist, and crouches at her
+feet in an attitude of supplication. The other hands of the goddess
+hold, on her right side, a double hook or small anchor, a broad straight
+sword, and a noose of thick cord; on her left, a girdle or armlet of
+large beads or shells, an unstrung bow, and a standard or war flag. This
+deity was a special favourite among the old Javanese, and her image is
+often found in the ruined temples which abound in the eastern part of
+the island.
+
+The specimen I had obtained was a small one, about two feet high,
+weighing perhaps a hundredweight; and the next day we had it conveyed to
+Modjo-Kerto to await my return to Sourabaya. Having decided to stay some
+time at Wonosalem, on the lower slopes of the Arjuna Mountain, where
+I was informed I should find forest and plenty of game, I had first to
+obtain a recommendation from the Assistant Resident to the Regent, and
+then an order from the Regent to the Waidono; and when after a week's
+delay I arrived with my baggage and men at Modjo-agong, I found them all
+in the midst of a five days' feast, to celebrate the circumcision of
+the Waidono's younger brother and cousin, and had a small room in an
+on outhouse given me to stay in. The courtyard and the great open
+reception-shed were full of natives coming and going and making
+preparations for a feast which was to take place at midnight, to which I
+was invited, but preferred going to bed. A native band, or Gamelang, was
+playing almost all the evening, and I had a good opportunity of seeing
+the instruments and musicians. The former are chiefly gongs of various
+sizes, arranged in sets of from eight to twelve, on low wooden frames.
+Each set is played by one performer with one or two drumsticks. There
+are also some very large gongs, played singly or in pairs, and taking
+the place of our drums and kettledrums. Other instruments are formed by
+broad metallic bars, supported on strings stretched across frames; and
+others again of strips of bamboo similarly placed and producing
+the highest notes. Besides these there were a flute and a curious
+two-stringed violin, requiring in all twenty-four performers. There was
+a conductor, who led off and regulated the time, and each performer
+took his part, coming in occasionally with a few bars so as to form a
+harmonious combination. The pieces played were long and complicated,
+and some of the players were mere boys, who took their parts with great
+precision. The general effect was very pleasing, but, owing to the
+similarity of most of the instruments, more like a gigantic musical
+box than one of our bands; and in order to enjoy it thoroughly it is
+necessary to watch the large number of performers who are engaged in it.
+The next morning, while I was waiting for the men and horses who were to
+take me and my baggage to my destination, the two lads, who were about
+fourteen years old, were brought out, clothed in a sarong from the waist
+downwards, and having the whole body covered with yellow powder, and
+profusely decked with white blossom in wreaths, necklaces, and armlets,
+looking at first sight very like savage brides. They were conducted by
+two priests to a bench placed in front of the house in the open air,
+and the ceremony of circumcision was then performed before the assembled
+crowd.
+
+The road to Wonosalem led through a magnificent forest in the depths of
+which we passed a fine ruin of what appeared to have been a royal tomb
+or mausoleum. It is formed entirely of stone, and elaborately carved.
+Near the base is a course of boldly projecting blocks, sculptured in
+high relief, with a series of scenes which are probably incidents in
+the life of the defunct. These are all beautifully executed, some of
+the figures of animals in particular, being easily recognisable and very
+accurate. The general design, as far as the ruined state of the upper
+part will permit of its being seen, is very good, effect being given
+by an immense number and variety of projecting or retreating courses
+of squared stones in place of mouldings. The size of this structure
+is about thirty feet square by twenty high, and as the traveller comes
+suddenly upon it on a small elevation by the roadside, overshadowed by
+gigantic trees, overrun with plants and creepers, and closely backed by
+the gloomy forest, he is struck by the solemnity and picturesque beauty
+of the scene, and is led to ponder on the strange law of progress, which
+looks so like retrogression, and which in so many distant parts of the
+world has exterminated or driven out a highly artistic and constructive
+race, to make room for one which, as far as we can judge, is very far
+its inferior.
+
+Few Englishmen are aware of the number and beauty of the architectural
+remains in Java. They have never been popularly illustrated or
+described, and it will therefore take most persons by surprise to learn
+that they far surpass those of Central America, perhaps even those of
+India. To give some idea of these ruins, and perchance to excite
+wealthy amateurs to explore them thoroughly and obtain by photography an
+accurate record of their beautiful sculptures before it is too late, I
+will enumerate the most important, as briefly described in Sir Stamford
+Raffles' "History of Java."
+
+BRAMBANAM.--Near the centre of Java, between the native capitals of
+Djoko-kerta and Surakerta, is the village of Brambanam, near which are
+abundance of ruins, the most important being the temples of Loro-Jongran
+and Chandi Sewa. At Loro-Jongran there were twenty separate buildings,
+six large and fourteen small temples. They are now a mass of ruins, but
+the largest temples are supposed to have been ninety feet high. They
+were all constructed of solid stone, everywhere decorated with carvings
+and bas-reliefs, and adorned with numbers of statues, many of which
+still remain entire. At Chandi Sewa, or the "Thousand Temples," are many
+fine colossal figures. Captain Baker, who surveyed these ruins, said he
+had never in his life seen "such stupendous and finished specimens of
+human labour, and of the science and taste of ages long since forgot,
+crowded together in so small a compass as in this spot." They cover a
+space of nearly six hundred feet square, and consist of an outer row
+of eighty-four small temples, a second row of seventy-six, a third
+of sixty-four, a fourth of forty-four, and the fifth forming an inner
+parallelogram of twenty-eight, in all two hundred and ninety-six small
+temples; disposed in five regular parallelograms. In the centre is
+a large cruciform temple surrounded by lofty flights of steps richly
+ornamented with sculpture, and containing many apartments. The tropical
+vegetation has ruined most of the smaller temples, but some remain
+tolerably perfect, from which the effect of the whole may be imagined.
+
+About half a mile off is another temple, called Chandi Kali Bening,
+seventy-two feet square and sixty feet high, in very fine preservation,
+and covered with sculptures of Hindu mythology surpassing any that exist
+in India, other ruins of palaces, halls, and temples, with abundance of
+sculptured deities, are found in the same neighbourhood.
+
+BOROBODO.--About eighty miles westward, in the province of Kedu, is the
+great temple of Borobodo. It is built upon a small hill, and consists of
+a central dome and seven ranges of terraced walls covering the slope
+of the hill and forming open galleries each below the other, and
+communicating by steps and gateways. The central dome is fifty feet in
+diameter; around it is a triple circle of seventy-two towers, and the
+whole building is six hundred and twenty feet square, and about
+one hundred feet high. In the terrace walls are niches containing
+cross-legged figures larger than life to the number of about four
+hundred, and both sides of all the terrace walls are covered with
+bas-reliefs crowded with figures, and carved in hard stone and which
+must therefore occupy an extent of nearly three miles in length! The
+amount of human labour and skill expended on the Great Pyramid of Egypt
+sinks into insignificance when compared with that required to complete
+this sculptured hill-temple in the interior of Java.
+
+GUNONG PRAU.--About forty miles southwest of Samarang, on a mountain
+called Gunong Prau, an extensive plateau is covered with ruins. To reach
+these temples, four flights of stone steps were made up the mountain
+from opposite directions, each flight consisting of more than a thousand
+steps. Traces of nearly four hundred temples have been found here, and
+many (perhaps all) were decorated with rich and delicate sculptures.
+The whole country between this and Brambanam, a distance of sixty miles,
+abounds with ruins, so that fine sculptured images may be seen lying in
+the ditches, or built into the walls of enclosures.
+
+In the eastern part of Java, at Kediri and in Malang, there are equally
+abundant traces of antiquity, but the buildings themselves have been
+mostly destroyed. Sculptured figures, however, abound; and the ruins of
+forts, palaces, baths, aqueducts, and temples, can be everywhere traced.
+It is altogether contrary to the plan of this book to describe what I
+have not myself seen; but, having been led to mention them, I felt bound
+to do something to call attention to these marvellous works of art. One
+is overwhelmed by the contemplation of these innumerable sculptures,
+worked with delicacy and artistic feeling in a hard, intractable,
+trachytic rock, and all found in one tropical island. What could have
+been the state of society, what the amount of population, what the
+means of subsistence which rendered such gigantic works possible, will,
+perhaps, ever remain a mystery; and it is a wonderful example of the
+power of religious ideas in social life, that in the very country where,
+five hundred years ago, these grand works were being yearly executed,
+the inhabitants now only build rude houses of bamboo and thatch, and
+look upon these relics of their forefathers with ignorant amazement,
+as the undoubted productions of giants or of demons. It is much to be
+regretted that the Dutch Government does not take vigorous steps for
+the preservation of these ruins from the destroying agency of tropical
+vegetation; and for the collection of the fine sculptures which are
+everywhere scattered over the land.
+
+Wonosalem is situated about a thousand feet above the sea, but
+unfortunately it is at a distance from the forest, and is surrounded by
+coffee plantations, thickets of bamboo, and coarse grasses. It was too
+far to walk back daily to the forest, and in other directions I could
+find no collecting ground for insects. The place was, however, famous
+for peacocks, and my boy soon shot several of these magnificent birds,
+whose flesh we found to be tender, white, and delicate, and similar to
+that of a turkey. The Java peacock is a different species from that of
+India, the neck being covered with scale-like green feathers, and the
+crest of a different form; but the eyed train is equally large and
+equally beautiful. It is a singular fact in geographical distribution
+that the peacock should not be found in Sumatra or Borneo, while the
+superb Argus, Fire-backed and Ocellated pheasants of those islands are
+equally unknown in Java. Exactly parallel is the fact that in Ceylon
+and Southern India, where the peacock abounds, there are none of the
+splendid Lophophori and other gorgeous pheasants which inhabit Northern
+India. It would seem as if the peacock can admit of no rivals in its
+domain. Were these birds rare in their native country, and unknown alive
+in Europe, they would assuredly be considered as the true princes of the
+feathered tribes, and altogether unrivalled for stateliness and beauty.
+As it is, I suppose scarcely anyone if asked to fix upon the most
+beautiful bird in the world would name the peacock, any more than the
+Papuan savage or the Bugis trader would fix upon the bird of paradise
+for the same honour.
+
+Three days after my arrival at Wonosalem, my friend Mr. Ball came to pay
+me a visit. He told me that two evenings before, a boy had been killed
+and eaten by a tiger close to Modjo-agong. He was riding on a cart drawn
+by bullocks, and was coming home about dusk on the main road; and when
+not half a mile from the village a tiger sprang upon him, carried him
+off into the jungle close by, and devoured him. Next morning his remains
+were discovered, consisting only of a few mangled bones. The Waidono had
+got together about seven hundred men, and were in chase of the animal,
+which, I afterwards heard, they found and killed. They only use spears
+when in pursuit of a tiger in this way. They surround a large tract of
+country, and draw gradually together until the animal is enclosed in a
+compact ring of armed men. When he sees there is no escape he generally
+makes a spring, and is received on a dozen spears, and almost instantly
+stabbed to death. The skin of an animal thus killed is, of course,
+worthless, and in this case the skull, which I had begged Mr. Ball to
+secure for me, was hacked to pieces to divide the teeth, which are worn
+as charms.
+
+After a week at Wonosalem, I returned to the foot of the mountain, to
+a village named Djapannan, which was surrounded by several patches of
+forest, and seemed altogether pretty well suited to my pursuits. The
+chief of the village had prepared two small bamboo rooms on one side of
+his own courtyard to accommodate me, and seemed inclined to assist me
+as much as he could. The weather was exceedingly hot and dry, no rain
+having fallen for several months, and there was, in consequence, a great
+scarcity of insects, and especially of beetles. I therefore devoted
+myself chiefly to obtaining a good set of the birds, and succeeded in
+making a tolerable collection. All the peacocks we had hitherto shot
+had had short or imperfect tails, but I now obtained two magnificent
+specimens more than seven feet long, one of which I preserved entire,
+while I kept the train only attached to the tail of two or three others.
+When this bird is seen feeding on the ground, it appears wonderful
+how it can rise into the air with such a long and cumbersome train of
+feathers. It does so however with great ease, by running quickly for a
+short distance, and then rising obliquely; and will fly over trees of a
+considerable height. I also obtained here a specimen of the rare green
+jungle-fowl (Gallus furcatus), whose back and neck are beautifully
+scaled with bronzy feathers, and whose smooth-edged oval comb is of
+a violet purple colour, changing to green at the base. It is also
+remarkable in possessing a single large wattle beneath its throat,
+brightly coloured in three patches of red, yellow, and blue. The common
+jungle-cock (Gallus bankiva) was also obtained here. It is almost
+exactly like a common game-cock, but the voice is different, being much
+shorter and more abrupt; hence its native name is Bekeko. Six different
+kinds of woodpeckers and four kingfishers were found here, the fine
+hornbill, Buceros lunatus, more than four feet long, and the pretty
+little lorikeet, Loriculus pusillus, scarcely more than as many inches.
+
+One morning, as I was preparing and arranging specimens, I was told
+there was to be a trial; and presently four or five men came in and
+squatted down on a mat under the audience-shed in the court. The chief
+then came in with his clerk, and sat down opposite them. Each spoke
+in turn, telling his own tale, and then I found that those who first
+entered were the prisoner, accuser, policemen, and witness, and that
+the prisoner was indicated solely by having a loose piece of cord twined
+around his wrists, but not tied. It was a case of robbery, and after the
+evidence was given, and a few questions had been asked by the chief, the
+accused said a few words, and then sentence was pronounced, which was
+a fine. The parties then got up and walked away together, seeming quite
+friendly; and throughout there was nothing in the manner of any one
+present indicating passion or ill-feeling--a very good illustration of
+the Malayan type of character.
+
+In a month's collecting at Wonosalem and Djapannan I accumulated
+ninety-eight species of birds, but a most miserable lot of insects. I
+then determined to leave East Java and try the more moist and luxuriant
+districts at the western extremity of the island. I returned to
+Sourabaya by water, in a roomy boat which brought myself, servants, and
+baggage at one-fifth the expense it had cost me to come to Modjo-kerto.
+The river has been rendered navigable by being carefully banked up,
+but with the usual effect of rendering the adjacent country liable
+occasionally to severe floods. An immense traffic passes down this
+river; and at a lock we passed through, a mile of laden boats were
+waiting two or three deep, which pass through in their turn six at a
+time.
+
+A few days afterwards I went by steamer to Batavia, where I stayed about
+a week at the chief hotel, while I made arrangements for a trip into
+the interior. The business part of the city is near the harbour, but the
+hotels and all the residences of the officials and European merchants
+are in a suburb two miles off, laid out in wide streets and squares
+so as to cover a great extent of ground. This is very inconvenient
+for visitors, as the only public conveyances are handsome two-horse
+carriages, whose lowest charge is five guilders (8s. 4d.) for half
+a day, so that an hour's business in the morning and a visit in the
+evening costs 16s. 8d. a day for carriage hire alone.
+
+Batavia agrees very well with Mr. Money's graphic account of it, except
+that his "clear canals" were all muddy, and his "smooth gravel drives"
+up to the houses were one and all formed of coarse pebbles, very painful
+to walk upon, and hardly explained by the fact that in Batavia everybody
+drives, as it can hardly be supposed that people never walk in their
+gardens. The Hôtel des Indes was very comfortable, each visitor having
+a sitting-room and bedroom opening on a verandah, where he can take his
+morning coffee and afternoon tea. In the centre of the quadrangle is a
+building containing a number of marble baths always ready for use; and
+there is an excellent table d'hôte breakfast at ten, and dinner at six,
+for all which there is a moderate charge per day.
+
+I went by coach to Buitenzorg, forty miles inland and about a thousand
+feet above the sea, celebrated for its delicious climate and its
+Botanical Gardens. With the latter I was somewhat disappointed. The
+walks were all of loose pebbles, making any lengthened wanderings about
+them very tiring and painful under a tropical sun. The gardens are no
+doubt wonderfully rich in tropical and especially in Malayan plants, but
+there is a great absence of skillful laying-out; there are not enough
+men to keep the place thoroughly in order, and the plants themselves
+are seldom to be compared for luxuriance and beauty to the same species
+grown in our hothouses. This can easily be explained. The plants can
+rarely be placed in natural or very favourable conditions. The climate
+is either too hot or too cool, too moist or too dry, for a large
+proportion of them, and they seldom get the exact quantity of shade
+or the right quality of soil to suit them. In our stoves these varied
+conditions can be supplied to each individual plant far better than in a
+large garden, where the fact that the plants are most of them growing in
+or near their native country is supposed to preclude, the necessity of
+giving them much individual attention. Still, however, there is much to
+admire here. There are avenues of stately palms, and clumps of bamboos
+of perhaps fifty different kinds; and an endless variety of tropical
+shrubs and trees with strange and beautiful foliage. As a change from
+the excessive heat of Batavia, Buitenzorg is a delightful abode. It is
+just elevated enough to have deliciously cool evenings and nights, but
+not so much as to require any change of clothing; and to a person long
+resident in the hotter climate of the plains, the air is always fresh
+and pleasant, and admits of walking at almost any hour of the day. The
+vicinity is most picturesque and luxuriant, and the great volcano
+of Gunung Salak, with its truncated and jagged summit, forms a
+characteristic background to many of the landscapes. A great mud
+eruption took place in 1699, since which date the mountain has been
+entirely inactive.
+
+On leaving Buitenzorg, I had coolies to carry my baggage and a horse
+for myself, both to be changed every six or seven miles. The road rose
+gradually, and after the first stage the hills closed in a little on
+each side, forming a broad valley; and the temperature was so cool and
+agreeable, and the country so interesting, that I preferred walking.
+Native villages imbedded in fruit trees, and pretty villas inhabited by
+planters or retired Dutch officials, gave this district a very pleasing
+and civilized aspect; but what most attracted my attention was the
+system of terrace-cultivation, which is here universally adopted, and
+which is, I should think, hardly equalled in the world. The slopes of
+the main valley, and of its branches, were everywhere cut in terraces up
+to a considerable height, and when they wound round the recesses of the
+hills produced all the effect of magnificent amphitheatres. Hundreds of
+square miles of country are thus terraced, and convey a striking idea
+of the industry of the people and the antiquity of their civilization.
+These terraces are extended year by year as the population increases, by
+the inhabitants of each village working in concert under the direction
+of their chiefs; and it is perhaps by this system of village culture
+alone, that such extensive terracing and irrigation has been rendered
+possible. It was probably introduced by the Brahmins from India,
+since in those Malay countries where there is no trace of a previous
+occupation by a civilized people, the terrace system is unknown. I first
+saw this mode of cultivation in Bali and Lombock, and, as I shall have
+to describe it in some detail there (see CHAPTER X.), I need say no more
+about it in this place, except that, owing to the finer outlines and
+greater luxuriance of the country in West Java, it produces there the
+most striking and picturesque effect. The lower slopes of the mountains
+in Java possess such a delightful climate and luxuriant soil; living is
+so cheap and life and property are so secure, that a considerable
+number of Europeans who have been engaged in Government service, settle
+permanently in the country instead of returning to Europe. They are
+scattered everywhere throughout the more accessible parts of the island,
+and tend greatly to the gradual improvement of the native population,
+and to the continued peace and prosperity of the whole country.
+
+Twenty miles beyond Buitenzorg the post road passes over the Megamendong
+Mountain, at an elevation of about 4,500 feet. The country is finely
+mountainous, and there is much virgin forest still left upon the hills,
+together with some of the oldest coffee-plantations in Java, where the
+plants have attained almost the dimensions of forest trees. About 500
+feet below the summit level of the pass there is a road-keeper's hut,
+half of which I hired for a fortnight, as the country looked promising
+for making collections. I almost immediately found that the productions
+of West Java were remarkably different from those of the eastern part of
+the island; and that all the more remarkable and characteristic Javanese
+birds and insects were to be found here. On the very first day, my
+hunters obtained for me the elegant yellow and green trogon (Harpactes
+Reinwardti), the gorgeous little minivet flycatcher (Pericrocotus
+miniatus), which looks like a flame of fire as it flutters among the
+bushes, and the rare and curious black and crimson oriole (Analcipus
+sanguinolentus), all of these species which are found only in Java, and
+even seem to be confined to its western portion.
+
+In a week I obtained no less than twenty-four species of birds, which I
+had not found in the east of the island, and in a fortnight this number
+increased to forty species, almost all of which are peculiar to the
+Javanese fauna. Large and handsome butterflies were also tolerably
+abundant. In dark ravines, and occasionally on the roadside, I captured
+the superb Papilio arjuna, whose wings seem powdered with grains of
+golden green, condensed into bands and moon-shaped spots; while the
+elegantly-formed Papilio coön was sometimes to be found fluttering
+slowly along the shady pathways (see figure at page 201). One day a boy
+brought me a butterfly between his fingers, perfectly unhurt. He had
+caught it as it was sitting with wings erect, sucking up the liquid from
+a muddy spot by the roadside. Many of the finest tropical butterflies
+have this habit, and they are generally so intent upon their meal that
+they can be easily be reached and captured. It proved to be the rare and
+curious Charaxes kadenii, remarkable for having on each hind wing two
+curved tails like a pair of callipers. It was the only specimen I
+ever saw, and is still the only representative of its kind in English
+collections.
+
+In the east of Java I had suffered from the intense heat and drought of
+the dry season, which had been very inimical to insect life. Here I had
+got into the other extreme of damp, wet, and cloudy weather, which was
+equally unfavourable. During the month which I spent in the interior
+of West Java, I never had a really hot fine day throughout. It rained
+almost every afternoon, or dense mists came down from the mountains,
+which equally stopped collecting, and rendered it most difficult to dry
+my specimens, so that I really had no chance of getting a fair sample of
+Javanese entomology.
+
+By far the most interesting incident in my visit to Java was a trip to
+the summit of the Pangerango and Gedeh mountains; the former an extinct
+volcanic cone about 10,000 feet high, the latter an active crater on a
+lower portion of the same mountain range. Tchipanas, about four miles
+over the Megamendong Pass, is at the foot of the mountain. A small
+country house for the Governor-General and a branch of the Botanic
+Gardens are situated here, the keeper of which accommodated me with a
+bed for a night. There are many beautiful trees and shrubs planted
+here, and large quantities of European vegetables are grown for the
+Governor-General's table. By the side of a little torrent that bordered
+the garden, quantities of orchids were cultivated, attached to the
+trunks of trees, or suspended from the branches, forming an interesting
+open air orchid-house. As I intended to stay two or three nights on the
+mountain, I engaged two coolies to carry my baggage, and with my two
+hunters we started early the next morning.
+
+The first mile was over open country, which brought us to the forest
+that covers the whole mountain from a height of about 5,000 feet. The
+next mile or two was a tolerably steep ascent through a grand virgin
+forest, the trees being of great size, and the undergrowth consisting of
+fine herbaceous plants, tree-ferns, and shrubby vegetation. I was struck
+by the immense number of ferns that grew by the side of the road. Their
+variety seemed endless, and I was continually stopping to admire some
+new and interesting forms. I could now well understand what I had
+been told by the gardener, that 300 species had been found on this
+one mountain. A little before noon we reached the small plateau of
+Tjiburong, at the foot of the steeper part of the mountain, where there
+is a plank-house for the accommodation of travellers. Close by is a
+picturesque waterfall and a curious cavern, which I had not time to
+explore. Continuing our ascent the road became narrow, rugged and steep,
+winding zigzag up the cone, which is covered with irregular masses of
+rock, and overgrown with a dense luxuriant but less lofty vegetation.
+We passed a torrent of water which is not much lower than the boiling
+point, and has a most singular appearance as it foams over its rugged
+bed, sending up clouds of steam, and often concealed by the overhanging
+herbage of ferns and lycopodia, which here thrive with more luxuriance
+than elsewhere.
+
+At about 7,500 feet we came to another hut of open bamboos, at a place
+called Kandang Badak, or "Rhinoceros-field," which we were going to
+make our temporary abode. Here was a small clearing, with abundance of
+tree-ferns and some young plantations of Cinchona. As there was now a
+thick mist and drizzling rain, I did not attempt to go on to the summit
+that evening, but made two visits to it during my stay, as well as
+one to the active crater of Gedeh. This is a vast semicircular chasm,
+bounded by black perpendicular walls of rock, and surrounded by miles
+of rugged scoria-covered slopes. The crater itself is not very deep. It
+exhibits patches of sulphur and variously-coloured volcanic products,
+and emits from several vents continual streams of smoke and vapour. The
+extinct cone of Pangerango was to me more interesting. The summit is
+an irregular undulating plain with a low bordering ridge, and one deep
+lateral chasm. Unfortunately, there was perpetual mist and rain either
+above or below us all the time I was on the mountain; so that I never
+once saw the plain below, or had a glimpse of the magnificent view which
+in fine weather is to be obtained from its summit. Notwithstanding this
+drawback I enjoyed the excursion exceedingly, for it was the first
+time I had been high enough on a mountain near the Equator to watch the
+change from a tropical to a temperate flora. I will now briefly sketch
+these changes as I observed them in Java.
+
+On ascending the mountain, we first meet with temperate forms of
+herbaceous plants, so low as 3,000 feet, where strawberries and violets
+begin to grow, but the former are tasteless, and the latter have very
+small and pale flowers. Weedy composites also begin to give a European
+aspect to the wayside herbage. It is between 2,000 and 5,000 feet that
+the forests and ravines exhibit the utmost development of tropical
+luxuriance and beauty. The abundance of noble Tree-ferns, sometimes
+fifty feet high, contributes greatly to the general effect, since of all
+the forms of tropical vegetation they are certainly the most striking
+and beautiful. Some of the deep ravines which have been cleared of large
+timber are full of them from top to bottom; and where the road crosses
+one of these valleys, the view of their feathery crowns, in varied
+positions above and below the eye, offers a spectacle of picturesque
+beauty never to be forgotten. The splendid foliage of the broad-leaved
+Musaceae and Zingiberaceae, with their curious and brilliant flowers;
+and the elegant and varied forms of plants allied to Begonia and
+Melastoma, continually attract the attention in this region. Filling in
+the spaces between the trees and larger plants, on every trunk and stump
+and branch, are hosts of Orchids, Ferns and Lycopods, which wave and
+hang and intertwine in ever-varying complexity. At about 5,000 feet I
+first saw horsetails (Equisetum), very like our own species. At 6,000
+feet, raspberries abound, and thence to the summit of the mountain there
+are three species of eatable Rubus. At 7,000 feet Cypresses appear, and
+the forest trees become reduced in size, and more covered with mosses
+and lichens. From this point upward these rapidly increase, so that the
+blocks of rock and scoria that form the mountain slope are completely
+hidden in a mossy vegetation. At about 5,000 feet European forms of
+plants become abundant. Several species of Honeysuckle, St. John's-wort,
+and Guelder-rose abound, and at about 9,000 feet we first meet with the
+rare and beautiful Royal Cowslip (Primula imperialis), which is said to
+be found nowhere else in the world but on this solitary mountain summit.
+It has a tall, stout stem, sometimes more than three feet high, the
+root leaves are eighteen inches long, and it bears several whorls of
+cowslip-like flowers, instead of a terminal cluster only. The forest
+trees, gnarled and dwarfed to the dimensions of bushes, reach up to the
+very rim of the old crater, but do not extend over the hollow on its
+summit. Here we find a good deal of open ground, with thickets of
+shrubby Artemisias and Gnaphaliums, like our southernwood and cudweed,
+but six or eight feet high; while Buttercups, Violets, Whortleberries,
+Sow-thistles, Chickweed, white and yellow Cruciferae, Plantain, and
+annual grasses everywhere abound. Where there are bushes and shrubs,
+the St. John's-wort and Honeysuckle grow abundantly, while the Imperial
+Cowslip only exhibits its elegant blossoms under the damp shade of the
+thickets.
+
+Mr. Motley, who visited the mountain in the dry season, and paid much
+attention to botany, gives the following list of genera of European
+plants found on or near the summit:-- Two species of Violet, three of
+Ranunculus, three of Impatiens, eight or ten of Rubus, and species of
+Primula, Hypericum, Swertia, Convallaria (Lily of the Valley), Vaccinium
+(Cranberry), Rhododendron, Gnaphalium, Polygonum, Digitalis (Foxglove),
+Lonicera (Honeysuckle), Plantago (Rib-grass), Artemisia (Wormwood),
+Lobelia, Oxalis (Wood-sorrel), Quercus (Oak), and Taxus (Yew). A few of
+the smaller plants (Plantago major and lanceolata, Sonchus oleraceus,
+and Artemisia vulgaris) are identical with European species.
+
+The fact of a vegetation so closely allied to that of Europe occurring
+on isolated mountain peaks, in an island south of the Equator, while all
+the lowlands for thousands of miles around are occupied by a flora of
+a totally different character, is very extraordinary; and has only
+recently received an intelligible explanation. The Peak of Teneriffe,
+which rises to a greater height and is much nearer to Europe, contains
+no such Alpine flora; neither do the mountains of Bourbon and
+Mauritius. The case of the volcanic peaks of Java is therefore somewhat
+exceptional, but there are several analogous, if not exactly parallel
+cases, that will enable us better to understand in what way the
+phenomena may possibly have been brought about.
+
+The higher peaks of the Alps, and even of the Pyrenees, contain a number
+of plants absolutely identical with those of Lapland, but nowhere found
+in the intervening plains. On the summit of the White Mountains, in
+the United States, every plant is identical with species growing in
+Labrador. In these cases all ordinary means of transport fail. Most of
+the plants have heavy seeds, which could not possibly be carried such
+immense distances by the wind; and the agency of birds in so effectually
+stocking these Alpine heights is equally out of the question. The
+difficulty was so great, that some naturalists were driven to believe
+that these species were all separately created twice over on these
+distant peaks. The determination of a recent glacial epoch, however,
+soon offered a much more satisfactory solution, and one that is now
+universally accepted by men of science. At this period, when the
+mountains of Wales were full of glaciers, and the mountainous parts
+of Central Europe, and much of America north of the great lakes, were
+covered with snow and ice, and had a climate resembling that of Labrador
+and Greenland at the present day, an Arctic flora covered all these
+regions. As this epoch of cold passed away, and the snowy mantle of the
+country, with the glaciers that descended from every mountain summit,
+receded up their slopes and towards the north pole, the plants receded
+also, always clinging as now to the margins of the perpetual snow line.
+Thus it is that the same species are now found on the summits of the
+mountains of temperate Europe and America, and in the barren north-polar
+regions.
+
+But there is another set of facts, which help us on another step towards
+the case of the Javanese mountain flora. On the higher slopes of
+the Himalayas, on the tops of the mountains of Central India and of
+Abyssinia, a number of plants occur which, though not identical with
+those of European mountains, belong to the same genera, and are said by
+botanists to represent them; and most of these could not exist in the
+warm intervening plains. Mr. Darwin believes that this class of facts
+can be explained in the same way; for, during the greatest severity of
+the glacial epoch, temperate forms of plants will have extended to the
+confines of the tropics, and on its departure, will have retreated up
+these southern mountains, as well as northward to the plains and hills
+of Europe. But in this case, the time elapsed, and the great change of
+conditions, have allowed many of these plants to become so modified that
+we now consider them to be distinct species. A variety of other facts
+of a similar nature have led him to believe that the depression of
+temperature was at one time sufficient to allow a few north-temperate
+plants to cross the Equator (by the most elevated routes) and to reach
+the Antarctic regions, where they are now found. The evidence on which
+this belief rests will be found in the latter part of CHAPTER II. of the
+"Origin of Species"; and, accepting it for the present as an hypothesis,
+it enables us to account for the presence of a flora of European type on
+the volcanoes of Java.
+
+It will, however, naturally be objected that there is a wide expanse
+of sea between Java and the continent, which would have effectually
+prevented the immigration of temperate forms of plants during the
+glacial epoch. This would undoubtedly be a fatal objection, were there
+not abundant evidence to show that Java has been formerly connected with
+Asia, and that the union must have occurred at about the epoch required.
+The most striking proof of such a junction is, that the great Mammalia
+of Java, the rhinoceros, the tiger, and the Banteng or wild ox, occur
+also in Siam and Burmah, and these would certainly not have been
+introduced by man. The Javanese peacock and several other birds are
+also common to these two countries; but, in the majority of cases,
+the species are distinct, though closely allied, indicating that a
+considerable time (required for such modification) has elapsed since the
+separation, while it has not been so long as to cause an entire change.
+Now this exactly corresponds with the time we should require since the
+temperate forms of plants entered Java. These are now almost distinct
+species, but the changed conditions under which they are now forced to
+exist, and the probability of some of them having since died out on the
+continent of India, sufficiently accounts for the Javanese species being
+different.
+
+In my more special pursuits, I had very little success upon the
+mountain--owing, perhaps, to the excessively unpropitious weather and
+the shortness of my stay. At from 7,000 to 8,000 feet elevation, I
+obtained one of the most lovely of the small Fruit pigeons (Ptilonopus
+roseicollis), whose entire head and neck are of an exquisite rosy pink
+colour, contrasting finely with its otherwise green plumage; and on the
+very summit, feeding on the ground among the strawberries that have
+been planted there, I obtained a dull-coloured thrush, with the form
+and habits of a starling (Turdus fumidus). Insects were almost entirely
+absent, owing no doubt to the extreme dampness, and I did not get a
+single butterfly the whole trip; yet I feel sure that, during the
+dry season, a week's residence on this mountain would well repay the
+collector in every department of natural history.
+
+After my return to Toego, I endeavoured to find another locality to
+collect in, and removed to a coffee-plantation some miles to the north,
+and tried in succession higher and lower stations on the mountain; but,
+I never succeeded in obtaining insects in any abundance and birds were
+far less plentiful than on the Megamendong Mountain. The weather now
+became more rainy than ever, and as the wet season seemed to have set
+in in earnest, I returned to Batavia, packed up and sent off my
+collections, and left by steamer on November 1st for Banca and Sumatra.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. SUMATRA.
+
+ (NOVEMBER 1861 to JANUARY 1862.)
+
+The mail steamer from Batavia to Singapore took me to Muntok (or as on
+English maps, "Minto"), the chief town and port of Banca. Here I stayed
+a day or two, until I could obtain a boat to take me across the straits,
+and up the river to Palembang. A few walks into the country showed me
+that it was very hilly, and full of granitic and laterite rocks, with a
+dry and stunted forest vegetation; and I could find very few insects.
+A good-sized open sailing-boat took me across to the mouth of the
+Palembang river where, at a fishing village, a rowing-boat was hired to
+take me up to Palembang--a distance of nearly a hundred miles by water.
+Except when the wind was strong and favourable we could only proceed
+with the tide, and the banks of the river were generally flooded
+Nipa-swamps, so that the hours we were obliged to lay at anchor passed
+very heavily. Reaching Palembang on the 8th of November, I was lodged
+by the Doctor, to whom I had brought a letter of introduction, and
+endeavoured to ascertain where I could find a good locality for
+collecting. Everyone assured me that I should have to go a very long way
+further to find any dry forest, for at this season the whole country
+for many miles inland was flooded. I therefore had to stay a week at
+Palembang before I could determine my future movements.
+
+The city is a large one, extending for three or four miles along a fine
+curve of the river, which is as wide as the Thames at Greenwich. The
+stream is, however, much narrowed by the houses which project into it
+upon piles, and within these, again, there is a row of houses built upon
+great bamboo rafts, which are moored by rattan cables to the shore or to
+piles, and rise and fall with the tide.
+
+The whole riverfront on both sides is chiefly formed of such houses, and
+they are mostly shops open to the water, and only raised a foot above
+it, so that by taking a small boat it is easy to go to market and
+purchase anything that is to be had in Palembang. The natives are true
+Malays, never building a house on dry land if they can find water to set
+it in, and never going anywhere on foot if they can reach the place in
+a boat. A considerable portion of the population are Chinese and Arabs,
+who carry on all the trade; while the only Europeans are the civil and
+military officials of the Dutch Government. The town is situated at the
+head of the delta of the river, and between it and the sea there is
+very little ground elevated above highwater mark; while for many
+miles further inland, the banks of the main stream and its numerous
+tributaries are swampy, and in the wet season flooded for a considerable
+distance. Palembang is built on a patch of elevated ground, a few miles
+in extent, on the north bank of the river. At a spot about three miles
+from the town this turns into a little hill, the top of which is held
+sacred by the natives, shaded by some fine trees, and inhabited by a
+colony of squirrels which have become half-tame. On holding out a few
+crumbs of bread or any fruit, they come running down the trunk, take
+the morsel out of your fingers, and dart away instantly. Their tails
+are carried erect, and the hair, which is ringed with grey, yellow, and
+brown, radiates uniformly around them, and looks exceedingly pretty.
+They have somewhat of the motions of mice, coming on with little starts,
+and gazing intently with their large black eyes before venturing to
+advance further. The manner in which Malays often obtain the confidence
+of wild animals is a very pleasing trait in their character, and is due
+in some degree to the quiet deliberation of their manners, and their
+love of repose rather than of action. The young are obedient to the
+wishes of their elders, and seem to feel none of that propensity to
+mischief which European boys exhibit. How long would tame squirrels
+continue to inhabit trees in the vicinity of an English village, even
+if close to the church? They would soon be pelted and driven away, or
+snared and confined in a whirling cage. I have never heard of these
+pretty animals being tamed in this way in England, but I should think it
+might be easily done in any gentleman's park, and they would certainly
+be as pleasing and attractive as they would be uncommon.
+
+After many inquiries, I found that a day's journey by water above
+Palembang there commenced a military road which extended up to the
+mountains and even across to Bencoolen, and I determined to take this
+route and travel on until I found some tolerable collecting ground.
+By this means I should secure dry land and a good road, and avoid the
+rivers, which at this season are very tedious to ascend owing to the
+powerful currents, and very unproductive to the collector owing to most
+of the lands in their vicinity being underwater. Leaving early in the
+morning we did not reach Lorok, the village where the road begins, until
+late at night. I stayed there a few days, but found that almost all the
+ground in the vicinity not underwater was cultivated, and that the only
+forest was in swamps which were now inaccessible. The only bird new
+to me which I obtained at Lorok was the fine long-tailed parroquet
+(Palaeornis longicauda). The people here assured me that the country was
+just the same as this for a very long way--more than a week's journey,
+and they seemed hardly to have any conception of an elevated forest-clad
+country, so that I began to think it would be useless going on, as the
+time at my disposal was too short to make it worth my while to spend
+much more of it in moving about. At length, however, I found a man who
+knew the country, and was more intelligent; and he at once told me that
+if I wanted forest I must go to the district of Rembang, which I found
+on inquiry was about twenty-five or thirty miles off.
+
+The road is divided into regular stages of ten or twelve miles each,
+and, without sending on in advance to have coolies ready, only this
+distance can be travelled in a day. At each station there are houses for
+the accommodation of passengers, with cooking-house and stables, and six
+or eight men always on guard. There is an established system for coolies
+at fixed rates, the inhabitants of the surrounding villages all taking
+their turn to be subject to coolie service, as well as that of guards at
+the station for five days at a time. This arrangement makes travelling
+very easy, and was a great convenience for me. I had a pleasant walk of
+ten or twelve miles in the morning, and the rest of the day could stroll
+about and explore the village and neighbourhood, having a house ready
+to occupy without any formalities whatever. In three days I reached
+Moera-dua, the first village in Rembang, and finding the country dry and
+undulating, with a good sprinkling of forest, I determined to remain a
+short time and try the neighbourhood. Just opposite the station was a
+small but deep river, and a good bathing-place; and beyond the village
+was a fine patch of forest, through which the road passed, overshadowed
+by magnificent trees, which partly tempted me to stay; but after a
+fortnight I could find no good place for insects, and very few birds
+different from the common species of Malacca. I therefore moved on
+another stage to Lobo Raman, where the guard-house is situated quite by
+itself in the forest, nearly a mile from each of three villages. This
+was very agreeable to me, as I could move about without having every
+motion watched by crowds of men, women and children, and I had also
+a much greater variety of walks to each of the villages and the
+plantations around them.
+
+The villages of the Sumatran Malays are somewhat peculiar and very
+picturesque. A space of some acres is surrounded with a high fence, and
+over this area the houses are thickly strewn without the least attempt
+at regularity. Tall cocoa-nut trees grow abundantly between them, and
+the ground is bare and smooth with the trampling of many feet. The
+houses are raised about six feet on posts, the best being entirely
+built of planks, others of bamboo. The former are always more or less
+ornamented with carving and have high-pitched roofs and overhanging
+eaves. The gable ends and all the chief posts and beams are sometimes
+covered with exceedingly tasteful carved work, and this is still more
+the case in the district of Menangkabo, further west. The floor is made
+of split bamboo, and is rather shaky, and there is no sign of anything
+we should call furniture. There are no benches or chairs or stools, but
+merely the level floor covered with mats, on which the inmates sit or
+lie. The aspect of the village itself is very neat, the ground being
+often swept before the chief houses; but very bad odours abound, owing
+to there being under every house a stinking mud-hole, formed by all
+waste liquids and refuse matter, poured down through the floor above. In
+most other things Malays are tolerably clean--in some scrupulously so;
+and this peculiar and nasty custom, which is almost universal, arises,
+I have little doubt, from their having been originally a maritime and
+water-loving people, who built their houses on posts in the water, and
+only migrated gradually inland, first up the rivers and streams, and
+then into the dry interior. Habits which were at once so convenient and
+so cleanly, and which had been so long practised as to become a portion
+of the domestic life of the nation, were of course continued when the
+first settlers built their houses inland; and without a regular system
+of drainage, the arrangement of the villages is such that any other
+system would be very inconvenient.
+
+In all these Sumatran villages I found considerable difficulty in
+getting anything to eat. It was not the season for vegetables, and when,
+after much trouble, I managed to procure some yams of a curious variety,
+I found them hard and scarcely eatable. Fowls were very scarce; and
+fruit was reduced to one of the poorest kinds of banana. The natives
+(during the wet season at least) live exclusively on rice, as the poorer
+Irish do on potatoes. A pot of rice cooked very dry and eaten with salt
+and red peppers, twice a day, forms their entire food during a large
+part of the year. This is no sign of poverty, but is simply custom; for
+their wives and children are loaded with silver armlets from wrist to
+elbow, and carry dozens of silver coins strung round their necks or
+suspended from their ears.
+
+As I had moved away from Palembang, I had found the Malay spoken by
+the common people less and less pure, until at length it became quite
+unintelligible, although the continual recurrence of many well-known
+words assured me it was a form of Malay, and enabled me to guess at the
+main subject of conversation. This district had a very bad reputation
+a few years ago, and travellers were frequently robbed and murdered.
+Fights between village and village were also of frequent occurrence, and
+many lives were lost, owing to disputes about boundaries or intrigues
+with women. Now, however, since the country has been divided into
+districts under "Controlleurs," who visit every village in turn to hear
+complaints and settle disputes, such things are heard of no more. This
+is one of the numerous examples I have met with of the good effects of
+the Dutch Government. It exercises a strict surveillance over its most
+distant possessions, establishes a form of government well adapted to
+the character of the people, reforms abuses, punishes crimes, and makes
+itself everywhere respected by the native population.
+
+Lobo Raman is a central point of the east end of Sumatra, being about a
+hundred and twenty miles from the sea to the east, north, and west. The
+surface is undulating, with no mountains or even hills, and there is
+no rock, the soil being generally a red friable clay. Numbers of small
+streams and rivers intersect the country, and it is pretty equally
+divided between open clearings and patches of forest, both virgin and
+second growth, with abundance of fruit trees; and there is no lack of
+paths to get about in any direction. Altogether it is the very country
+that would promise most for a naturalist, and I feel sure that at a more
+favourable time of year it would prove exceedingly rich; but it was
+now the rainy season, when, in the very best of localities, insects are
+always scarce, and there being no fruit on the trees, there was also a
+scarcity of birds. During a month's collecting, I added only three or
+four new species to my list of birds, although I obtained very fine
+specimens of many which were rare and interesting. In butterflies I was
+rather more successful, obtaining several fine species quite new to me,
+and a considerable number of very rare and beautiful insects. I will
+give here some account of two species of butterflies, which, though
+very common in collections, present us with peculiarities of the highest
+interest.
+
+The first is the handsome Papilio memnon, a splendid butterfly of a deep
+black colour, dotted over with lines and groups of scales of a clear
+ashy blue. Its wings are five inches in expanse, and the hind wings
+are rounded, with scalloped edges. This applies to the males; but
+the females are very different, and vary so much that they were once
+supposed to form several distinct species. They may be divided into two
+groups--those which resemble the male in shape, and, those which differ
+entirely from him in the outline of the wings. The first vary much in
+colour, being often nearly white with dusky yellow and red markings, but
+such differences often occur in butterflies. The second group are much
+more extraordinary, and would never be supposed to be the same insect,
+since the hind wings are lengthened out into large spoon-shaped tails,
+no rudiment of which is ever to be perceived in the males or in the
+ordinary form of females. These tailed females are never of the dark
+and blue-glossed tints which prevail in the male and often occur in the
+females of the same form, but are invariably ornamented with stripes and
+patches of white or buff, occupying the larger part of the surface of
+the hind wings. This peculiarity of colouring led me to discover that
+this extraordinary female closely resembles (when flying) another
+butterfly of the same genus but of a different group (Papilio coön), and
+that we have here a case of mimicry similar to those so well illustrated
+and explained by Mr. Bates.[ Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 495;
+"Naturalist on the Amazons," vol. i. p. 290.]
+
+That the resemblance is not accidental is sufficiently proved by the
+fact, that in the North of India, where Papilio coön is replaced by an
+allied form, (Papilio Doubledayi) having red spots in place of yellow,
+a closely-allied species or variety of Papilio memnon (P. androgeus)
+has the tailed female also red spotted. The use and reason of this
+resemblance appears to be that the butterflies imitated belong to a
+section of the genus Papilio which from some cause or other are not
+attacked by birds, and by so closely resembling these in form and colour
+the female of Memnon and its ally, also escape persecution. Two other
+species of this same section (Papilio antiphus and Papilio polyphontes)
+are so closely imitated by two female forms of Papilio theseus (which
+comes in the same section with Memnon), that they completely deceived
+the Dutch entomologist De Haan, and he accordingly classed them as the
+same species!
+
+But the most curious fact connected with these distinct forms is that
+they are both the offspring of either form. A single brood of larva
+were bred in Java by a Dutch entomologist, and produced males as well as
+tailed and tailless females, and there is every reason to believe that
+this is always the case, and that forms intermediate in character
+never occur. To illustrate these phenomena, let us suppose a roaming
+Englishman in some remote island to have two wives--one a black-haired,
+red-skinned Indian, the other a woolly-headed, sooty-skinned negress;
+and that instead of the children being mulattoes of brown or dusky
+tints, mingling the characteristics of each parent in varying degrees,
+all the boys should be as fair-skinned and blue-eyed as their father,
+while the girls should altogether resemble their mothers. This would be
+thought strange enough, but the case of these butterflies is yet more
+extraordinary, for each mother is capable not only of producing male
+offspring like the father, and female like herself, but also other
+females like her fellow wife, and altogether differing from herself!
+
+The other species to which I have to direct attention is the Kallima
+paralekta, a butterfly of the same family group as our Purple Emperor,
+and of about the same size or larger. Its upper surface is of a rich
+purple, variously tinged with ash colour, and across the forewings
+there is a broad bar of deep orange, so that when on the wing it is very
+conspicuous. This species was not uncommon in dry woods and thickets,
+and I often endeavoured to capture it without success, for after flying
+a short distance it would enter a bush among dry or dead leaves, and
+however carefully I crept up to the spot I could never discover it until
+it would suddenly start out again and then disappear in a similar place.
+If at length I was fortunate enough to see the exact spot where the
+butterfly settled, and though I lost sight of it for some time, I would
+discover that it was close before my eyes, but that in its position of
+repose it so closely resembled a dead leaf attached to a twig as almost
+certainly to deceive the eye even when gazing full upon it. I captured
+several specimens on the wing, and was able fully to understand the way
+in which this wonderful resemblance is produced.
+
+The end of the upper wings terminates in a fine point, just as the
+leaves of many tropical shrubs and trees are pointed, while the lower
+wings are somewhat more obtuse, and are lengthened out into a short
+thick tail. Between these two points there runs a dark curved line
+exactly representing the midrib of a leaf, and from this radiate on each
+side a few oblique marks which well imitate the lateral veins. These
+marks are more clearly seen on the outer portion of the base of the
+wings, and on the innerside towards the middle and apex, and they are
+produced by striae and markings which are very common in allied species,
+but which are here modified and strengthened so as to imitate more
+exactly the venation of a leaf. The tint of the undersurface varies
+much, but it is always some ashy brown or reddish colour, which matches
+with those of dead leaves. The habit of the species is always to rest on
+a twig and among dead or dry leaves, and in this position with the
+wings closely pressed together, their outline is exactly that of a
+moderately-sized leaf, slightly curved or shrivelled. The tail of the
+hind wings forms a perfect stalk, and touches the stick while the insect
+is supported by the middle pair of legs, which are not noticed among the
+twigs and fibres that surround it. The head and antennae are drawn back
+between the wings so as to be quite concealed, and there is a little
+notch hollowed out at the very base of the wings, which allows the
+head to be retracted sufficiently. All these varied details combine to
+produce a disguise that is so complete and marvellous as to astonish
+everyone who observes it; and the habits of the insects are such as to
+utilize all these peculiarities, and render them available in such a
+manner as to remove all doubt of the purpose of this singular case of
+mimicry, which is undoubtedly a protection to the insect.
+
+Its strong and swift flight is sufficient to save it from its enemies
+when on the wing, but if it were equally conspicuous when at rest
+it could not long escape extinction, owing to the attacks of the
+insectivorous birds and reptiles that abound in the tropical forests. A
+very closely allied species, Kallima inachis, inhabits India, where
+it is very common, and specimens are sent in every collection from the
+Himalayas. On examining a number of these, it will be seen that no two
+are alike, but all the variations correspond to those of dead leaves.
+Every tint of yellow, ash, brown, and red is found here, and in many
+specimens there occur patches and spots formed of small black dots, so
+closely resembling the way in which minute fungi grow on leaves that it
+is almost impossible at first not to believe that fungi have grown on
+the butterflies themselves!
+
+If such an extraordinary adaptation as this stood alone, it would
+be very difficult to offer any explanation of it; but although it is
+perhaps the most perfect case of protective imitation known, there
+are hundreds of similar resemblances in nature, and from these it is
+possible to deduce a general theory of the manner in which they have
+been slowly brought about. The principle of variation and that of
+"natural selection," or survival of the fittest, as elaborated by Mr.
+Darwin in his celebrated "Origin of Species," offers the foundation
+for such a theory; and I have myself endeavoured to apply it to all the
+chief cases of imitation in an article published in the "Westminster
+Review" for 1867, entitled, "Mimicry, and other Protective Resemblances
+Among Animals," to which any reader is referred who wishes to know more
+about this subject.
+
+In Sumatra, monkeys are very abundant, and at Lobo Kaman they used to
+frequent the trees which overhang the guard-house, and give me a fine
+opportunity of observing their gambols. Two species of Semnopithecus
+were most plentiful--monkeys of a slender form, with very long
+tails. Not being much shot at they are rather bold, and remain quite
+unconcerned when natives alone are present; but when I came out to look
+at them, they would stare for a minute or two and then make off. They
+take tremendous leaps from the branches of one tree to those of another
+a little lower, and it is very amusing when one strong leader takes a
+bold jump, to see the others following with more or less trepidation;
+and it often happens that one or two of the last seem quite unable to
+make up their minds to leap until the rest are disappearing, when, as
+if in desperation at being left alone, they throw themselves frantically
+into the air, and often go crashing through the slender branches and
+fall to the ground.
+
+A very curious ape, the Siamang, was also rather abundant, but it is
+much less bold than the monkeys, keeping to the virgin forests and
+avoiding villages. This species is allied to the little long-armed apes
+of the genus Hylobates, but is considerably larger, and differs from
+them by having the two first fingers of the feet united together, nearly
+to the end as does its Latin name, Siamanga syndactyla. It moves much
+more slowly than the active Hylobates, keeping lower down in trees, and
+not indulging in such tremendous leaps; but it is still very active,
+and by means of its immense long arms, five feet six inches across in an
+adult about three feet high, can swing itself along among the trees at
+a great rate. I purchased a small one, which had been caught by the
+natives and tied up so tightly as to hurt it. It was rather savage at
+first, and tried to bite; but when we had released it and given it two
+poles under the verandah to hang upon, securing it by a short cord,
+running along the pole with a ring so that it could move easily, it
+became more contented, and would swing itself about with great rapidity.
+It ate almost any kind of fruit and rice, and I was in hopes to have
+brought it to England, but it died just before I started. It took
+a dislike to me at first, which I tried to get over by feeding it
+constantly myself. One day, however, it bit me so sharply while giving
+it food, that I lost patience and gave it rather a severe beating, which
+I regretted afterwards, as from that time it disliked me more than ever.
+It would allow my Malay boys to play with it, and for hours together
+would swing by its arms from pole to pole and on to the rafters of the
+verandah, with so much ease and rapidity, that it was a constant source
+of amusement to us. When I returned to Singapore it attracted great
+attention, as no one had seen a Siamang alive before, although it is not
+uncommon in some parts of the Malay peninsula.
+
+As the Orangutan is known to inhabit Sumatra, and was in fact first
+discovered there, I made many inquiries about it; but none of the
+natives had ever heard of such an animal, nor could I find any of the
+Dutch officials who knew anything about it. We may conclude, therefore,
+that it does not inhabit the great forest plains in the east of Sumatra
+where one would naturally expect to find it, but is probably confined
+to a limited region in the northwest part of the island entirely in
+the hands of native rulers. The other great Mammalia of Sumatra, the
+elephant and the rhinoceros, are more widely distributed; but the former
+is much more scarce than it was a few years ago, and seems to retire
+rapidly before the spread of cultivation. Lobo Kaman tusks and bones
+are occasionally found about in the forest, but the living animal is now
+never seen. The rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sumatranus) still abounds, and I
+continually saw its tracks and its dung, and once disturbed one feeding,
+which went crashing away through the jungle, only permitting me a
+momentary glimpse of it through the dense underwood. I obtained a
+tolerably perfect cranium, and a number of teeth, which were picked up
+by the natives.
+
+Another curious animal, which I had met with in Singapore and in Borneo,
+but which was more abundant here, is the Galeopithecus, or flying lemur.
+This creature has a broad membrane extending all around its body to the
+extremities of the toes, and to the point of the rather long tail. This
+enables it to pass obliquely through the air from one tree to another.
+It is sluggish in its motions, at least by day, going up a tree by short
+runs of a few feet, and then stopping a moment as if the action was
+difficult. It rests during the day clinging to the trunks of trees,
+where its olive or brown fur, mottled with irregular whitish spots and
+blotches, resembles closely the colour of mottled bark, and no doubt
+helps to protect it. Once, in a bright twilight, I saw one of these
+animals run up a trunk in a rather open place, and then glide obliquely
+through the air to another tree, on which it alighted near its base, and
+immediately began to ascend. I paced the distance from the one tree to
+the other, and found it to be seventy yards; and the amount of descent
+I estimated at not more than thirty-five or forty feet, or less than
+one in five. This I think proves that the animal must have some power of
+guiding itself through the air, otherwise in so long a distance it would
+have little chance of alighting exactly upon the trunk. Like the
+Cuscus of the Moluccas, the Galeopithecus feeds chiefly on leaves, and
+possesses a very voluminous stomach and long convoluted intestines. The
+brain is very small, and the animal possesses such remarkable tenacity
+of life, that it is exceedingly difficult to kill it by any ordinary
+means. The tail is prehensile; and is probably made use of as an
+additional support while feeding. It is said to have only a single young
+one at a time, and my own observation confirms this statement, for I
+once shot a female with a very small blind and naked little creature
+clinging closely to its breast, which was quite bare and much wrinkled,
+reminding me of the young of Marsupials, to which it seemed to form a
+transition. On the back, and extending over the limbs and membrane, the
+fur of these animals is short, but exquisitely soft, resembling in its
+texture that of the Chinchilla.
+
+I returned to Palembang by water, and while staying a day at a village
+while a boat was being made watertight, I had the good fortune to obtain
+a male, female, and young bird of one of the large hornbills. I had
+sent my hunters to shoot, and while I was at breakfast they returned,
+bringing me a fine large male of the Buceros bicornis, which one of them
+assured me he had shot while feeding the female, which was shut up in a
+hole in a tree. I had often read of this curious habit, and immediately
+returned to the place, accompanied by several of the natives. After
+crossing a stream and a bog, we found a large tree leaning over some
+water, and on its lower side, at a height of about twenty feet, appeared
+a small hole, and what looked like a quantity of mud, which I was
+assured had been used in stopping up the large hole. After a while we
+heard the harsh cry of a bird inside, and could see the white extremity
+of its beak put out. I offered a rupee to anyone who would go up and get
+the bird out, with the egg or young one; but they all declared it was
+too difficult, and they were afraid to try. I therefore very reluctantly
+came away. About an hour afterwards, much to my surprise, a tremendous
+loud, hoarse screaming was heard, and the bird was brought me, together
+with a young one which had been found in the hole. This was a most
+curious object, as large as a pigeon, but without a particle of plumage
+on any part of it. It was exceedingly plump and soft, and with a
+semi-transparent skin, so that it looked more like a bag of jelly, with
+head and feet stuck on, than like a real bird.
+
+The extraordinary habit of the male, in plastering up the female with
+her egg, and feeding her during the whole time of incubation, and until
+the young one is fledged, is common to several of the large hornbills,
+and is one of those strange facts in natural history which are "stranger
+than fiction."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE INDO-MALAY ISLANDS.
+
+IN the first CHAPTER of this work I have stated generally the reasons
+which lead us to conclude that the large islands in the western portion
+of the Archipelago--Java, Sumatra, and Borneo--as well as the Malay
+peninsula and the Philippine islands, have been recently separated from
+the continent of Asia. I now propose to give a sketch of the Natural
+History of these, which I term the Indo-Malay islands, and to show how
+far it supports this view, and how much information it is able to give
+us of the antiquity and origin of the separate islands.
+
+The flora of the Archipelago is at present so imperfectly known, and I
+have myself paid so little attention to it, that I cannot draw from it
+many facts of importance. The Malayan type of vegetation is however a
+very important one; and Dr. Hooker informs us, in his "Flora Indica,"
+that it spreads over all the moister and more equable parts of India,
+and that many plants found in Ceylon, the Himalayas, the Nilghiri,
+and Khasia mountains are identical with those of Java and the Malay
+peninsula. Among the more characteristic forms of this flora are the
+rattans--climbing palms of the genus Calamus, and a great variety of
+tall, as well as stemless palms. Orchids, Araceae, Zingiberaceae
+and ferns, are especially abundant, and the genus Grammatophyllum--a
+gigantic epiphytal orchid, whose clusters of leaves and flower-stems are
+ten or twelve feet long--is peculiar to it. Here, too, is the domain of
+the wonderful pitcher plants (Nepenthaceae), which are only represented
+elsewhere by solitary species in Ceylon, Madagascar, the Seychelles,
+Celebes, and the Moluccas. Those celebrated fruits, the Mangosteen and
+the Durian, are natives of this region, and will hardly grow out of the
+Archipelago. The mountain plants of Java have already been alluded to as
+showing a former connexion with the continent of Asia; and a still
+more extraordinary and more ancient connection with Australia has been
+indicated by Mr. Low's collections from the summit of Kini-balou, the
+loftiest mountain in Borneo.
+
+Plants have much greater facilities for passing across arms of the sea
+than animals. The lighter seeds are easily carried by the winds, and
+many of them are specially adapted to be so carried. Others can float a
+long time unhurt in the water, and are drifted by winds and currents
+to distant shores. Pigeons, and other fruit-eating birds, are also the
+means of distributing plants, since the seeds readily germinate after
+passing through their bodies. It thus happens that plants which grow
+on shores and lowlands have a wide distribution, and it requires an
+extensive knowledge of the species of each island to determine the
+relations of their floras with any approach to accuracy. At present we
+have no such complete knowledge of the botany of the several islands
+of the Archipelago; and it is only by such striking phenomena as the
+occurrence of northern and even European genera on the summits of the
+Javanese mountains that we can prove the former connection of that
+island with the Asiatic continent. With land animals, however, the case
+is very different. Their means of passing a wide expanse of sea are far
+more restricted. Their distribution has been more accurately studied,
+and we possess a much more complete knowledge of such groups as mammals
+and birds in most of the islands, than we do of the plants. It is
+these two classes which will supply us with most of our facts as to the
+geographical distribution of organized beings in this region.
+
+The number of Mammalia known to inhabit the Indo-Malay region is very
+considerable, exceeding 170 species. With the exception of the bats,
+none of these have any regular means of passing arms of the sea
+many miles in extent, and a consideration of their distribution must
+therefore greatly assist us in determining whether these islands have
+ever been connected with each other or with the continent since the
+epoch of existing species.
+
+The Quadrumana or monkey tribe form one of the most characteristic
+features of this region. Twenty-four distinct species are known to
+inhabit it, and these are distributed with tolerable uniformity over the
+islands, nine being found in Java, ten in the Malay peninsula, eleven in
+Sumatra, and thirteen in Borneo. The great man-like Orangutans are found
+only in Sumatra and Borneo; the curious Siamang (next to them in size)
+in Sumatra and Malacca; the long-nosed monkey only in Borneo; while
+every island has representatives of the Gibbons or long-armed apes,
+and of monkeys. The lemur-like animals, Nycticebus, Tarsius, and
+Galeopithecus, are found on all the islands.
+
+Seven species found on the Malay peninsula extend also into Sumatra,
+four into Borneo, and three into Java; while two range into Siam and
+Burma, and one into North India. With the exception of the Orangutan,
+the Siamang, the Tarsius spectrum, and the Galeopithecus, all the
+Malayan genera of Quadrumana are represented in India by closely allied
+species, although, owing to the limited range of most of these animals,
+so few are absolutely identical.
+
+Of Carnivora, thirty-three species are known from the Indo-Malay region,
+of which about eight are found also in Burma and India. Among these
+are the tiger, leopard, a tiger-cat, civet, and otter; while out of the
+twenty genera of Malayan Carnivora, thirteen are represented in India by
+more or less closely allied species. As an example, the Malayan bear
+is represented in North India by the Tibetan bear, both of which may be
+seen alive at the Zoological Society's Gardens.
+
+The hoofed animals are twenty-two in number, of which about seven extend
+into Burmah and India. All the deer are of peculiar species, except two,
+which range from Malacca into India. Of the cattle, one Indian species
+reaches Malacca, while the Bos sondiacus of Java and Borneo is also
+found in Siam and Burma. A goat-like animal is found in Sumatra which
+has its representative in India; while the two-horned rhinoceros of
+Sumatra and the single-horned species of Java, long supposed to be
+peculiar to these islands, are now both ascertained to exist in Burma,
+Pegu, and Moulmein. The elephant of Sumatra, Borneo, and Malacca is now
+considered to be identical with that of Ceylon and India.
+
+In all other groups of Mammalia the same general phenomena recur. A
+few species are identical with those of India. A much larger number are
+closely allied or representative forms, while there are always a small
+number of peculiar genera, consisting of animals unlike those found in
+any other part of the world. There are about fifty bats, of which less
+than one-fourth are Indian species; thirty-four Rodents (squirrels,
+rats, &c.), of which six or eight only are Indian; and ten Insectivora,
+with one exception peculiar to the Malay region. The squirrels are
+very abundant and characteristic, only two species out of twenty-five
+extending into Siam and Burma. The Tupaias are curious insect-eaters,
+which closely resemble squirrels, and are almost confined to the Malay
+islands, as are the small feather-tailed Ptilocerus lowii of Borneo, and
+the curious long-snouted and naked-tailed Gymnurus rafllesii.
+
+As the Malay peninsula is a part of the continent of Asia, the question
+of the former union of the islands to the mainland will be best
+elucidated by studying the species which are found in the former
+district, and also in some of the islands. Now, if we entirely leave
+out of consideration the bats, which have the power of flight, there are
+still forty-eight species of mammals common to the Malay peninsula
+and the three large islands. Among these are seven Quadrumana (apes,
+monkeys, and lemurs), animals who pass their whole existence in forests,
+who never swim, and who would be quite unable to traverse a single
+mile of sea; nineteen Carnivora, some of which no doubt might cross by
+swimming, but we cannot suppose so large a number to have passed in this
+way across a strait which, except at one point, is from thirty to fifty
+miles wide; and five hoofed animals, including the Tapir, two species
+of rhinoceros, and an elephant. Besides these there are thirteen Rodents
+and four Insectivora, including a shrew-mouse and six squirrels, whose
+unaided passage over twenty miles of sea is even more inconceivable than
+that of the larger animals.
+
+But when we come to the cases of the same species inhabiting two of the
+more widely separated islands, the difficulty is much increased. Borneo
+is distant nearly 150 miles from Biliton, which is about fifty miles
+from Banca, and this fifteen from Sumatra, yet there are no less than
+thirty-six species of mammals common to Borneo and Sumatra. Java
+again is more than 250 miles from Borneo, yet these two islands have
+twenty-two species in common, including monkeys, lemurs, wild oxen,
+squirrels and shrews. These facts seem to render it absolutely certain
+that there has been at some former period a connection between all these
+islands and the mainland, and the fact that most of the animals common
+to two or more of then, show little or no variation, but are often
+absolutely identical, indicates that the separation must have been
+recent in a geological sense; that is, not earlier than the Newer
+Pliocene epoch, at which time land animals began to assimilate closely
+with those now existing.
+
+Even the bats furnish an additional argument, if one were needed, to
+show that the islands could not have been peopled from each other and
+from the continent without some former connection. For if such had
+been the mode of stocking them with animals, it is quite certain that
+creatures which can fly long distances would be the first to spread
+from island to island, and thus produce an almost perfect uniformity of
+species over the whole region. But no such uniformity exists, and the
+bats of each island are almost, if not quite, as distinct as the other
+mammals. For example, sixteen species are known in Borneo, and of these
+ten are found in Java and five in Sumatra, a proportion about the same
+as that of the Rodents, which have no direct means of migration. We
+learn from this fact, that the seas which separate the islands from each
+other are wide enough to prevent the passage even of flying animals,
+and that we must look to the same causes as having led to the present
+distribution of both groups. The only sufficient cause we can imagine is
+the former connection of all the islands with the continent, and such
+a change is in perfect harmony with what we know of the earth's past
+history, and is rendered probable by the remarkable fact that a rise of
+only three hundred feet would convert the wide seas that separate them
+into an immense winding valley or plain about three hundred miles wide
+and twelve hundred long. It may, perhaps, be thought that birds which
+possess the power of flight in so pre-eminent a degree, would not be
+limited in their range by arms of the sea, and would thus afford few
+indications of the former union or separation of the islands they
+inhabit. This, however, is not the case. A very large number of birds
+appear to be as strictly limited by watery barriers as are quadrupeds;
+and as they have been so much more attentively collected, we have more
+complete materials to work upon, and are able to deduce from them still
+more definite and satisfactory results. Some groups, however, such
+as the aquatic birds, the waders, and the birds of prey, are great
+wanderers; other groups are little known except to ornithologists.
+I shall therefore refer chiefly to a few of the best known and most
+remarkable families of birds as a sample of the conclusions furnished by
+the entire class.
+
+The birds of the Indo-Malay region have a close resemblance to those
+of India; for though a very large proportion of the species are quite
+distinct, there are only about fifteen peculiar genera, and not a single
+family group confined to the former district. If, however, we compare
+the islands with the Burmese, Siamese, and Malayan countries, we shall
+find still less difference, and shall be convinced that all are closely
+united by the bond of a former union. In such well-known families as
+the woodpeckers, parrots, trogons, barbets, kingfishers, pigeons, and
+pheasants, we find some identical species spreading over all India, and
+as far as Java and Borneo, while a very large proportion are common to
+Sumatra and the Malay peninsula.
+
+The force of these facts can only be appreciated when we come to treat
+the islands of the Austro-Malay region, and show how similar barriers
+have entirely prevented the passage of birds from one island to another,
+so that out of at least three hundred and fifty land birds inhabiting
+Java and Borneo, not more than ten have passed eastward into Celebes.
+Yet the Straits of Macassar are not nearly so wide as the Java sea, and
+at least a hundred species are common to Borneo and Java.
+
+I will now give two examples to show how a knowledge of the distribution
+of animals may reveal unsuspected facts in the past history of the
+earth. At the eastern extremity of Sumatra, and separated from it by
+a strait about fifteen miles wide, is the small rocky island of Banca,
+celebrated for its tin mines. One of the Dutch residents there sent some
+collections of birds and animals to Leyden, and among them were found
+several species distinct from those of the adjacent coast of Sumatra.
+One of these was a squirrel (Sciurus bangkanus), closely allied to three
+other species inhabiting respectively the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, and
+Borneo, but quite as distinct from them all as they are from each other.
+There were also two new ground thrushes of the genus Pitta, closely
+allied to, but quite distinct from, two other species inhabiting both
+Sumatra and Borneo, and which did not perceptibly differ in these
+large and widely separated islands. This is just as if the Isle of Man
+possessed a peculiar species of thrush and blackbird, distinct from the
+birds which are common to England and Ireland.
+
+These curious facts would indicate that Banca may have existed as a
+distinct island even longer than Sumatra and Borneo, and there are some
+geological and geographical facts which render this not so improbable as
+it would at first seem to be. Although on the map Banca appears so close
+to Sumatra, this does not arise from its having been recently separated
+from it; for the adjacent district of Palembang is new land, being a
+great alluvial swamp formed by torrents from the mountains a hundred
+miles distant.
+
+Banca, on the other hand, agrees with Malacca, Singapore, and the
+intervening island of Lingen, in being formed of granite and laterite;
+and these have all most likely once formed an extension of the Malay
+peninsula. As the rivers of Borneo and Sumatra have been for ages
+filling up the intervening sea, we may be sure that its depth has
+recently been greater, and it is very probable that those large islands
+were never directly connected with each other except through the Malay
+peninsula. At that period the same species of squirrel and Pitta
+may have inhabited all these countries; but when the subterranean
+disturbances occurred which led to the elevation of the volcanoes of
+Sumatra, the small island of Banca may have been separated first, and
+its productions being thus isolated might be gradually modified before
+the separation of the larger islands had been completed.
+
+As the southern part of Sumatra extended eastward and formed the narrow
+straits of Banca, many birds and insects and some Mammalia would
+cross from one to the other, and thus produce a general similarity of
+productions, while a few of the older inhabitants remained, to reveal
+by their distinct forms, their different origin. Unless we suppose some
+such changes in physical geography to have occurred, the presence of
+peculiar species of birds and mammals in such an island as Banca is a
+hopeless puzzle; and I think I have shown that the changes required are
+by no means so improbable as a mere glance at the map would lead us to
+suppose.
+
+For our next example let us take the great islands of Sumatra and Java.
+These approach so closely together, and the chain of volcanoes that runs
+through them gives such an air of unity to the two, that the idea of
+their having been recently dissevered is immediately suggested. The
+natives of Java, however, go further than this; for they actually have a
+tradition of the catastrophe which broke them asunder, and fix its date
+at not much more than a thousand years ago. It becomes interesting,
+therefore, to see what support is given to this view by the comparison
+of their animal productions.
+
+The Mammalia have not been collected with sufficient completeness in
+both islands to make a general comparison of much value, and so many
+species have been obtained only as live specimens in captivity, that
+their locality has often been erroneously given, the island in which
+they were obtained being substituted for that from which they originally
+came. Taking into consideration only those whose distribution is more
+accurately known, we learn that Sumatra is, in a zoological sense, more
+nearly related to Borneo than it is to Java. The great man-like apes,
+the elephant, the tapir, and the Malay bear, are all common to the two
+former countries, while they are absent from the latter. Of the three
+long-tailed monkeys (Semnopithecus) inhabiting Sumatra, one extends into
+Borneo, but the two species of Java are both peculiar to it. So also
+the great Malay deer (Rusa equina), and the small Tragulus kanchil, are
+common to Sumatra and Borneo, but do not extend into Java, where they
+are replaced by Tragulas javanicus. The tiger, it is true, is found in
+Sumatra and Java, but not in Borneo. But as this animal is known to swim
+well, it may have found its way across the Straits of Sunda, or it may
+have inhabited Java before it was separated from the mainland, and from
+some unknown cause have ceased to exist in Borneo.
+
+In Ornithology there is a little uncertainty owing to the birds of
+Java and Sumatra being much better known than those of Borneo; but the
+ancient separation of Java as an island is well exhibited by the large
+number of its species which are not found in any of the other islands.
+It possesses no less than seven pigeons peculiar to itself, while
+Sumatra has only one. Of its two parrots one extends into Borneo, but
+neither into Sumatra. Of the fifteen species of woodpeckers inhabiting
+Sumatra only four reach Java, while eight of them are found in Borneo
+and twelve in the Malay peninsula. The two Trogons found in Java are
+peculiar to it, while of those inhabiting Sumatra at least two extend to
+Malacca and one to Borneo. There are a very large number of birds, such
+as the great Argus pheasant, the fire-backed and ocellated pheasants,
+the crested partridge (Rollulus coronatus), the small Malacca parrot
+(Psittinus incertus), the great helmeted hornbill (Buceroturus
+galeatus), the pheasant ground-cuckoo (Carpococcyx radiatus), the
+rose-crested bee-eater (Nyctiornis amicta), the great gaper (Corydon
+sumatranus), and the green-crested gaper (Calyptomena viridis), and
+many others, which are common to Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo, but are
+entirely absent from Java. On the other hand we have the peacock,
+the green jungle cock, two blue ground thrushes (Arrenga cyanea
+and Myophonus flavirostris), the fine pink-headed dove (Ptilonopus
+porphyreus), three broad-tailed ground pigeons (Macropygia), and many
+other interesting birds, which are found nowhere in the Archipelago out
+of Java.
+
+Insects furnish us with similar facts wherever sufficient data are to be
+had, but owing to the abundant collections that have been made in Java,
+an unfair preponderance may be given to that island. This does
+not, however, seem to be the case with the true Papilionidae or
+swallow-tailed butterflies, whose large size and gorgeous colouring
+has led to their being collected more frequently than other insects.
+Twenty-seven species are known from Java, twenty-nine from Borneo, and
+only twenty-one from Sumatra. Four are entirely confined to Java, while
+only two are peculiar to Borneo and one to Sumatra. The isolation of
+Java will, however, be best shown by grouping the islands in pairs, and
+indicating the number of species common to each pair. Thus:--
+
+
+     Borneo .. . .. 29 species
+     Sumatra.. . .. 21  do.    20 species common to both islands.
+
+     Borneo .. . .. 29  do.
+     Java. .. . .. 27  do.    20    do.    do.
+
+     Sumatra.. . .. 21  do.
+     Java. .. . .. 27  do.    11    do.    do.
+
+Making some allowance for our imperfect knowledge of the Sumatran
+species, we see that Java is more isolated from the two larger islands
+than they are from each other, thus entirely confirming the results
+given by the distribution of birds and Mammalia, and rendering it
+almost certain that the last-named island was the first to be completely
+separated from the Asiatic continent, and that the native tradition
+of its having been recently separated from Sumatra is entirely without
+foundation.
+
+We are now able to trace out with some probability the course of events.
+Beginning at the time when the whole of the Java sea, the Gulf of Siam,
+and the Straits of Malacca were dry land, forming with Borneo, Sumatra,
+and Java, a vast southern prolongation of the Asiatic continent, the
+first movement would be the sinking down of the Java sea, and the
+Straits of Sunda, consequent on the activity of the Javanese volcanoes
+along the southern extremity of the land, and leading to the complete
+separation of that island. As the volcanic belt of Java and Sumatra
+increased in activity, more and more of the land was submerged, until
+first Borneo, and afterwards Sumatra, became entirely severed. Since
+the epoch of the first disturbance, several distinct elevations and
+depressions may have taken place, and the islands may have been more
+than once joined with each other or with the main land, and again
+separated. Successive waves of immigration may thus have modified their
+animal productions, and led to those anomalies in distribution which
+are so difficult to account for by any single operation of elevation or
+submergence. The form of Borneo, consisting of radiating mountain chains
+with intervening broad alluvial valleys, suggests the idea that it has
+once been much more submerged than it is at present (when it would have
+somewhat resembled Celebes or Gilolo in outline), and has been
+increased to its present dimensions by the filling up of its gulfs with
+sedimentary matter, assisted by gradual elevation of the land. Sumatra
+has also been evidently much increased in size by the formation of
+alluvial plains along its northeastern coasts.
+
+There is one peculiarity in the productions of Java that is very
+puzzling--the occurrence of several species or groups characteristic of
+the Siamese countries or of India, but which do not occur in Borneo or
+Sumatra. Among Mammals the Rhinoceros javanicus is the most striking
+example, for a distinct species is found in Borneo and Sumatra, while
+the Javanese species occurs in Burma and even in Bengal. Among birds,
+the small ground-dove, Geopelia striata, and the curious bronze-coloured
+magpie, Crypsirhina varians, are common to Java and Siam; while there
+are in Java species of Pteruthius, Arrenga, Myiophonus, Zoothera,
+Sturnopastor, and Estrelda, the near allies of which are found in
+various parts of India, while nothing like them is known to inhabit
+Borneo or Sumatra.
+
+Such a curious phenomenon as this can only be understood by supposing
+that, subsequent to the separation of Java, Borneo became almost
+entirely submerged, and on its re-elevation was for a time connected
+with the Malay peninsula and Sumatra, but not with Java or Siam. Any
+geologist who knows how strata have been contorted and tilted up, and
+how elevations and depressions must often have occurred alternately, not
+once or twice only, but scores and even hundreds of times, will have no
+difficulty in admitting that such changes as have been here indicated,
+are not in themselves improbable. The existence of extensive coal-beds
+in Borneo and Sumatra, of such recent origin that the leaves which
+abound in their shales are scarcely distinguishable from those of the
+forests which now cover the country, proves that such changes of level
+actually did take place; and it is a matter of much interest, both to
+the geologist and to the philosophic naturalist, to be able to form some
+conception of the order of those changes, and to understand how they
+may have resulted in the actual distribution of animal life in these
+countries; a distribution which often presents phenomena so strange and
+contradictory, that without taking such changes into consideration we
+are unable even to imagine how they could have been brought about.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. BALI AND LOMBOCK.
+
+ (JUNE, JULY, 1856.)
+
+THE islands of Bali and Lombock, situated at the eastern end of Java,
+are particularly interesting. They are the only islands of the whole
+Archipelago in which the Hindu religion still maintains itself--and they
+form the extreme points of the two great zoological divisions of the
+Eastern hemisphere; for although so similar in external appearance
+and in all physical features, they differ greatly in their natural
+productions. It was after having spent two years in Borneo, Malacca and
+Singapore, that I made a somewhat involuntary visit to these islands on
+my way to Macassar. Had I been able to obtain a passage direct to that
+place from Singapore, I should probably never have gone near them, and
+should have missed some of the most important discoveries of my whole
+expedition the East.
+
+It was on the 13th of June, 1856, after a twenty days' passage from
+Singapore in the "Kembang Djepoon" (Rose of Japan), a schooner belonging
+to a Chinese merchant, manned by a Javanese crew, and commanded by
+an English captain, that we cast anchor in the dangerous roadstead of
+Bileling on the north side of the island of Bali. Going on shore with
+the captain and the Chinese supercargo, I was at once introduced to a
+novel and interesting scene. We went first to the house of the Chinese
+Bandar, or chief merchant, where we found a number of natives, well
+dressed, and all conspicuously armed with krisses, displaying their
+large handles of ivory or gold, or beautifully grained and polished
+wood.
+
+The Chinamen had given up their national costume and adopted the Malay
+dress, and could then hardly be distinguished from the natives of the
+island--an indication of the close affinity of the Malayan and Mongolian
+races. Under the thick shade of some mango-trees close by the house,
+several women-merchants were selling cotton goods; for here the women
+trade and work for the benefit of their husbands, a custom which
+Mahometan Malays never adopt. Fruit, tea, cakes, and sweetmeats were
+brought to us; many questions were asked about our business and the
+state of trade in Singapore, and we then took a walk to look at the
+village. It was a very dull and dreary place; a collection of narrow
+lanes bounded by high mud walls, enclosing bamboo houses, into some of
+which we entered and were very kindly received.
+
+During the two days that we remained here, I walked out into the
+surrounding country to catch insects, shoot birds, and spy out the
+nakedness or fertility of the land. I was both astonished and delighted;
+for as my visit to Java was some years later, I had never beheld so
+beautiful and well cultivated a district out of Europe. A slightly
+undulating plain extends from the seacoast about ten or twelve miles
+inland, where it is bounded by a wide range of wooded and cultivated
+hills. Houses and villages, marked out by dense clumps of cocoa-nut
+palms, tamarind and other fruit trees, are dotted about in every
+direction; while between them extend luxuriant rice-grounds, watered by
+an elaborate system of irrigation that would be the pride of the best
+cultivated parts of Europe. The whole surface of the country is divided
+into irregular patches, following the undulations of the ground, from
+many acres to a few perches in extent, each of which is itself perfectly
+level, but stands a few inches or several feet above or below those
+adjacent to it. Every one of these patches can be flooded or drained at
+will by means of a system of ditches and small channels, into which are
+diverted the whole of the streams that descend from the mountains. Every
+patch now bore crops in various stages of growth, some almost ready
+for cutting, and all in the most flourishing condition and of the most
+exquisite green tints.
+
+The sides of the lanes and bridle roads were often edged with prickly
+Cacti and a leafless Euphorbia, but the country being so highly
+cultivated there was not much room for indigenous vegetation, except
+upon the sea-beach. We saw plenty of the fine race of domestic cattle
+descended from the Bos banteng of Java, driven by half naked boys, or
+tethered in pasture-grounds. They are large and handsome animals, of a
+light brown colour, with white legs, and a conspicuous oval patch behind
+of the same colour. Wild cattle of the same race are said to be still
+found in the mountains. In so well-cultivated a country it was not to
+be expected that I could do much in natural history, and my ignorance
+of how important a locality this was for the elucidation of the
+geographical distribution of animals, caused me to neglect obtaining
+some specimens which I never met with again. One of these was a weaver
+bird with a bright yellow head, which built its bottle-shaped nests by
+dozens on some trees near the beach. It was the Ploceus hypoxantha, a
+native of Java; and here, at the extreme limits of its range westerly,
+I shot and preserved specimens of a wagtail-thrush, an oriole, and some
+starlings, all species found in Java, and some of them peculiar to that
+island. I also obtained some beautiful butterflies, richly marked with
+black and orange on a white ground, and which were the most abundant
+insects in the country lanes. Among these was a new species, which I
+have named Pieris tamar.
+
+Leaving Bileling, a pleasant sail of two days brought us to Ampanam in
+the island of Lombock, where I proposed to remain till I could obtain
+a passage to Macassar. We enjoyed superb views of the twin volcanoes
+of Bali and Lombock, each about eight thousand feet high, which form
+magnificent objects at sunrise and sunset, when they rise out of the
+mists and clouds that surround their bases, glowing with the rich and
+changing tints of these the most charming moments in a tropical day.
+
+The bay or roadstead of Ampanam is extensive, and being at this season
+sheltered from the prevalent southeasterly winds, was as smooth as a
+lake. The beach of black volcanic sand is very steep, and there is at
+all times, a heavy surf upon it, which during spring-tides increases to
+such an extent that it is often impossible for boats to land, and many
+serious accidents have occurred. Where we lay anchored, about a quarter
+of a mile from the shore, not the slightest swell was perceptible, but
+on approaching nearer undulations began, which rapidly increased, so as
+to form rollers which toppled over onto the beach at regular intervals
+with a noise like thunder. Sometimes this surf increases suddenly during
+perfect calms to as great a force and fury as when a gale of wind is
+blowing, beating to pieces all boats that may not have been hauled
+sufficiently high upon the beach, and carrying away uncautious natives.
+This violent surf is probably in some way dependent upon the swell of
+the great southern ocean and the violent currents that flow through the
+Straits of Lombock. These are so uncertain that vessels preparing to
+anchor in the bay are sometimes suddenly swept away into the straits,
+and are not able to get back again for a fortnight.
+
+What seamen call the "ripples" are also very violent in the straits,
+the sea appearing to boil and foam and dance like the rapids below
+a cataract; vessels are swept about helplessly, and small ones are
+occasionally swamped in the finest weather and under the brightest
+skies.
+
+I felt considerably relieved when all my boxes and myself had passed in
+safety through the devouring surf, which the natives look upon with some
+pride, saying, that "their sea is always hungry, and eats up everything
+it can catch." I was kindly received by Mr. Carter, an Englishman, who
+is one of the Bandars or licensed traders of the port, who offered me
+hospitality and every assistance during my stay. His house, storehouses,
+and offices were in a yard surrounded by a tall bamboo fence, and
+were entirely constructed of bamboo with a thatch of grass, the only
+available building materials. Even these were now very scarce, owing to
+the great consumption in rebuilding the place since the great fire some
+months before, which in an hour or two had destroyed every building in
+the town.
+
+The next day I went to see Mr. S., another merchant to whom I had
+brought letters of introduction, and who lived about seven miles off.
+Mr. Carter kindly lent me a horse, and I was accompanied by a young
+Dutch gentleman residing at Ampanam, who offered to be my guide. We
+first passed through the town and suburbs along a straight road bordered
+by mud walls and a fine avenue of lofty trees; then through rice-fields,
+irrigated in the same manner as I had seen them at Bileling; and
+afterwards over sandy pastures near the sea, and occasionally along the
+beach itself. Mr. S. received us kindly, and offered me a residence at
+his house should I think the neighbourhood favourable for my pursuits.
+After an early breakfast we went out to explore, taking guns and
+insect nets. We reached some low hills which seemed to offer the most
+favourable ground, passing over swamps, sandy flats overgrown with
+coarse sedges, and through pastures and cultivated grounds, finding
+however very little in the way of either birds or insects. On our way we
+passed one or two human skeletons, enclosed within a small bamboo
+fence, with the clothes, pillow, mat, and betel-box of the unfortunate
+individual, who had been either murdered or executed. Returning to the
+house, we found a Balinese chief and his followers on a visit. Those of
+higher rank sat on chairs, the others squatted on the floor. The chief
+very coolly asked for beer and brandy, and helped himself and his
+followers, apparently more out of curiosity than anything else as
+regards the beer, for it seemed very distasteful to them, while they
+drank the brandy in tumblers with much relish.
+
+Returning to Ampanam, I devoted myself for some days to shooting the
+birds of the neighbourhood. The fine fig-trees of the avenues, where a
+market was held, were tenanted by superb orioles (Oriolus broderpii) of
+a rich orange colour, and peculiar to this island and the adjacent ones
+of Sumbawa and Flores. All round the town were abundance of the curious
+Tropidorhynchus timoriensis, allied to the Friar bird of Australia. They
+are here called "Quaich-quaich," from their strange loud voice, which
+seems to repeat these words in various and not unmelodious intonations.
+
+Every day boys were to be seen walking along the roads and by the hedges
+and ditches, catching dragonflies with birdlime. They carry a slender
+stick, with a few twigs at the end well annointed, so that the least
+touch captures the insect, whose wings are pulled off before it is
+consigned to a small basket. The dragon-flies are so abundant at the
+time of the rice flowering that thousands are soon caught in this
+way. The bodies are fried in oil with onions and preserved shrimps,
+or sometimes alone, and are considered a great delicacy. In Borneo,
+Celebes, and many other islands, the larvae of bees and wasps are eaten,
+either alive as pulled out of the cells, or fried like the dragonflies.
+In the Moluccas the grubs of the palm-beetles (Calandra) are regularly
+brought to market in bamboos and sold for food; and many of the great
+horned Lamellicorn beetles are slightly roasted on the embers and eaten
+whenever met with. The superabundance of insect life is therefore turned
+to some account by these islanders.
+
+Finding that birds were not very numerous, and hearing much of Labuan
+Tring at the southern extremity of the bay, where there was said to be
+much uncultivated country and plenty of birds as well as deer and wild
+pigs, I determined to go there with my two servants, Ali, the Malay
+lad from Borneo, and Manuel, a Portuguese of Malacca accustomed to
+bird-skinning. I hired a native boat with outriggers to take us with
+our small quantity of luggage, and a day's rowing and tracking along the
+shore brought us to the place.
+
+I had a note of introduction to an Amboynese Malay, and obtained the use
+of part of his house to live and work in. His name was "Inchi Daud" (Mr.
+David), and he was very civil; but his accommodations were limited, and
+he could only hire me part of his reception-room. This was the front
+part of a bamboo house (reached by a ladder of about six rounds very
+wide apart), and having a beautiful view over the bay. However, I soon
+made what arrangements were possible, and then set to work. The country
+around was pretty and novel to me, consisting of abrupt volcanic hills
+enclosing flat valleys or open plains. The hills were covered with a
+dense scrubby bush of bamboos and prickly trees and shrubs, the plains
+were adorned with hundreds of noble palm-trees, and in many places
+with a luxuriant shrubby vegetation. Birds were plentiful and very
+interesting, and I now saw for the first time many Australian forms that
+are quite absent from the islands westward. Small white cockatoos were
+abundant, and their loud screams, conspicuous white colour, and pretty
+yellow crests, rendered them a very important feature in the landscape.
+This is the most westerly point on the globe where any of the family
+are to be found. Some small honeysuckers of the genus Ptilotis, and the
+strange moundmaker (Megapodius gouldii), are also here first met with
+on the traveller's journey eastward. The last mentioned bird requires a
+fuller notice.
+
+The Megapodidae are a small family of birds found only in Australia and
+the surrounding islands, but extending as far as the Philippines and
+Northwest Borneo. They are allied to the gallinaceous birds, but differ
+from these and from all others in never sitting upon their eggs, which
+they bury in sand, earth, or rubbish, and leave to be hatched by the
+heat of the sun or by fermentation. They are all characterised by very
+large feet and long curved claws, and most of the species of Megapodius
+rake and scratch together all kinds of rubbish, dead leaves, sticks,
+stones, earth, rotten wood, etc., until they form a large mound, often
+six feet high and twelve feet across, in the middle of which they
+bury their eggs. The natives can tell by the condition of these mounds
+whether they contain eggs or not; and they rob them whenever they can,
+as the brick-red eggs (as large as those of a swan) are considered
+a great delicacy. A number of birds are said to join in making these
+mounds and lay their eggs together, so that sometimes forty or fifty
+may be found. The mounds are to be met with here and there in dense
+thickets, and are great puzzles to strangers, who cannot understand
+who can possibly have heaped together cartloads of rubbish in such
+out-of-the-way places; and when they inquire of the natives they are but
+little wiser, for it almost always appears to them the wildest romance
+to be told that it is all done by birds. The species found in Lombock
+is about the size of a small hen, and entirely of dark olive and
+brown tints. It is a miscellaneous feeder, devouring fallen fruits,
+earthworms, snails, and centipedes, but the flesh is white and
+well-flavoured when properly cooked.
+
+The large green pigeons were still better eating, and were much more
+plentiful. These fine birds, exceeding our largest tame pigeons in size,
+abounded on the palm-trees, which now bore huge bunches of fruits--mere
+hard globular nuts, about an inch in diameter, and covered with a dry
+green skin and a very small portion of pulp. Looking at the pigeon's
+bill and head, it would seem impossible that it could swallow such large
+masses, or that it could obtain any nourishment from them; yet I often
+shot these birds with several palm-fruits in the crop, which generally
+burst when they fell to the ground. I obtained here eight species of
+Kingfishers; among which was a very beautiful new one, named by Mr.
+Gould, Halcyon fulgidus. It was found always in thickets, away from
+water, and seemed to feed on snails and insects picked up from the
+ground after the manner of the great Laughing Jackass of Australia. The
+beautiful little violet and orange species (Ceyx rufidorsa) is found in
+similar situations, and darts rapidly along like a flame of fire. Here
+also I first met with the pretty Australian Bee-eater (Merops ornatus).
+This elegant little bird sits on twigs in open places, gazing eagerly
+around, and darting off at intervals to seize some insect which it sees
+flying near; returning afterwards to the same twig to swallow it. Its
+long, sharp, curved bill, the two long narrow feathers in its tail, its
+beautiful green plumage varied with rich brown and black and vivid
+blue on the throat, render it one of the most graceful and interesting
+objects a naturalist can see for the first time.
+
+Of all the birds of Lombock, however, I sought most after the beautiful
+ground thrushes (Pitta concinna), and always thought myself lucky if
+I obtained one. They were found only in the dry plains densely covered
+with thickets, and carpeted at this season with dead leaves. They were
+so shy that it was very difficult to get a shot at them, and it was only
+after a good deal of practice that I discovered how to do it. The habit
+of these birds is to hop about on the ground, picking up insects, and on
+the least alarm to run into the densest thicket or take a flight close
+to the ground. At intervals they utter a peculiar cry of two notes which
+when once heard is easily recognised, and they can also be heard hopping
+along among the dry leaves.
+
+My practice was, therefore, to walk cautiously along the narrow pathways
+with which the country abounded, and on detecting any sign of a Pitta's
+vicinity to stand motionless and give a gentle whistle occasionally,
+imitating the notes as near as possible. After half an hour's waiting
+I was often rewarded by seeing the pretty bird hopping along in the
+thicket. Then I would perhaps lose sight of it again, until having my
+gun raised and ready for a shot, a second glimpse would enable me to
+secure my prize, and admire its soft puffy plumage and lovely colours.
+The upper part is rich soft green, the head jet black with a stripe
+of blue and brown over each eye; at the base of the tail and on the
+shoulders are bands of bright silvery blue; the under side is delicate
+buff with a stripe of rich crimson, bordered with black on the belly.
+Beautiful grass-green doves, little crimson and black flower-peckers,
+large black cuckoos, metallic king-crows, golden orioles, and the fine
+jungle-cocks--the origin of all our domestic breeds of poultry--were
+among the birds that chiefly attracted my attention during our stay at
+Labuan Tring.
+
+The most characteristic feature of the jungle was its thorniness. The
+shrubs were thorny; the creepers were thorny; the bamboos even were
+thorny. Everything grew zigzag and jagged, and in an inextricable
+tangle, so that to get through the bush with gun or net or even
+spectacles, was generally not to be done, and insect-catching in such
+localities was out of the question. It was in such places that the
+Pittas often lurked, and when shot it became a matter of some difficulty
+to secure the bird, and seldom without a heavy payment of pricks and
+scratches and torn clothes could the prize be won. The dry volcanic soil
+and arid climate seem favourable to the production of such stunted and
+thorny vegetation, for the natives assured me that this was nothing
+to the thorns and prickles of Sumbawa whose surface still bears the
+covering of volcanic ashes thrown out forty years ago by the terrible
+eruption of Tomboro.
+
+Among the shrubs and trees that are not prickly the Apocynaceae were
+most abundant, their bilobed fruits of varied form and colour and often
+of most tempting appearance, hanging everywhere by the waysides as if
+to invite to destruction the weary traveller who may be unaware of their
+poisonous properties. One in particular with a smooth shining skin of
+a golden orange colour rivals in appearance the golden apples of the
+Hesperides, and has great attractions for many birds, from the white
+cockatoos to the little yellow Zosterops, who feast on the crimson seeds
+which are displayed when the fruit bursts open. The great palm called
+"Gubbong" by the natives, a species of Corypha, is the most striking
+feature of the plains, where it grows by thousands and appears in three
+different states--in leaf, in flower and fruit, or dead. It has a lofty
+cylindrical stem about a hundred feet high and two to three feet in
+diameter; the leaves are large and fan-shaped, and fall off when the
+tree flowers, which it does only once in its life in a huge terminal
+spike, upon which are produced masses of a smooth round fruit of a green
+colour and about an inch in diameter. When these ripen and fall the tree
+dies, and remains standing a year or two before it falls. Trees in leaf
+only are by far the most numerous, then those in flower and fruit, while
+dead trees are scattered here and there among them. The trees in fruit
+are the resort of the great green fruit pigeons, which have been already
+mentioned. Troops of monkeys (Macacus cynomolgus) may often be
+seen occupying a tree, showering down the fruit in great profusion,
+chattering when disturbed and making an enormous rustling as they
+scamper off among the dead palm leaves; while the pigeons have a loud
+booming voice more like the roar of a wild beast than the note of a
+bird.
+
+My collecting operations here were carried on under more than usual
+difficulties. One small room had to serve for eating, sleeping and
+working, and one for storehouse and dissecting-room; in it were no
+shelves, cupboards, chairs or tables; ants swarmed in every part of it,
+and dogs, cats and fowls entered it at pleasure. Besides this it was the
+parlour and reception-room of my host, and I was obliged to consult his
+convenience and that of the numerous guests who visited us. My principal
+piece of furniture was a box, which served me as a dining table, a seat
+while skinning birds, and as the receptacle of the birds when
+skinned and dried. To keep them free from ants we borrowed, with
+some difficulty, an old bench, the four legs of which being placed in
+cocoa-nut shells filled with water kept us tolerably free from these
+pests. The box and the bench were, however, literally the only places
+where anything could be put away, and they were generally well occupied
+by two insect boxes and about a hundred birds' skins in process of
+drying. It may therefore be easily conceived that when anything bulky
+or out of the common way was collected, the question "Where is it to
+be put?" was rather a difficult one to answer. All animal substances
+moreover require some time to dry thoroughly, emit a very disagreeable
+odour while doing so, and are particularly attractive to ants, flies,
+dogs, rats, cats, and other vermin, calling for special cautions and
+constant supervision, which under the circumstances above described were
+impossible.
+
+My readers may now partially understand why a travelling naturalist of
+limited means, like myself, does so much less than is expected or
+than he would himself wish to do. It would be interesting to preserve
+skeletons of many birds and animals, reptiles and fishes in spirits,
+skins of the larger animals, remarkable fruits and woods and the most
+curious articles of manufacture and commerce; but it will be seen
+that under the circumstances I have just described, it would have
+been impossible to add these to the collections which were my own more
+especial favourites. When travelling by boat the difficulties are as
+great or greater, and they are not diminished when the journey is by
+land. It was absolutely necessary therefore to limit my collections to
+certain groups to which I could devote constant personal attention, and
+thus secure from destruction or decay what had been often obtained by
+much labour and pains.
+
+While Manuel sat skinning his birds of an afternoon, generally
+surrounded by a little crowd of Malays and Sassaks (as the indigenes
+of Lombock are termed), he often held forth to them with the air of a
+teacher, and was listened to with profound attention. He was very fond
+of discoursing on the "special providences" of which he believed he was
+daily the subject. "Allah has been merciful today," he would say--for
+although a Christian he adopted the Mahometan mode of speech--"and has
+given us some very fine birds; we can do nothing without him." Then one
+of the Malays would reply, "To be sure, birds are like mankind; they
+have their appointed time to die; when that time comes nothing can save
+them, and if it has not come you cannot kill them." A murmur of assent
+follow, until sentiments and cries of "Butul! Butul!" (Right, right.)
+Then Manuel would tell a long story of one of his unsuccessful
+hunts--how he saw some fine bird and followed it a long way, and then
+missed it, and again found it, and shot two or three times at it, but
+could never hit it, "Ah!" says an old Malay, "its time was not come, and
+so it was impossible for you to kill it." A doctrine is this which is
+very consoling to the bad marksman, and which quite accounts for the
+facts, but which is yet somehow not altogether satisfactory.
+
+It is universally believed in Lombock that some men have the power to
+turn themselves into crocodiles, which they do for the sake of devouring
+their enemies, and many strange tales are told of such transformations.
+I was therefore rather surprised one evening to hear the following
+curious fact stated, and as it was not contradicted by any of the
+persons present, I am inclined to accept it provisionally as a
+contribution to the Natural History of the island. A Bornean Malay who
+had been for many years resident here said to Manuel, "One thing is
+strange in this country--the scarcity of ghosts." "How so?" asked
+Manuel. "Why, you know," said the Malay, "that in our countries to the
+westward, if a man dies or is killed, we dare not pass near the place
+at night, for all sorts of noises are heard which show that ghosts are
+about. But here there are numbers of men killed, and their bodies lie
+unburied in the fields and by the roadside, and yet you can walk by them
+at night and never hear or see anything at all, which is not the case in
+our country, as you know very well." "Certainly I do," said Manuel;
+and so it was settled that ghosts were very scarce, if not altogether
+unknown in Lombock. I would observe, however, that as the evidence
+is purely negative we should be wanting in scientific caution if we
+accepted this fact as sufficiently well established.
+
+One evening I heard Manuel, Ali, and a Malay man whispering earnestly
+together outside the door, and could distinguish various allusions to
+"krisses," throat-cutting, heads, etc. etc. At length Manuel came
+in, looking very solemn and frightened, and said to me in English,
+"Sir--must take care,--no safe here;--want cut throat." On further
+inquiry, I found that the Malay had been telling them that the Rajah had
+just sent down an order to the village, that they were to get a certain
+number of heads for an offering in the temples to secure a good crop of
+rice. Two or three other Malays and Bugis, as well as the Amboyna man in
+whose house we lived, confirmed this account, and declared that it was a
+regular thing every year, and that it was necessary to keep a good
+watch and never go out alone. I laughed at the whole thing, and tried to
+persuade them that it was a mere tale, but to no effect. They were all
+firmly persuaded that their lives were in danger. Manuel would not go
+out shooting alone, and I was obliged to accompany him every morning,
+but I soon gave him the slip in the jungle. Ali was afraid to go and
+look for firewood without a companion, and would not even fetch water
+from the well a few yards behind the house unless armed with an enormous
+spear. I was quite sure all the time that no such order had been sent
+or received, and that we were in perfect safety. This was well shown
+shortly afterwards, when an American sailor ran away from his ship on
+the east side of the island, and made his way on foot and unarmed across
+to Ampanam, having met with the greatest hospitality on the whole route.
+Nowhere would the smallest payment be taken for the food and lodging
+which were willingly furbished him. On pointing out this fact to Manuel,
+he replied, "He one bad man,--run away from his ship--no one can believe
+word he say;" and so I was obliged to leave him in the uncomfortable
+persuasion that he might any day have his throat cut.
+
+A circumstance occurred here which appeared to throw some light on the
+cause of the tremendous surf at Ampanam. One evening I heard a strange
+rumbling noise, and at the same time the house shook slightly. Thinking
+it might be thunder, I asked, "What is that?" "It is an earthquake,"
+answered Inchi Daud, my host; and he then told me that slight shocks
+were occasionally felt there, but he had never known them to be
+severe. This happened on the day of the last quarter of the moon, and
+consequently when tides were low and the surf usually at its weakest.
+On inquiry afterwards at Ampanam, I found that no earthquake had been
+noticed, but that on one night there had been a very heavy surf, which
+shook the house, and the next day there was a very high tide, the water
+having flooded Mr. Carter's premises, higher than he had ever known
+it before. These unusual tides occur every now and then, and are not
+thought much of; but by careful inquiry I ascertained that the surf had
+occurred on the very night I had felt the earthquake at Labuan Tring,
+nearly twenty miles off. This would seem to indicate, that although the
+ordinary heavy surf may be due to the swell of the great Southern Ocean
+confined in a narrow channel, combined with a peculiar form of bottom
+near the shore, yet the sudden heavy surfs and high tides that occur
+occasionally in perfectly calm weather, may be due to slight upheavals
+of the ocean-bed in this eminently volcanic region.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. LOMBOCK: MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE.
+
+HAVING made a very fine and interesting collection of the birds of
+Labuan Tring, I took leave of my kind host, Inchi Daud, and returned
+to Ampanam to await an opportunity to reach Macassar. As no vessel had
+arrived bound for that port, I determined to make an excursion into the
+interior of the island, accompanied by Mr. Ross, an Englishman born in
+the Keeling Islands, and now employed by the Dutch Government to settle
+the affairs of a missionary who had unfortunately become bankrupt here.
+Mr. Carter kindly lent me a horse, and Mr. Ross took his native groom.
+
+Our route for some distance lay along a perfectly level country bearing
+ample crops of rice. The road was straight and generally bordered with
+lofty trees forming a fine avenue. It was at first sandy, afterwards
+grassy, with occasional streams and mudholes. At a distance about four
+miles we reached Mataram, the capital of the island and the residence
+of the Rajah. It is a large village with wide streets bordered by a
+magnificent avenue of trees, and low houses concealed behind mud walls.
+Within this royal city no native of the lower orders is allowed to ride,
+and our attendant, a Javanese, was obliged to dismount and lead his
+horse while we rode slowly through. The abodes of the Rajah and of the
+High Priest are distinguished by pillars of red brick constructed with
+much taste; but the palace itself seemed to differ but little from
+the ordinary houses of the country. Beyond Mataram and close to it is
+Karangassam, the ancient residence of the native or Sassak Rajahs before
+the conquest of the island by the Balinese.
+
+Soon after passing Mataram the country began gradually to rise in
+gentle undulations, swelling occasionally into low hills towards the two
+mountainous tracts in the northern and southern parts of the island.
+It was now that I first obtained an adequate idea of one of the most
+wonderful systems of cultivation in the world, equalling all that is
+related of Chinese industry, and as far as I know surpassing in the
+labour that has been bestowed upon it any tract of equal extent in the
+most civilized countries of Europe. I rode through this strange garden
+utterly amazed and hardly able to realize the fact that in this remote
+and little known island, from which all Europeans except a few traders
+at the port are jealously excluded, many hundreds of square miles of
+irregularly undulating country have been so skillfully terraced and
+levelled, and so permeated by artificial channels, that every portion of
+it can be irrigated and dried at pleasure. According as the slope of the
+ground is more or less rapid, each terraced plot consists in some places
+of many acres, in others of a few square yards. We saw them in every
+state of cultivation; some in stubble, some being ploughed, some with
+rice-crops in various stages of growth. Here were luxuriant patches of
+tobacco; there, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, yams, beans or Indian-corn
+varied the scene. In some places the ditches were dry, in others little
+streams crossed our road and were distributed over lands about to be
+sown or planted. The banks which bordered every terrace rose regularly
+in horizontal lines above each other; sometimes rounding an abrupt knoll
+and looking like a fortification, or sweeping around some deep hollow
+and forming on a gigantic scale the seats of an amphitheatre. Every
+brook and rivulet had been diverted from its bed, and instead of flowing
+along the lowest ground, were to be found crossing our road half-way up
+an ascent, yet bordered by ancient trees and moss-grown stones so as to
+have all the appearance of a natural channel, and bearing testimony
+to the remote period at which the work had been done. As we advanced
+further into the country, the scene was diversified by abrupt rocky
+hills, by steep ravines, and by clumps of bamboos and palm-trees near
+houses or villages; while in the distance the fine range of mountains of
+which Lombock Peak, eight thousand feet high, is the culminating point,
+formed a fit background to a view scarcely to be surpassed either in
+human interest or picturesque beauty.
+
+Along the first part of our road we passed hundreds of women carrying
+rice, fruit, and vegetables to market; and further on, an almost
+uninterrupted line of horses laden with rice in bags or in the ear, on
+their way to the port of Ampanam. At every few miles along the road,
+seated under shady trees or slight sheds, were sellers of sugar-cane,
+palm-wine, cooked rice, salted eggs, and fried plantains, with a few
+other native delicacies. At these stalls a hearty meal may be made for a
+penny, but we contented ourselves with drinking some sweet palm-wine, a
+most delicious beverage in the heat of the day. After having travelled
+about twenty miles we reached a higher and drier region, where, water
+being scarce, cultivation was confined to the little flats bordering the
+streams. Here the country was as beautiful as before, but of a different
+character; consisting of undulating downs of short turf interspersed
+with fine clumps of trees and bushes, sometimes the woodland, sometimes
+the open ground predominating. We only passed through one small patch
+of true forest, where we were shaded by lofty trees, and saw around us a
+dark and dense vegetation, highly agreeable after the heat and glare of
+the open country.
+
+At length, about an hour after noon, we reached our destination--the
+village of Coupang, situated nearly in the centre of the island--and
+entered the outer court of a house belonging to one of the chiefs
+with whom my friend Mr. Ross had a slight acquaintance. Here we were
+requested to seat ourselves under an open shed with a raised floor of
+bamboo, a place used to receive visitors and hold audiences. Turning our
+horses to graze on the luxuriant grass of the courtyard, we waited until
+the great man's Malay interpreter appeared, who inquired our business
+and informed us that the Pumbuckle (chief) was at the Rajah's house, but
+would soon be back. As we had not yet breakfasted, we begged he would
+get us something to eat, which he promised to do as soon as possible. It
+was however about two hours before anything appeared, when a small tray
+was brought containing two saucers of rice, four small fried fish, and a
+few vegetables. Having made as good a breakfast as we could, we strolled
+about the village, and returning, amused ourselves by conversation
+with a number of men and boys who gathered around us; and by exchanging
+glances and smiles with a number of women and girls who peeped at us
+through half-opened doors and other crevices. Two little boys named
+Mousa and Isa (Moses and Jesus) were great friends with us, and an
+impudent little rascal called Kachang (a bean) made us all laugh by his
+mimicry and antics.
+
+At length, about four o'clock, the Pumbuckle made his appearance, and we
+informed him of our desire to stay with him a few days, to shoot birds
+and see the country. At this he seemed somewhat disturbed, and asked if
+we had brought a letter from the Anak Agong (Son of Heaven) which is the
+title of the Rajah of Lombock. This we had not done, thinking it quite
+unnecessary; and he then abruptly told us that he must go and speak to
+his Rajah, to see if we could stay. Hours passed away, night came,
+and he did not return. I began to think we were suspected of some evil
+designs, for the Pumbuckle was evidently afraid of getting himself into
+trouble. He is a Sassak prince, and, though a supporter of the present
+Rajah, is related to some of the heads of a conspiracy which was quelled
+a few years since.
+
+About five o'clock a pack-horse bearing my guns and clothes arrived,
+with my men Ali and Manuel, who had come on foot. The sun set, and it
+soon became dark, and we got rather hungry as we sat wearily under the
+shed and no one came. Still hour after hour we waited, until about nine
+o'clock, the Pumbuckle, the Rajah, some priests, and a number of their
+followers arrived and took their seats around us. We shook hands, and
+for some minutes there was a dead silence. Then the Rajah asked what
+we wanted; to which Mr. Ross replied by endeavouring to make them
+understand who we were, and why we had come, and that we had no sinister
+intentions whatever; and that we had not brought a letter from the
+"Anak Agong," merely because we had thought it quite unnecessary. A long
+conversation in the Bali language then took place, and questions were
+asked about my guns, and what powder I had, and whether I used shot or
+bullets; also what the birds were for, and how I preserved them, and
+what was done with them in England. Each of my answers and explanations
+was followed by a low and serious conversation which we could not
+understand, but the purport of which we could guess. They were evidently
+quite puzzled, and did not believe a word we had told them. They then
+inquired if we were really English, and not Dutch; and although we
+strongly asserted our nationality, they did not seem to believe us.
+
+After about an hour, however, they brought us some supper (which was
+the same as the breakfast, but without the fish), and after it some very
+weak coffee and pumpkins boiled with sugar. Having discussed this,
+a second conference took place; questions were again asked, and
+the answers again commented on. Between whiles lighter topics were
+discussed. My spectacles (concave glasses) were tried in succession by
+three or four old men, who could not make out why they could not see
+through them, and the fact no doubt was another item of suspicion
+against me. My beard, too, was the subject of some admiration, and many
+questions were asked about personal peculiarities which it is not the
+custom to allude to in European society. At length, about one in the
+morning, the whole party rose to depart, and, after conversing some time
+at the gate, all went away. We now begged the interpreter, who with a
+few boys and men remained about us, to show us a place to sleep in, at
+which he seemed very much surprised, saying he thought we were very well
+accommodated where we were. It was quite chilly, and we were very thinly
+clad and had brought no blankets, but all we could get after another
+hour's talk was a native mat and pillow, and a few old curtains to hang
+round three sides of the open shed and protect us a little from the
+cold breeze. We passed the rest of the night very uncomfortably, and
+determined to return in the morning and not submit any longer to such
+shabby treatment.
+
+We rose at daybreak, but it was near an hour before the interpreter
+made his appearance. We then asked to have some coffee and to see the
+Pumbuckle, as we wanted a horse for Ali, who was lame, and wished to
+bid him adieu. The man looked puzzled at such unheard-of demands and
+vanished into the inner court, locking the door behind him and leaving
+us again to our meditations. An hour passed and no one came, so I
+ordered the horses to be saddled and the pack-horse to be loaded, and
+prepared to start. Just then the interpreter came up on horse back, and
+looked aghast at our preparations. "Where is the Pumbuckle?" we asked.
+"Gone to the Rajah's," said he. "We are going," said I. "Oh! pray
+don't," said he; "wait a little; they are having a consultation, and
+some priests are coming to see you, and a chief is going off to Mataram
+to ask the permission of the Anak Agong for you to stay." This settled
+the matter. More talk, more delay, and another eight or ten hours'
+consultation were not to be endured; so we started at once, the poor
+interpreter almost weeping at our obstinacy and hurry, and assuring us
+"the Pumbuckle would be very sorry, and the Rajah would be very sorry,
+and if we would but wait all would be right." I gave Ali my horse, and
+started on foot, but he afterwards mounted behind Mr. Ross's groom, and
+we got home very well, though rather hot and tired.
+
+At Mataram we called at the house of Gusti Gadioca, one of the princes
+of Lombock, who was a friend of Mr. Carter's, and who had promised to
+show me the guns made by native workmen. Two guns were exhibited, one
+six, the other seven feet long, and of a proportionably large bore. The
+barrels were twisted and well finished, though not so finely worked as
+ours. The stock was well made, and extended to the end of the barrel.
+Silver and gold ornament was inlaid over most of the surface, but the
+locks were taken from English muskets. The Gusti assured me, however,
+that the Rajah had a man who made locks and also rifled barrels. The
+workshop where these guns are made and the tools used were next shown
+us, and were very remarkable. An open shed with a couple of small mud
+forges were the chief objects visible. The bellows consisted of two
+bamboo cylinders, with pistons worked by hand. They move very easily,
+having a loose stuffing of feathers thickly set round the piston so
+as to act as a valve, and produce a regular blast. Both cylinders
+communicate with the same nozzle, one piston rising while the other
+falls. An oblong piece of iron on the ground was the anvil, and a small
+vice was fixed on the projecting root of a tree outside. These, with a
+few files and hammers, were literally the only tools with which an old
+man makes these fine guns, finishing then himself from the rough iron
+and wood.
+
+I was anxious to know how they bored these long barrels, which seemed
+perfectly true and are said to shoot admirably; and, on asking the
+Gusti, received the enigmatical answer: "We use a basket full of
+stones." Being utterly unable to imagine what he could mean, I asked if
+I could see how they did it, and one of the dozen little boys around
+us was sent to fetch the basket. He soon returned with this most
+extraordinary boring-machine, the mode of using which the Gusti then
+explained to me. It was simply a strong bamboo basket, through the
+bottom of which was stuck upright a pole about three feet long, kept in
+its place by a few sticks tied across the top with rattans.
+
+The bottom of the pole has an iron ring, and a hole in which
+four-cornered borers of hardened iron can be fitted. The barrel to be
+bored is buried upright in the ground, the borer is inserted into it,
+the top of the stick or vertical shaft is held by a cross-piece of
+bamboo with a hole in it, and the basket is filled with stones to get
+the required weight. Two boys turn the bamboo round. The barrels are
+made in pieces of about eighteen inches long, which are first bored
+small, and then welded together upon a straight iron rod. The whole
+barrel is then worked with borers of gradually increasing size, and in
+three days the boring is finished. The whole matter was explained in
+such a straightforward manner that I have no doubt the process described
+to me was that actually used; although, when examining one of the
+handsome, well-finished, and serviceable guns, it was very hard to
+realize the fact that they had been made from first to last with tools
+hardly sufficient for an English blacksmith to make a horseshoe.
+
+The day after we returned from our excursion, the Rajah came to Ampanam
+to a feast given by Gusti Gadioca, who resides there; and soon after his
+arrival we went to have an audience. We found him in a large courtyard
+sitting on a mat under a shady tree; and all his followers, to the
+number of three or four hundred, squatting on the ground in a large
+circle round him. He wore a sarong or Malay petticoat and a green
+jacket. He was a man about thirty-five years of age, and of a pleasing
+countenance, with some appearance of intellect combined with indecision.
+We bowed, and took our seats on the ground near some chiefs we were
+acquainted with, for while the Rajah sits no one can stand or sit
+higher. He first inquired who I was, and what I was doing in Lombock,
+and then requested to see some of my birds. I accordingly sent for
+one of my boxes of bird-skins and one of insects, which he examined
+carefully, and seemed much surprised that they could be so well
+preserved. We then had a little conversation about Europe and the
+Russian war, in which all natives take an interest. Having heard much of
+a country-seat of the Rajah's called Gunong Sari, I took the opportunity
+to ask permission to visit it and shoot a few birds there which he
+immediately granted. I then thanked him, and we took our leave.
+
+An hour after, his son came to visit Mr. Carter accompanied by about a
+hundred followers, who all sat on the ground while he came into the open
+shed where Manuel was skinning birds. After some time he went into the
+house, had a bed arranged to sleep a little, then drank some wine, and
+after an hour or two had dinner brought him from the Gusti's house,
+which he ate with eight of the principal priests and princes, he
+pronounced a blessing over the rice and commenced eating first, after
+which the rest fell to. They rolled up balls of rice in their hands,
+dipped them in the gravy and swallowed them rapidly, with little pieces
+of meat and fowl cooked in a variety of ways. A boy fanned the young
+Rajah while eating. He was a youth of about fifteen, and had already
+three wives. All wore the kris, or Malay crooked dagger, on the beauty
+and value of which they greatly pride themselves. A companion of the
+Rajah's had one with a golden handle, in which were set twenty-eight
+diamonds and several other jewels. He said it had cost him £700. The
+sheaths are of ornamental wood and ivory, often covered on one side with
+gold. The blades are beautifully veined with white metal worked into
+the iron, and they are kept very carefully. Every man without exception
+carries a kris, stuck behind into the large waist-cloth which all wear,
+and it is generally the most valuable piece of property he possesses.
+
+A few days afterwards our long-talked-of excursion to Gunong Sari
+took place. Our party was increased by the captain and supercargo of
+a Hamburg ship loading with rice for China. We were mounted on a very
+miscellaneous lot of Lombock ponies, which we had some difficulty in
+supplying with the necessary saddles, etc.; and most of us had to patch
+up our girths, bridles, or stirrup-leathers as best we could. We passed
+through Mataram, where we were joined by our friend Gusti Gadioca,
+mounted on a handsome black horse, and riding as all the natives do,
+without saddle or stirrups, using only a handsome saddlecloth and very
+ornamental bridle.
+
+About three miles further, along pleasant byways, brought us to the
+place. We entered through a rather handsome brick gateway supported by
+hideous Hindu deities in stone. Within was an enclosure with two square
+fish-ponds and some fine trees; then another gateway through which we
+entered into a park. On the right was a brick house, built somewhat in
+the Hindu style, and placed on a high terrace or platform; on the left
+a large fish-pond, supplied by a little rivulet which entered it out of
+the mouth of a gigantic crocodile well executed in brick and stone. The
+edges of the pond were bricked, and in the centre rose a fantastic and
+picturesque pavilion ornamented with grotesque statues. The pond was
+well stocked with fine fish, which come every morning to be fed at the
+sound of a wooden gong which is hung near for the purpose. On striking
+it a number of fish immediately came out of the masses of weed with
+which the pond abounds, and followed us along the margin expecting food.
+At the same time some deer came out of as adjacent wood, which, from
+being seldom shot at and regularly fed, are almost tame. The jungle and
+woods which surrounded the park appearing to abound in birds, I went to
+shoot a few, and was rewarded by getting several specimens of the fine
+new kingfisher, Halcyon fulgidus, and the curious and handsome
+ground thrush, Zoothera andromeda. The former belies its name by not
+frequenting water or feeding on fish. It lives constantly in low damp
+thickets picking up ground insects, centipedes, and small mollusca.
+Altogether I was much pleased with my visit to this place, and it gave
+me a higher opinion than I had before entertained of the taste of these
+people, although the style of the buildings and of the sculpture is very
+much inferior to those of the magnificent ruins in Java.
+
+I must now say a few words about the character, manners, and customs of
+these interesting people.
+
+The aborigines of Lombock are termed Sassaks. They are a Malay race
+hardly differing in appearance from the people of Malacca or Borneo.
+They are Mahometans and form the bulk of the population. The ruling
+classes, on the other hand, are natives of the adjacent island of Bali,
+and are of the Brahminical religion. The government is an absolute
+monarchy, but it seems to be conducted with more wisdom and moderation
+than is usual in Malay countries. The father of the present Rajah
+conquered the island, and the people seem now quite reconciled to their
+new rulers, who do not interfere with their religion, and probably
+do not tax them any heavier than did the native chiefs they have
+supplanted. The laws now in force in Lombock are very severe. Theft is
+punished by death. Mr. Carter informed me that a man once stole a metal
+coffee-pot from his house. He was caught, the pot restored, and the
+man brought to Mr. Carter to punish as he thought fit. All the natives
+recommended Mr. Carter to have him "krissed" on the spot; "for if you
+don't," said they, "he will rob you again." Mr. Carter, however, let him
+off with a warning, that if he ever came inside his premises again he
+would certainly be shot. A few months afterwards the same man stole a
+horse from Mr. Carter. The horse was recovered, but the thief was not
+caught. It is an established rule, that anyone found in a house after
+dark, unless with the owner's knowledge, may be stabbed, his body thrown
+out into the street or upon the beach, and no questions will be asked.
+
+The men are exceedingly jealous and very strict with their wives. A
+married woman may not accept a cigar or a sirih leaf from a stranger
+under pain of death. I was informed that some years ago one of the
+English traders had a Balinese woman of good family living with him--the
+connection being considered quite honourable by the natives. During some
+festival this girl offended against the law by accepting a flower or
+some such trifle from another man. This was reported to the Rajah (to
+some of whose wives the girl was related), and he immediately sent to
+the Englishman's house ordering him to give the woman up as she must be
+"krissed." In vain he begged and prayed, and offered to pay any fine
+the Rajah might impose, and finally refused to give her up unless he
+was forced to do so. This the Rajah did not wish to resort to, as he no
+doubt thought he was acting as much for the Englishman's honour as for
+his own; so he appeared to let the matter drop. But some time afterwards
+he sent one of his followers to the house, who beckoned the girl to the
+door, and then saying, "The Rajah sends you this," stabbed her to the
+heart. More serious infidelity is punished still more cruelly, the woman
+and her paramour being tied back to back and thrown into the sea, where
+some large crocodiles are always on the watch to devour the bodies. One
+such execution took place while I was at Ampanam, but I took a long
+walk into the country to be out of the way until it was all over, thus
+missing the opportunity of having a horrible narrative to enliven my
+somewhat tedious story.
+
+One morning, as we were sitting at breakfast, Mr. Carter's servant
+informed us that there was an "Amok" in the village--in other words,
+that a man was "running a muck." Orders were immediately given to shut
+and fasten the gates of our enclosure; but hearing nothing for some
+time, we went out, and found there had been a false alarm, owing to a
+slave having run away, declaring he would "amok," because his master
+wanted to sell him. A short time before, a man had been killed at a
+gaming-table because, having lost half-a-dollar more than he possessed,
+he was going to "amok." Another had killed or wounded seventeen people
+before he could be destroyed. In their wars a whole regiment of these
+people will sometimes agree to "amok," and then rush on with such
+energetic desperation as to be very formidable to men not so excited
+as themselves. Among the ancients these would have been looked upon as
+heroes or demigods who sacrificed themselves for their country. Here it
+is simply said--they made "amok."
+
+Macassar is the most celebrated place in the East for "running a muck."
+There are said to be one or two a month on the average, and five, ten,
+or twenty persons are sometimes killed or wounded at one of them. It is
+the national, and therefore the honourable, mode of committing suicide
+among the natives of Celebes, and is the fashionable way of escaping
+from their difficulties. A Roman fell upon his sword, a Japanese rips up
+his stomach, and an Englishman blows out his brains with a pistol.
+The Bugis mode has many advantages to one suicidically inclined. A man
+thinks himself wronged by society--he is in debt and cannot pay--he is
+taken for a slave or has gambled away his wife or child into slavery--he
+sees no way of recovering what he has lost, and becomes desperate. He
+will not put up with such cruel wrongs, but will be revenged on mankind
+and die like a hero. He grasps his kris-handle, and the next moment
+draws out the weapon and stabs a man to the heart. He runs on, with
+bloody kris in his hand, stabbing at everyone he meets. "Amok! Amok!"
+then resounds through the streets. Spears, krisses, knives and guns are
+brought out against him. He rushes madly forward, kills all he can--men,
+women, and children--and dies overwhelmed by numbers amid all the
+excitement of a battle. And what that excitement is those who have been
+in one best know, but all who have ever given way to violent passions,
+or even indulged in violent and exciting exercises, may form a very good
+idea. It is a delirious intoxication, a temporary madness that absorbs
+every thought and every energy. And can we wonder at the kris-bearing,
+untaught, brooding Malay preferring such a death, looked upon as almost
+honourable to the cold-blooded details of suicide, if he wishes to
+escape from overwhelming troubles, or the merciless clutches of the
+hangman and the disgrace of a public execution, when he has taken the
+law into his own hands and too hastily revenged himself upon his enemy?
+In either case he chooses rather to "amok."
+
+The great staples of the trade of Lombock as well as of Bali are rice
+and coffee; the former grown on the plains, the latter on the hills. The
+rice is exported very largely to other islands of the Archipelago,
+to Singapore, and even to China, and there are generally one or more
+vessels loading in the port. It is brought into Ampanam on pack-horses,
+and almost every day a string of these would come into Mr. Carter's
+yard. The only money the natives will take for their rice is Chinese
+copper cash, twelve hundred of which go to a dollar. Every morning two
+large sacks of this money had to be counted out into convenient sums for
+payment. From Bali quantities of dried beef and ox-tongues are exported,
+and from Lombock a good many ducks and ponies. The ducks are a peculiar
+breed, which have very long flat bodies, and walk erect almost like
+penguins. They are generally of a pale reddish ash colour, and are kept
+in large flocks. They are very cheap and are largely consumed by the
+crews of the rice ships, by whom they are called Baly-soldiers, but are
+more generally known elsewhere as penguin-ducks.
+
+My Portuguese bird-stuffer Fernandez now insisted on breaking his
+agreement and returning to Singapore; partly from homesickness, but
+more I believe from the idea that his life was not worth many months'
+purchase among such bloodthirsty and uncivilized peoples. It was a
+considerable loss to me, as I had paid him full three times the usual
+wages for three months in advance, half of which was occupied in the
+voyage and the rest in a place where I could have done without him,
+owing to there being so few insects that I could devote my own time
+to shooting and skinning. A few days after Fernandez had left, a small
+schooner came in bound for Macassar, to which place I took a passage. As
+a fitting conclusion to my sketch of these interesting islands, I will
+narrate an anecdote which I heard of the present Rajah; and which,
+whether altogether true or not, well illustrates native character, and
+will serve as a means of introducing some details of the manners and
+customs of the country to which I have not yet alluded.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. LOMBOCK: HOW THE RAJAH TOOK THE CENSUS.
+
+The Rajah of Lombock was a very wise man and he showed his wisdom
+greatly in the way he took the census. For my readers must know that
+the chief revenues of the Rajah were derived from a head-tax of rice, a
+small measure being paid annually by every man, woman, and child in the
+island, There was no doubt that every one paid this tax, for it was a
+very light one, and the land was fertile and the people well off; but
+it had to pass through many hands before it reached the Government
+storehouses. When the harvest was over the villagers brought their rice
+to the Kapala kampong, or head of the village; and no doubt he sometimes
+had compassion for the poor or sick and passed over their short measure,
+and sometimes was obliged to grant a favour to those who had complaints
+against him; and then he must keep up his own dignity by having his
+granaries better filled than his neighbours, and so the rice that he
+took to the "Waidono" that was over his district was generally good deal
+less than it should have been. And all the "Waidonos" had of course to
+take care of themselves, for they were all in debt and it was so easy
+to take a little of the Government rice, and there would still be plenty
+for the Rajah. And the "Gustis" or princes who received the rice from
+the Waidonos helped themselves likewise, and so when the harvest was all
+over and the rice tribute was all brought in, the quantity was found
+to be less each year than the one before. Sickness in one district, and
+fevers in another, and failure of the crops in a third, were of course
+alleged as the cause of this falling off; but when the Rajah went to
+hunt at the foot of the great mountain, or went to visit a "Gusti" on
+the other side of the island, he always saw the villages full of people,
+all looking well-fed and happy. And he noticed that the krisses of
+his chiefs and officers were getting handsomer and handsomer; and the
+handles that were of yellow wood were changed for ivory, and those of
+ivory were changed for gold, and diamonds and emeralds sparkled on many
+of them; and he knew very well which way the tribute-rice went. But as
+he could not prove it he kept silence, and resolved in his own heart
+someday to have a census taken, so that he might know the number of
+his people, and not be cheated out of more rice than was just and
+reasonable.
+
+But the difficulty was how to get this census. He could not go himself
+into every village and every house, and count all the people; and if
+he ordered it to be done by the regular officers they would quickly
+understand what it was for, and the census would be sure to agree
+exactly with the quantity of rice he got last year. It was evident
+therefore that to answer his purpose no one must suspect why the census
+was taken; and to make sure of this, no one must know that there was any
+census taken at all. This was a very hard problem; and the Rajah thought
+and thought, as hard as a Malay Rajah can be expected to think, but
+could not solve it; and so he was very unhappy, and did nothing but
+smoke and chew betel with his favourite wife, and eat scarcely anything;
+and even when he went to the cock-fight did not seem to care whether his
+best birds won or lost. For several days he remained in this sad state,
+and all the court were afraid some evil eye had bewitched the Rajah; and
+an unfortunate Irish captain who had come in for a cargo of rice and
+who squinted dreadfully, was very nearly being krissed, but being first
+brought to the royal presence was graciously ordered to go on board and
+remain there while his ship stayed in the port.
+
+One morning however, after about a week's continuance of this
+unaccountable melancholy, a welcome change took place, for the Rajah
+sent to call together all the chiefs, priests, and princes who were
+then in Mataram, his capital city; and when they were all assembled in
+anxious expectation, he thus addressed them:
+
+"For many days my heart has been very sick and I knew not why, but now
+the trouble is cleared away, for I have had a dream. Last night the
+spirit of the 'Gunong Agong'--the great fire mountain--appeared to me,
+and told me that I must go up to the top of the mountain. All of you may
+come with me to near the top, but then I must go up alone, and the
+great spirit will again appear to me and will tell me what is of great
+importance to me and to you and to all the people of the island. Now go
+all of you and make this known through the island, and let every village
+furnish men to make clear a road for us to go through the forest and up
+the great mountain."
+
+So the news was spread over the whole island that the Rajah must go to
+meet the great spirit on the top of the mountain; and every village sent
+forth its men, and they cleared away the jungle and made bridges over
+the mountain streams and smoothed the rough places for the Rajah's
+passage. And when they came to the steep and craggy rocks of the
+mountain, they sought out the best paths, sometimes along the bed of a
+torrent, sometimes along narrow ledges of the black rocks; in one place
+cutting down a tall tree so as to bridge across a chasm, in another
+constructing ladders to mount the smooth face of a precipice. The chiefs
+who superintended the work fixed upon the length of each day's journey
+beforehand according to the nature of the road, and chose pleasant
+places by the banks of clear streams and in the neighbourhood of shady
+trees, where they built sheds and huts of bamboo well thatched with the
+leaves of palm-trees, in which the Rajah and his attendants might eat
+and sleep at the close of each day.
+
+And when all was ready, the princes and priests and chief men came again
+to the Rajah, to tell him what had been done and to ask him when he
+would go up the mountain. And he fixed a day, and ordered every man of
+rank and authority to accompany him, to do honour to the great spirit
+who had bid him undertake the journey, and to show how willingly they
+obeyed his commands. And then there was much preparation throughout
+the whole island. The best cattle were killed and the meat salted
+and sun-dried; and abundance of red peppers and sweet potatoes were
+gathered; and the tall pinang-trees were climbed for the spicy betel
+nut, the sirih-leaf was tied up in bundles, and every man filled his
+tobacco pouch and lime box to the brim, so that he might not want any of
+the materials for chewing the refreshing betel during the journey.
+The stores of provisions were sent on a day in advance. And on the day
+before that appointed for starting, all the chiefs both great and small
+came to Mataram, the abode of the king, with their horses and their
+servants, and the bearers of their sirih boxes, and their sleeping-mats,
+and their provisions. And they encamped under the tall Waringin-trees
+that border all the roads about Mataram, and with blazing fires frighted
+away the ghouls and evil spirits that nightly haunt the gloomy avenues.
+
+In the morning a great procession was formed to conduct the Rajah to the
+mountain. And the royal princes and relations of the Rajah mounted
+their black horses whose tails swept the ground; they used no saddle or
+stirrups, but sat upon a cloth of gay colours; the bits were of silver
+and the bridles of many-coloured cords. The less important people were
+on small strong horses of various colours, well suited to a mountain
+journey; and all (even the Rajah) were bare-legged to above the knee,
+wearing only the gay coloured cotton waist-cloth, a silk or cotton
+jacket, and a large handkerchief tastefully folded around the head.
+Everyone was attended by one or two servants bearing his sirih and betel
+boxes, who were also mounted on ponies; and great numbers more had gone
+on in advance or waited to bring up the rear. The men in authority
+were numbered by hundreds and their followers by thousands, and all the
+island wondered what great thing would come of it.
+
+For the first two days they went along good roads and through many
+villages which were swept clean, and where bright cloths were hung out
+at the windows; and all the people, when the Rajah came, squatted down
+upon the ground in respect, and every man riding got off his horse and
+squatted down also, and many joined the procession at every village. At
+the place where they stopped for the night, the people had placed stakes
+along each side of the roads in front of the houses. These were split
+crosswise at the top, and in the cleft were fastened little clay lamps,
+and between them were stuck the green leaves of palm-trees, which,
+dripping with the evening dew, gleamed prettily with the many twinkling
+lights. And few went to sleep that night until the morning hours,
+for every house held a knot of eager talkers, and much betel-nut was
+consumed, and endless were the conjectures what would come of it.
+
+On the second day they left the last village behind them and entered the
+wild country that surrounds the great mountain, and rested in the huts
+that had been prepared for them on the banks of a stream of cold and
+sparkling water. And the Rajah's hunters, armed with long and heavy
+guns, went in search of deer and wild bulls in the surrounding woods,
+and brought home the meat of both in the early morning, and sent it on
+in advance to prepare the mid-day meal. On the third day they advanced
+as far as horses could go, and encamped at the foot of high rocks, among
+which narrow pathways only could be found to reach the mountain-top. And
+on the fourth morning when the Rajah set out, he was accompanied only
+by a small party of priests and princes with their immediate attendants;
+and they toiled wearily up the rugged way, and sometimes were carried
+by their servants, until they passed up above the great trees, and then
+among the thorny bushes, and above them again on to the black and burned
+rock of the highest part of the mountain.
+
+And when they were near the summit, the Rajah ordered them all to halt,
+while he alone went to meet the great spirit on the very peak of the
+mountain. So he went on with two boys only who carried his sirih and
+betel, and soon reached the top of the mountain among great rocks, on
+the edge of the great gulf whence issue forth continually smoke and
+vapour. And the Rajah asked for sirih, and told the boys to sit down
+under a rock and look down the mountain, and not to move until he
+returned to them. And as they were tired, and the sun was warm and
+pleasant, and the rock sheltered them from the cold wind, the boys fell
+asleep. And the Rajah went a little way on under another rock; and as he
+was tired, and the sun was warm and pleasant, and he too fell asleep.
+
+And those who were waiting for the Rajah thought him a long time on the
+top of the mountain, and thought the great spirit must have much to say,
+or might perhaps want to keep him on the mountain always, or perhaps he
+had missed his way in coming down again. And they were debating whether
+they should go and search for him, when they saw him coming down with
+the two boys. And when he met them he looked very grave, but said
+nothing; and then all descended together, and the procession returned
+as it had come; and the Rajah went to his palace and the chiefs to
+their villages, and the people to their houses, to tell their wives and
+children all that had happened, and to wonder yet again what would come
+of it.
+
+And three days afterwards the Rajah summoned the priests and the princes
+and the chief men of Mataram, to hear what the great spirit had told him
+on the top of the mountain. And when they were all assembled, and the
+betel and sirih had been handed round, he told them what had happened.
+On the top of the mountain he had fallen into a trance, and the great
+spirit had appeared to him with a face like burnished gold, and had
+said--"Oh Rajah! much plague and sickness and fevers are coming upon all
+the earth, upon men and upon horses and upon cattle; but as you and
+your people have obeyed me and have come up to my great mountain, I will
+teach you how you and all the people of Lombock may escape this plague."
+And all waited anxiously, to hear how they were to be saved from so
+fearful a calamity. And after a short silence the Rajah spoke again
+and told them, that the great spirit had commanded that twelve sacred
+krisses should be made, and that to make them every village and every
+district must send a bundle of needles--a needle for every head in the
+village. And when any grievous disease appeared in any village, one
+of the sacred krisses should be sent there; and if every house in
+that village had sent the right number of needles, the disease would
+immediately cease; but if the number of needles sent had not been exact,
+the kris would have no virtue.
+
+So the princes and chiefs sent to all their villages and communicated
+the wonderful news; and all made haste to collect the needles with the
+greatest accuracy, for they feared that if but one were wanting, the
+whole village would suffer. So one by one the head men of the villages
+brought in their bundles of needles; those who were near Mataram came
+first, and those who were far off came last; and the Rajah received them
+with his own hands and put them away carefully in an inner chamber, in a
+camphor-wood chest whose hinges and clasps were of silver; and on every
+bundle was marked the name of the village and the district from whence
+it came, so that it might be known that all had heard and obeyed the
+commands of the great spirit.
+
+And when it was quite certain that every village had sent in its bundle,
+the Rajah divided the needles into twelve equal parts, and ordered the
+best steelworker in Mataram to bring his forge and his bellows and his
+hammers to the palace, and to make the twelve krisses under the Rajah's
+eye, and in the sight of all men who chose to see it. And when they were
+finished, they were wrapped up in new silk and put away carefully until
+they might be wanted.
+
+Now the journey to the mountain was in the time of the east wind when no
+rain falls in Lombock. And soon after the krisses were made it was the
+time of the rice harvest, and the chiefs of districts and of villages
+brought their tax to the Rajah according to the number of heads in their
+villages. And to those that wanted but little of the full amount, the
+Rajah said nothing; but when those came who brought only half or a
+fourth part of what was strictly due, he said to them mildly, "The
+needles which you sent from your village were many more than came from
+such-a-one's village, yet your tribute is less than his; go back and see
+who it is that has not paid the tax." And the next year the produce of
+the tax increased greatly, for they feared that the Rajah might justly
+kill those who a second time kept back the right tribute. And so the
+Rajah became very rich, and increased the number of his soldiers, and
+gave golden jewels to his wives, and bought fine black horses from the
+white-skinned Hollanders, and made great feasts when his children were
+born or were married; and none of the Rajahs or Sultans among the Malays
+were so great or powerful as the Rajah of Lombock.
+
+And the twelve sacred krisses had great virtue. And, when any sickness
+appeared in a village one of them was sent for; and sometimes the
+sickness went away, and then the sacred kris was taken back again with
+great Honour, and the head men of the village came to tell the Rajah of
+its miraculous power, and to thank him. And sometimes the sickness would
+not go away; and then everybody was convinced that there had been a
+mistake in the number of needles sent from that village, and therefore
+the sacred kris had no effect, and had to be taken back again by the
+head men with heavy hearts, but still, with all honour--for was not the
+fault their own?
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. TIMOR.
+
+ (COUPANG, 1857-1869. DELLI, 1861.)
+
+THE island of Timor is about three hundred miles long and sixty wide,
+and seems to form the termination of the great range of volcanic islands
+which begins with Sumatra more than two thousand miles to the west. It
+differs however very remarkably from all the other islands of the chain
+in not possessing any active volcanoes, with the one exception of Timor
+Peak near the centre of the island, which was formerly active, but was
+blown up during an eruption in 1638 and has since been quiescent. In no
+other part of Timor do there appear to be any recent igneous rocks, so
+that it can hardly be classed as a volcanic island. Indeed its position
+is just outside of the great volcanic belt, which extends from Flores
+through Ombay and Wetter to Banda.
+
+I first visited Timor in 1857, staying a day at Coupang, the chief Dutch
+town at the west end of the island; and again in May 1859, when I stayed
+a fortnight in the same neighbourhood. In the spring of 1861 I spent
+four months at Delli, the capital of the Portuguese possessions in the
+eastern part of the island.
+
+The whole neighbourhood of Coupang appears to have been elevated at a
+recent epoch, consisting of a rugged surface of coral rock, which rises
+in a vertical wall between the beach and the town, whose low, white,
+red-tiled houses give it an appearance very similar to other Dutch
+settlements in the East. The vegetation is everywhere scanty and
+scrubby. Plants of the families Apocynaceae and Euphorbiaceae, abound;
+but there is nothing that can be called a forest, and the whole country
+has a parched and desolate appearance, contrasting strongly with
+the lofty forest trees and perennial verdure of the Moluccas or of
+Singapore. The most conspicuous feature of the vegetation was the
+abundance of fine fan-leaved palms (Borassus flabelliformis), from the
+leaves of which are constructed the strong and durable water-buckets in
+general use, and which are much superior to those formed from any other
+species of palm. From the same tree, palm-wine and sugar are made, and
+the common thatch for houses formed of the leaves lasts six or seven
+years without removal. Close to the town I noticed the foundation of
+a ruined house below high-water mark, indicating recent subsidence.
+Earthquakes are not severe here, and are so infrequent and harmless that
+the chief houses are built of stone.
+
+The inhabitants of Coupang consist of Malays, Chinese, and Dutch,
+besides the natives, so that there are many strange and complicated
+mixtures among the population. There is one resident English merchant,
+and whalers as well as Australian ships often come here for stores and
+water. The native Timorese preponderate, and a very little examination
+serves to show that they have nothing in common with Malays, but are
+much more closely allied to the true Papuans of the Aru Islands and New
+Guinea. They are tall, have pronounced features, large somewhat aquiline
+noses, and frizzly hair, and are generally of a dusky brown colour. The
+way in which the women talk to each other and to the men, their loud
+voices and laughter, and general character of self-assertion, would
+enable an experienced observer to decide, even without seeing them, that
+they were not Malays.
+
+Mr. Arndt, a German and the Government doctor, invited me to stay at
+his house while in Coupang, and I gladly accepted his offer, as I only
+intended making a short visit. We at first began speaking French, but
+he got on so badly that we soon passed insensibly into Malay; and
+we afterwards held long discussions on literary, scientific, and
+philosophical questions in that semi-barbarous language, whose
+deficiencies we made up by the free use of French or Latin words.
+
+After a few walks in the neighbourhood of the town, I found such a
+poverty of insects and birds that I determined to go for a few days to
+the island of Semao at the western extremity of Timor, where I heard
+that there was forest country with birds not found at Coupang. With some
+difficulty I obtained a large dugout boat with outriggers, to take me
+over a distance of about twenty miles. I found the country pretty well
+wooded, but covered with shrubs and thorny bushes rather than
+forest trees, and everywhere excessively parched and dried up by the
+long-continued dry season. I stayed at the village of Oeassa, remarkable
+for its soap springs. One of these is in the middle of the village,
+bubbling out from a little cone of mud to which the ground rises all
+round like a volcano in miniature. The water has a soapy feel and
+produces a strong lather when any greasy substance is washed in it.
+It contains alkali and iodine, in such quantities as to destroy all
+vegetation for some distance around. Close by the village is one of
+the finest springs I have ever seen, contained in several rocky basins
+communicating by narrow channels. These have been neatly walled where
+required and partly levelled, and form fine natural baths. The water
+is well tasted and clear as crystal, and the basins are surrounded by
+a grove of lofty many-stemmed banyan-trees, which keep them always cool
+and shady, and add greatly to the picturesque beauty of the scene.
+
+The village consists of curious little houses very different from any I
+have seen elsewhere. They are of an oval figure, and the walls are made
+of sticks about four feet high placed close together. From this rises a
+high conical roof thatched with grass. The only opening is a door about
+three feet high. The people are like the Timorese with frizzly or wavy
+hair and of a coppery brown colour. The better class appear to have a
+mixture of some superior race which has much improved their features.
+I saw in Coupang some chiefs from the island of Savu further west,
+who presented characters very distinct from either the Malay or Papuan
+races. They most resembled Hindus, having fine well-formed features and
+straight thin noses with clear brown complexions. As the Brahminical
+religion once spread over all Java, and even now exists in Bali and
+Lombock, it is not at all improbable that some natives of India should
+have reached this island, either by accident or to escape persecution,
+and formed a permanent settlement there.
+
+I stayed at Oeassa four days, when, not finding any insects and very few
+new birds, I returned to Coupang to await the next mail steamer. On the
+way I had a narrow escape of being swamped. The deep coffin-like boat
+was filled up with my baggage, and with vegetables, cocoa-nut and other
+fruit for Coupang market, and when we had got some way across into a
+rather rough sea, we found that a quantity of water was coming in which
+we had no means of baling out. This caused us to sink deeper in the
+water, and then we shipped seas over our sides, and the rowers, who had
+before declared it was nothing, now became alarmed and turned the boat
+round to get back to the coast of Semao, which was not far off. By
+clearing away some of the baggage a little of the water could be baled
+out, but hardly so fast as it came in, and when we neared the coast
+we found nothing but vertical walls of rock against which the sea was
+violently beating. We coasted along some distance until we found
+a little cove, into which we ran the boat, hauled it on shore, and
+emptying it found a large hole in the bottom, which had been temporarily
+stopped up with a plug of cocoa-nut which had come out. Had we been a
+quarter of a mile further off before we discovered the leak, we should
+certainly have been obliged to throw most of our baggage overboard,
+and might easily have lost our lives. After we had put all straight and
+secure we again started, and when we were halfway across got into such a
+strong current and high cross sea that we were very nearly being swamped
+a second time, which made me vow never to trust myself again in such
+small and miserable vessels.
+
+The mail steamer did not arrive for a week, and I occupied myself in
+getting as many of the birds as I could, and found some which were very
+interesting. Among them were five species of pigeons of as many distinct
+genera, and most of them peculiar to the island; two parrots--the fine
+red-winged broad-tail (Platycercus vulneratus), allied to an
+Australian species, and a green species of the genus Geoffroyus. The
+Tropidorhynchus timorensis was as ubiquitous and as noisy as I had found
+it at Lombock; and the Sphaecothera viridis, a curious green oriole
+with bare red orbits, was a great acquisition. There were several
+pretty finches, warblers, and flycatchers, and among them I obtained the
+elegant blue and red Cyornis hyacinthina; but I cannot recognise among
+my collections the species mentioned by Dampier, who seems to have been
+much struck by the number of small songbirds in Timor. He says: "One
+sort of these pretty little birds my men called the ringing bird,
+because it had six notes, and always repeated all his notes twice, one
+after the other, beginning high and shrill and ending low. The bird was
+about the bigness of a lark, having a small, sharp, black bill and blue
+wings; the head and breast were of a pale red, and there was a blue
+streak about its neck." In Semao, monkeys are abundant. They are the
+common hare-lipped monkey (Macacus cynomolgus), which is found all over
+the western islands of the Archipelago, and may have been introduced by
+natives, who often carry it about captive. There are also some deer,
+but it is not quite certain whether they are of the same species as are
+found in Java.
+
+I arrived at Delli, the capital of the Portuguese possessions in
+Timor, on January 12, 1861, and was kindly received by Captain Hart, an
+Englishman and an old resident, who trades in the produce of the country
+and cultivates coffee on an estate at the foot of the hills. With him
+I was introduced to Mr. Geach, a mining-engineer who had been for two
+years endeavouring to discover copper in sufficient quantity to be worth
+working.
+
+Delli is a most miserable place compared with even the poorest of the
+Dutch towns. The houses are all of mud and thatch; the fort is only a
+mud enclosure; and the custom-house and church are built of the same
+mean materials, with no attempt at decoration or even neatness. The
+whole aspect of the place is that of a poor native town, and there is no
+sign of cultivation or civilization round about it. His Excellency
+the Governor's house is the only one that makes any pretensions to
+appearance, and that is merely a low whitewashed cottage or bungalow.
+Yet there is one thing in which civilization exhibits itself--officials
+in black and white European costume, and officers in gorgeous uniforms
+abound in a degree quite disproportionate to the size or appearance of
+the place.
+
+The town being surrounded for some distance by swamps and mudflats is
+very unhealthy, and a single night often gives a fever to newcomers
+which not unfrequently proves fatal. To avoid this malaria, Captain Hart
+always slept at his plantation, on a slight elevation about two miles
+from the town, where Mr. Geach also had a small house, which he kindly
+invited me to share. We rode there in the evening; and in the course of
+two days my baggage was brought up, and I was able to look about me and
+see if I could do any collecting.
+
+For the first few weeks I was very unwell and could not go far from the
+house. The country was covered with low spiny shrubs and acacias, except
+in a little valley where a stream came down from the hills, where some
+fine trees and bushes shaded the water and formed a very pleasant place
+to ramble up. There were plenty of birds about, and of a tolerable
+variety of species; but very few of them were gaily coloured. Indeed,
+with one or two exceptions, the birds of this tropical island were
+hardly so ornamental as those of Great Britain. Beetles were so scarce
+that a collector might fairly say there were none, as the few obscure
+or uninteresting species would not repay him for the search. The only
+insects at all remarkable or interesting were the butterflies, which,
+though comparatively few in species, were sufficiently abundant, and
+comprised a large proportion of new or rare sorts. The banks of the
+stream formed my best collecting-ground, and I daily wandered up and
+down its shady bed, which about a mile up became rocky and precipitous.
+Here I obtained the rare and beautiful swallow-tail butterflies, Papilio
+aenomaus and P. liris; the males of which are quite unlike each other,
+and belong in fact to distinct sections of the genus, while the females
+are so much alike that they are undistinguishable on the wing, and to
+an uneducated eye equally so in the cabinet. Several other beautiful
+butterflies rewarded my search in this place, among which I may
+especially mention the Cethosia leschenaultii, whose wings of the
+deepest purple are bordered with buff in such a manner as to resemble
+at first sight our own Camberwell beauty, although it belongs to a
+different genus. The most abundant butterflies were the whites and
+yellows (Pieridae), several of which I had already found at Lombock and
+at Coupang, while others were new to me.
+
+Early in February we made arrangements to stay for a week at a village
+called Baliba, situated about four miles off on the mountains, at
+an elevation of 2,000 feet. We took our baggage and a supply of all
+necessaries on packhorses; and though the distance by the route we took
+was not more than six or seven miles, we were half a day getting there.
+The roads were mere tracks, sometimes up steep rocky stairs, sometimes
+in narrow gullies worn by the horses' feet, and where it was necessary
+to tuck up our legs on our horses' necks to avoid having them crushed.
+At some of these places the baggage had to be unloaded, at others it was
+knocked off. Sometimes the ascent or descent was so steep that it was
+easier to walk than to cling to our ponies' backs; and thus we went up
+and down over bare hills whose surface was covered with small pebbles
+and scattered over with Eucalypti, reminding me of what I had read of
+parts of the interior of Australia rather than of the Malay Archipelago.
+
+The village consisted of three houses only, with low walls raised a few
+feet on posts, and very high roofs thatched with grass hanging down to
+within two or three feet of the ground. A house which was unfinished and
+partly open at the back was given for our use, and in it we rigged up
+a table, some benches, and a screen, while an inner enclosed portion
+served us for a sleeping apartment. We had a splendid view down upon
+Delli and the sea beyond. The country around was undulating and open,
+except in the hollows, where there were some patches of forest, which
+Mr. Geach, who had been all over the eastern part of Timor, assured me
+was the most luxuriant he had yet seen in the island. I was in hopes of
+finding some insects here, but was much disappointed, owing perhaps to
+the dampness of the climate; for it was not until the sun was pretty
+high that the mists cleared away, and by noon we were generally clouded
+up again, so that there was seldom more than an hour or two of fitful
+sunshine. We searched in every direction for birds and other game,
+but they were very scarce. On our way I had shot the fine white-headed
+pigeon, Ptilonopus cinctus, and the pretty little lorikeet,
+Trichoglossus euteles. I got a few more of these at the blossoms of the
+Eucalypti, and also the allied species Trichoglossus iris, and a few
+other small but interesting birds. The common jungle-cock of India
+(Gallus bankiva) was found here, and furnished us with some excellent
+meals; but we could get no deer. Potatoes are grown higher up the
+mountains in abundance, and are very good. We had a sheep killed every
+other day, and ate our mutton with much appetite in the cool climate,
+which rendered a fire always agreeable.
+
+Although one-half the European residents in Delli are continually
+ill from fever, and the Portuguese have occupied the place for three
+centuries, no one has yet built a house on these fine hills, which, if
+a tolerable road were made, would be only an hour's ride from the town;
+and almost equally good situations might be found on a lower level at
+half an hour's distance. The fact that potatoes and wheat of excellent
+quality are grown in abundance at from 3,000 to 3,500 feet elevation,
+shows what the climate and soil are capable of if properly cultivated.
+From one to two thousand feet high, coffee would thrive; and there are
+hundreds of square miles of country over which all the varied products
+which require climates between those of coffee and wheat would flourish;
+but no attempt has yet been made to form a single mile of road, or a
+single acre of plantation!
+
+There must be something very unusual in the climate of Timor to permit
+wheat being grown at so moderate an elevation. The grain is of excellent
+quality, the bread made from it being equal to any I have ever tasted,
+and it is universally acknowledged to be unsurpassed by any made from
+imported European or American flour. The fact that the natives have
+(quite of their own accord) taken to cultivating such foreign articles
+as wheat and potatoes, which they bring in small quantities on the backs
+of ponies by the most horrible mountain tracks, and sell very cheaply
+at the seaside, sufficiently indicates what might be done if good roads
+were made, and if the people were taught, encouraged, and protected.
+Sheep also do well on the mountains; and a breed of hardy ponies in much
+repute all over the Archipelago, runs half-wild, so that it appears as
+if this island, so barren-looking and devoid of the usual features of
+tropical vegetation, were yet especially adapted to supply a variety
+of products essential to Europeans, which the other islands will not
+produce, and which they accordingly import from the other side of the
+globe.
+
+On the 24th of February my friend Mr. Geach left Timor, having finally
+reported that no minerals worth working were to be found. The Portuguese
+were very much annoyed, having made up their minds that copper is
+abundant, and still believing it to be so. It appears that from time
+immemorial pure native copper has been found at a place on the coast
+about thirty miles east of Delli.
+
+The natives say they find it in the bed of a ravine, and many years ago
+a captain of a vessel is said to have got some hundreds-weight of it.
+Now, however, it is evidently very scarce, as during the two years Mr.
+Geach resided in the country, none was found. I was shown one piece
+several pounds' weight, having much the appearance of one of the larger
+Australian nuggets, but of pure copper instead of gold. The natives and
+the Portuguese have very naturally imagined that where these fragments
+come from there must be more; and they have a report or tradition,
+that a mountain at the head of the ravine is almost pure copper, and of
+course of immense value.
+
+After much difficulty a company was at length formed to work the copper
+mountain, a Portuguese merchant of Singapore supplying most of the
+capital. So confident were they of the existence of the copper, that
+they thought it would be waste of time and money to have any exploration
+made first; and accordingly, sent to England for a mining engineer, who
+was to bring out all necessary tools, machinery, laboratory, utensils, a
+number of mechanics, and stores of all kinds for two years, in order to
+commence work on a copper-mine which he was told was already discovered.
+On reaching Singapore a ship was freighted to take the men and stores to
+Timor, where they at length arrived after much delay, a long voyage, and
+very great expense.
+
+A day was then fixed to "open the mines." Captain Hart accompanied Mr.
+Geach as interpreter. The Governor, the Commandante, the Judge, and all
+the chief people of the place went in state to the mountain, with Mr.
+Geach's assistant and some of the workmen. As they went up the valley
+Mr. Geach examined the rocks, but saw no signs of copper. They went on
+and on, but still nothing except a few mere traces of very poor ore. At
+length they stood on the copper mountain itself. The Governor stopped,
+the officials formed a circle, and he then addressed them, saying, that
+at length the day had arrived they had all been so long expecting, when
+the treasures of the soil of Timor would be brought to light, and much
+more in very grandiloquent Portuguese; and concluded by turning to Mr.
+Geach, and requesting him to point out the best spot for them to begin
+work at once, and uncover the mass of virgin copper. As the ravines and
+precipices among which they had passed, and which had been carefully
+examined, revealed very clearly the nature and mineral constitution of
+the country, Mr. Geach simply told them that there was not a trace
+of copper there, and that it was perfectly useless to begin work. The
+audience were thunderstruck! The Governor could not believe his ears. At
+length, when Mr. Geach had repeated his statement, the Governor told him
+severely that he was mistaken; that they all knew there was copper
+there in abundance, and all they wanted him to tell them, as a
+mining-engineer, was how best to get at it; and that at all events he
+was to begin work somewhere. This Mr. Geach refused to do, trying to
+explain that the ravines had cut far deeper into the hill than he could
+do in years, and that he would not throw away money or time on any such
+useless attempt. After this speech had been interpreted to him, the
+Governor saw it was no use, and without saying a word turned his horse
+and rode away, leaving my friends alone on the mountain. They all
+believed there was some conspiracy that the Englishman would not find
+the copper, and that they had been cruelly betrayed.
+
+Mr. Geach then wrote to the Singapore merchant who was his employer,
+and it was arranged that he should send the mechanics home again, and
+himself explore the country for minerals. At first the Government threw
+obstacles in his way and entirely prevented his moving; but at length
+he was allowed to travel about, and for more than a year he and his
+assistant explored the eastern part of Timor, crossing it in several
+places from sea to sea, and ascending every important valley, without
+finding any minerals that would pay the expense of working. Copper ore
+exists in several places, but always too poor in quality. The best
+would pay well if situated in England; but in the interior of an utterly
+barren country, with roads to make, and all skilled labour and materials
+to import, it would have been a losing concern. Gold also occurs, but
+very sparingly and of poor quality. A fine spring of pure petroleum was
+discovered far in the interior, where it can never be available until
+the country is civilized. The whole affair was a dreadful disappointment
+to the Portuguese Government, who had considered it such a certain thing
+that they had contracted for the Dutch mail steamers to stop at
+Delli and several vessels from Australia were induced to come with
+miscellaneous cargoes, for which they expected to find a ready sale
+among the population at the newly-opened mines. The lumps of native
+copper are still, however, a mystery. Mr. Geach has examined the country
+in every direction without being able to trace their origin; so that it
+seems probable that they result from the debris of old copper-bearing
+strata, and are not really more abundant than gold nuggets are in
+Australia or California. A high reward was offered to any native who
+should find a piece and show the exact spot where he obtained it, but
+without effect.
+
+The mountaineers of Timor are a people of Papuan type, having rather
+slender forms, bushy frizzled hair, and the skin of a dusky brown
+colour. They have the long nose with overhanging apex which is so
+characteristic of the Papuan, and so absolutely unknown among races of
+Malayan origin. On the coast there has been much admixture of some of
+the Malay races, and perhaps of Hindu, as well as of Portuguese. The
+general stature there is lower, the hair wavy instead of frizzled, and
+the features less prominent. The houses are built on the ground, while
+the mountaineers raise theirs on posts three or four feet high. The
+common dress is a long cloth, twisted around the waist and hanging
+to the knee, as shown in the illustration (page 305), copied from a
+photograph. Both men carry the national umbrella, made of an entire
+fan-shaped palm leaf, carefully stitched at the fold of each leaflet to
+prevent splitting. This is opened out, and held sloping over the head
+and back during a shower. The small water-bucket is made from an entire
+unopened leaf of the same palm, and the covered bamboo probably contains
+honey for sale. A curious wallet is generally carried, consisting of a
+square of strongly woven cloth, the four corners of which are connected
+by cords, and often much ornamented with beads and tassels. Leaning
+against the house behind the figure on the right are bamboos, used
+instead of water jars.
+
+A prevalent custom is the "pomali," exactly equivalent to the "taboo"
+of the Pacific islanders, and equally respected. It is used on the
+commonest occasions, and a few palm leaves stuck outside a garden as
+a sign of the "pomali" will preserve its produce from thieves as
+effectually as the threatening notice of man-traps, spring guns, or a
+savage dog would do with us. The dead are placed on a stage, raised six
+or eight feet above the ground, sometimes open and sometimes covered
+with a roof. Here the body remains until the relatives can afford
+to make a feast, when it is buried. The Timorese are generally great
+thieves, but are not bloodthirsty. They fight continually among
+themselves, and take every opportunity of kidnapping unprotected people
+of other tribes for slaves; but Europeans may pass anywhere through the
+country in safety. Except for a few half-breeds in the town, there are
+no native Christians in the island of Timor. The people retain their
+independence in a great measure, and both dislike and despise their
+would-be rulers, whether Portuguese or Dutch.
+
+The Portuguese government in Timor is a most miserable one. Nobody seems
+to care the least about the improvement of the country, and at this
+time, after three hundred years of occupation, there has not been a
+mile of road made beyond the town, and there is not a solitary European
+resident anywhere in the interior. All the Government officials oppress
+and rob the natives as much as they can, and yet there is no care taken
+to render the town defensible should the Timorese attempt to attack
+it. So ignorant are the military officers, that having received a small
+mortar and some shells, no one could be found who knew how to use them;
+and during an insurrection of the natives (while I was at Delli) the
+officer who expected to be sent against the insurgents was instantly
+taken ill! And they were allowed to get possession of an important
+pass within three miles of the town, where they could defend themselves
+against ten times the force. The result was that no provisions were
+brought down from the hills; a famine was imminent; and the Governor had
+to send off to beg for supplies from the Dutch Governor of Amboyna.
+
+In its present state Timor is more trouble than profit to its Dutch
+and Portuguese rulers, and it will continue to be so unless a different
+system is pursued. A few good roads into the elevated districts of the
+interior; a conciliatory policy and strict justice towards the natives,
+and the introduction of a good system of cultivation as in Java and
+northern Celebes, might yet make Timor a productive and valuable island.
+Rice grows well on the marshy flats, which often fringe the coast, and
+maize thrives in all the lowlands, and is the common food of the natives
+as it was when Dampier visited the island in 1699. The small quantity of
+coffee now grown is of very superior quality, and it might be increased
+to any extent. Sheep thrive, and would always be valuable as fresh food
+for whalers and to supply the adjacent islands with mutton, if not for
+their wool; although it is probable that on the mountains this product
+might soon be obtained by judicious breeding. Horses thrive amazingly;
+and enough wheat might be grown to supply the whole Archipelago if there
+were sufficient inducements to the natives to extend its cultivation,
+and good roads by which it could be cheaply transported to the coast.
+
+Under such a system the natives would soon perceive that European
+government was advantageous to them. They would begin to save money, and
+property being rendered secure they would rapidly acquire new wants and
+new tastes, and become large consumers of European goods. This would be
+a far surer source of profit to their rulers than imposts and extortion,
+and would be at the same time more likely to produce peace and obedience
+than the mock-military rule which has hitherto proved most ineffective.
+To inaugurate such a system would however require an immediate outlay of
+capital, which neither Dutch nor Portuguese seem inclined to make, and
+a number of honest and energetic officials, which the latter nation
+at least seems unable to produce; so that it is much to be feared that
+Timor will for many years to come remain in its present state of chronic
+insurrection and misgovernment.
+
+Morality at Delli is at as low an ebb as in the far interior of Brazil,
+and crimes are connived at which would entail infamy and criminal
+prosecution in Europe. While I was there it was generally asserted and
+believed in the place, that two officers had poisoned the husbands of
+women with whom they were carrying on intrigues, and with whom they
+immediately cohabited on the death of their rivals. Yet no one ever
+thought for a moment of showing disapprobation of the crime, or even
+of considering it a crime at all, the husbands in question being low
+half-castes, who of course ought to make way for the pleasures of their
+superiors.
+
+Judging from what I saw myself and by the descriptions of Mr. Geach, the
+indigenous vegetation of Timor is poor and monotonous. The lower ranges
+of the hills are everywhere covered with scrubby Eucalypti, which only
+occasionally grow into lofty forest trees. Mingled with these in smaller
+quantities are acacias and the fragrant sandalwood, while the higher
+mountains, which rise to about six or seven thousand feet, are either
+covered with coarse grass or are altogether barren. In the lower
+grounds are a variety of weedy bushes, and open waste places are covered
+everywhere with a nettle-like wild mint. Here is found the beautiful
+crown lily, Gloriosa superba, winding among the bushes, and displaying
+its magnificent blossoms in great profusion. A wild vine also occurs,
+bearing great irregular bunches of hairy grapes of a coarse but very
+luscious flavour. In some of the valleys where the vegetation is richer,
+thorny shrubs and climbers are so abundant as to make the thickets quite
+impenetrable.
+
+The soil seems very poor, consisting chiefly of decomposing clayey
+shales; and the bare earth and rock is almost everywhere visible. The
+drought of the hot season is so severe that most of the streams dry up
+in the plains before they reach the sea; everything becomes burned up,
+and the leaves of the larger trees fall as completely as in our winter.
+On the mountains from two to four thousand feet elevation there is a
+much moister atmosphere, so that potatoes and other European products
+can be grown all the year round. Besides ponies, almost the only exports
+of Timor are sandalwood and beeswax. The sandalwood (Santalum sp.) is
+the produce of a small tree, which grows sparingly in the mountains of
+Timor and many of the other islands in the far East. The wood is of
+a fine yellow colour, and possesses a well-known delightful fragrance
+which is wonderfully permanent. It is brought down to Delli in small
+logs, and is chiefly exported to China, where it is largely used to burn
+in the temples, and in the houses of the wealthy.
+
+The beeswax is a still more important and valuable product, formed by
+the wild bees (Apis dorsata), which build huge honeycombs, suspended
+in the open air from the underside of the lofty branches of the highest
+trees. These are of a semicircular form, and often three or four feet
+in diameter. I once saw the natives take a bees' nest, and a very
+interesting sight it was. In the valley where I used to collect insects,
+I one day saw three or four Timorese men and boys under a high tree,
+and, looking up, saw on a very lofty horizontal branch three large bees'
+combs. The tree was straight and smooth-barked and without a branch,
+until at seventy or eighty feet from the ground it gave out the limb
+which the bees had chosen for their home. As the men were evidently
+looking after the bees, I waited to watch their operations. One of them
+first produced a long piece of wood apparently the stem of a small
+tree or creeper, which he had brought with him, and began splitting it
+through in several directions, which showed that it was very tough
+and stringy. He then wrapped it in palm-leaves, which were secured
+by twisting a slender creeper round them. He then fastened his cloth
+tightly round his loins, and producing another cloth wrapped it around
+his head, neck, and body, and tied it firmly around his neck, leaving
+his face, arms, and legs completely bare. Slung to his girdle he
+carried a long thin coil of cord; and while he had been making these
+preparations, one of his companions had cut a strong creeper or
+bush-rope eight or ten yards long, to one end of which the wood-torch
+was fastened, and lighted at the bottom, emitting a steady stream of
+smoke. Just above the torch a chopping-knife was fastened by a short
+cord.
+
+The bee-hunter now took hold of the bush-rope just above the torch and
+passed the other end around the trunk of the tree, holding one end in
+each hand. Jerking it up the tree a little above his head he set his
+foot against the trunk, and leaning back began walking up it. It was
+wonderful to see the skill with which he took advantage of the slightest
+irregularities of the bark or obliquity of the stem to aid his ascent,
+jerking the stiff creeper a few feet higher when he had found a firm
+hold for his bare foot. It almost made me giddy to look at him as he
+rapidly got up--thirty, forty, fifty feet above the ground; and I kept
+wondering how he could possibly mount the next few feet of straight
+smooth trunk. Still, however, he kept on with as much coolness and
+apparent certainty as if he were going up a ladder, until he got within
+ten or fifteen feet of the bees. Then he stopped a moment, and took care
+to swing the torch (which hung just at his feet) a little towards these
+dangerous insects, so as to send up the stream of smoke between him
+and them. Still going on, in a minute more he brought himself under
+the limb, and, in a manner quite unintelligible to me, seeing that both
+hands were occupied in supporting himself by the creeper, managed to get
+upon it.
+
+By this time the bees began to be alarmed, and formed a dense buzzing
+swarm just over him, but he brought the torch up closer to him, and
+coolly brushed away those that settled on his arms or legs. Then
+stretching himself along the limb, he crept towards the nearest comb
+and swung the torch just under it. The moment the smoke touched it, its
+colour changed in a most curious manner from black to white, the myriads
+of bees that had covered it flying off and forming a dense cloud above
+and around. The man then lay at full length along the limb, and brushed
+off the remaining bees with his hand, and then drawing his knife cut off
+the comb at one slice close to the tree, and attaching the thin cord to
+it, let it down to his companions below. He was all this time enveloped
+in a crowd of angry bees, and how he bore their stings so coolly, and
+went on with his work at that giddy height so deliberately, was more
+than I could understand. The bees were evidently not stupified by the
+smoke or driven away far by it, and it was impossible that the small
+stream from the torch could protect his whole body when at work. There
+were three other combs on the same tree, and all were successively
+taken, and furnished the whole party with a luscious feast of honey and
+young bees, as well as a valuable lot of wax.
+
+After two of the combs had been let down, the bees became rather
+numerous below, flying about wildly and stinging viciously. Several got
+about me, and I was soon stung, and had to run away, beating them off
+with my net and capturing them for specimens. Several of them followed
+me for at least half a mile, getting into my hair and persecuting me
+most pertinaciously, so that I was more astonished than ever at the
+immunity of the natives. I am inclined to think that slow and deliberate
+motion, and no attempt at escape, are perhaps the best safeguards. A bee
+settling on a passive native probably behaves as it would on a tree or
+other inanimate substance, which it does not attempt to sting. Still
+they must often suffer, but they are used to the pain and learn to bear
+it impassively, as without doing so no man could be a bee-hunter.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE TIMOR GROUP.
+
+IF we look at a map of the Archipelago, nothing seems more unlikely than
+that the closely connected chain of islands from Java to Timor should
+differ materially in their natural productions. There are, it is true,
+certain differences of climate and of physical geography, but these
+do not correspond with the division the naturalist is obliged to make.
+Between the two ends of the chain there is a great contrast of climate,
+the west being exceedingly moist and leaving only a short and irregular
+dry season, the east being as dry and parched up, and having but a short
+wet season. This change, however, occurs about the middle of Java, the
+eastern portion of that island having as strongly marked seasons as
+Lombock and Timor. There is also a difference in physical geography; but
+this occurs at the eastern termination of the chain where the volcanoes
+which are the marked feature of Java, Bali, Lombock, Sumbawa, and
+Flores, turn northwards through Gunong Api to Banda, leaving Timor with
+only one volcanic peak near its centre, while the main portion of the
+island consists of old sedimentary rocks. Neither of these physical
+differences corresponds with the remarkable change in natural
+productions which occurs at the Straits of Lombock, separating the
+island of that name from Bali, and which is at once so large in amount
+and of so fundamental a character, as to form an important feature in
+the zoological geography of our globe.
+
+The Dutch naturalist Zollinger, who resided a long time on the island of
+Bali, informs us that its productions completely assimilate with those
+of Java, and that he is not aware of a single animal found in it which
+does not inhabit the larger island. During the few days which I stayed
+on the north coast of Bali on my way to Lombock, I saw several birds
+highly characteristic of Javan ornithology. Among these were the
+yellow-headed weaver (Ploceus hypoxantha), the black grasshopper thrush
+(Copsychus amoenus), the rosy barbet (Megalaema rosea), the Malay oriole
+(Oriolus horsfieldi), the Java ground starling (Sturnopastor jalla), and
+the Javanese three-toed woodpecker (Chrysonotus tiga). On crossing over
+to Lombock, separated from Bali by a strait less than twenty miles wide,
+I naturally expected to meet with some of these birds again; but during
+a stay there of three months I never saw one of them, but found a
+totally different set of species, most of which were utterly unknown
+not only in Java, but also in Borneo, Sumatra, and Malacca. For example,
+among the commonest birds in Lombock were white cockatoos and three
+species of Meliphagidae or honeysuckers, belonging to family groups
+which are entirely absent from the western or Indo-Malayan region of the
+Archipelago. On passing to Flores and Timor the distinctness from the
+Javanese productions increases, and we find that these islands form a
+natural group, whose birds are related to those of Java and Australia,
+but are quite distinct from either. Besides my own collections in
+Lombock and Timor, my assistant Mr. Allen made a good collection in
+Flores; and these, with a few species obtained by the Dutch naturalists,
+enable us to form a very good idea of the natural history of this group
+of islands, and to derive therefrom some very interesting results.
+
+The number of birds known from these islands up to this date is: 63 from
+Lombock, 86 from Flores, and 118 from Timor; and from the whole group,
+188 species. With the exception of two or three species which appear
+to have been derived from the Moluccas, all these birds can be traced,
+either directly or by close allies, to Java on the one side or to
+Australia on the other; although no less than 82 of them are found
+nowhere out of this small group of islands. There is not, however,
+a single genus peculiar to the group, or even one which is largely
+represented in it by peculiar species; and this is a fact which
+indicates that the fauna is strictly derivative, and that its origin
+does not go back beyond one of the most recent geological epochs. Of
+course there are a large number of species (such as most of the waders,
+many of the raptorial birds, some of the kingfishers, swallows, and a
+few others), which range so widely over a large part of the Archipelago
+that it is impossible to trace them as having come from any one part
+rather than from another. There are fifty-seven such species in my list,
+and besides these there are thirty-five more which, though peculiar to
+the Timor group, are yet allied to wide-ranging forms. Deducting these
+ninety-two species, we have nearly a hundred birds left whose relations
+with those of other countries we will now consider.
+
+If we first take those species which, as far as we yet know, are
+absolutely confined to each island, we find, in:
+
+
+  Lombock 4 belonging to 2 genera, of which 1 is Australian, 1 Indian.
+  Flores 12       "      7        "         5 are    "       2    "
+  Timor  42       "      20       "        16 are    "       4    "
+
+The actual number of peculiar species in each island I do not suppose
+to be at all accurately determined, since the rapidly increasing numbers
+evidently depend upon the more extensive collections made in Timor than
+in Flores, and in Flores than in Lombock; but what we can depend more
+upon, and what is of more special interest, is the greatly increased
+proportion of Australian forms and decreased proportion of Indian forms,
+as we go from west to east. We shall show this in a yet more striking
+manner by counting the number of species identical with those of Java
+and Australia respectively in each island, thus:
+
+
+                      In Lombock.     In Flores.    In Timor.
+     Javan birds... . 33             23            11
+     Australian birds..  4              5            10
+
+Here we see plainly the course of the migration which has been going on
+for hundreds or thousands of years, and is still going on at the present
+day. Birds entering from Java are most numerous in the island nearest
+Java; each strait of the sea to be crossed to reach another island
+offers an obstacle, and thus a smaller number get over to the next
+island. [The names of all the birds inhabiting these islands are to be
+found in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London" for the
+year 1863.] It will be observed that the number of birds that appear to
+have entered from Australia is much less than those which have come from
+Java; and we may at first sight suppose that this is due to the wide sea
+that separates Australia from Timor. But this would be a hasty and,
+as we shall soon see, an unwarranted supposition. Besides these birds
+identical with species inhabiting Java and Australia, there are a
+considerable number of others very closely allied to species peculiar to
+those countries, and we must take these also into account before we form
+any conclusion on the matter. It will be as well to combine these with
+the former table thus:
+
+
+                                       In Lombock.  In Flores.  In Timor.
+        Javan birds........  ...           33           23         11
+        Closely allied to Javan birds..     1            5          6
+        Total..............                34           28         17
+
+        Australian birds.........           4            5         10
+        Closely allied to Australian birds  3            9         26
+        Total..... .........                7           14         36
+
+We now see that the total number of birds which seem to have been
+derived from Java and Australia is very nearly equal, but there is this
+remarkable difference between the two series: that whereas the larger
+proportion by far of the Java set are identical with those still
+inhabiting that country, an almost equally large proportion of the
+Australian set are distinct, though often very closely allied species.
+It is to be observed also, that these representative or allied species
+diminish in number as they recede from Australia, while they increase
+in number as they recede from Java. There are two reasons for this, one
+being that the islands decrease rapidly in size from Timor to Lombock,
+and can therefore support a decreasing number of species; the other and
+the more important is, that the distance of Australia from Timor cuts
+off the supply of fresh immigrants, and has thus allowed variation
+to have full play; while the vicinity of Lombock to Bali and Java has
+allowed a continual influx of fresh individuals which, by crossing with
+the earlier immigrants, has checked variation.
+
+To simplify our view of the derivative origin of the birds of these
+islands let us treat them as a whole, and thus perhaps render more
+intelligible their respective relations to Java and Australia.
+
+The Timor group of islands contains:
+
+Javan birds....... 36 Australian birds... 13 Closely allied species..
+11 Closely allied species.. 35 Derived from Java .... 47 Derived from
+Australia... 48
+
+We have here a wonderful agreement in the number of birds belonging
+to Australian and Javanese groups, but they are divided in exactly a
+reverse manner, three-fourths of the Javan birds being identical species
+and one-fourth representatives, while only one-fourth of the Australian
+forms are identical and three-fourths representatives. This is the most
+important fact which we can elicit from a study of the birds of these
+islands, since it gives us a very complete clue to much of their past
+history.
+
+Change of species is a slow process--on that we are all agreed, though
+we may differ about how it has taken place. The fact that the Australian
+species in these islands have mostly changed, while the Javan species
+have almost all remained unchanged, would therefore indicate that the
+district was first peopled from Australia. But, for this to have been
+the case, the physical conditions must have been very different from
+what they are now. Nearly three hundred miles of open sea now separate
+Australia from Timor, which island is connected with Java by a chain of
+broken land divided by straits which are nowhere more than about twenty
+miles wide. Evidently there are now great facilities for the natural
+productions of Java to spread over and occupy the whole of these
+islands, while those of Australia would find very great difficulty in
+getting across. To account for the present state of things, we should
+naturally suppose that Australia was once much more closely connected
+with Timor than it is at present; and that this was the case is rendered
+highly probable by the fact of a submarine bank extending along all the
+north and west coast of Australia, and at one place approaching within
+twenty miles of the coast of Timor. This indicates a recent subsidence
+of North Australia, which probably once extended as far as the edge
+of this bank, between which and Timor there is an unfathomed depth of
+ocean.
+
+I do not think that Timor was ever actually connected with Australia,
+because such a large number of very abundant and characteristic groups
+of Australian birds are quite absent, and not a single Australian mammal
+has entered Timor--which would certainly not have been the case had
+the lands been actually united. Such groups as the bower birds
+(Ptilonorhynchus), the black and red cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus),
+the blue wrens (Malurus), the crowshrikes (Cracticus), the Australian
+shrikes (Falcunculus and Colluricincla), and many others, which abound
+all over Australia, would certainly have spread into Timor if it
+had been united to that country, or even if for any long time it had
+approached nearer to it than twenty miles. Neither do any of the most
+characteristic groups of Australian insects occur in Timor; so that
+everything combines to indicate that a strait of the sea has always
+separated it from Australia, but that at one period this strait was
+reduced to a width of about twenty miles.
+
+But at the time when this narrowing of the sea took place in one
+direction, there must have been a greater separation at the other end of
+the chain, or we should find more equality in the numbers of identical
+and representative species derived from each extremity. It is true that
+the widening of the strait at the Australian end by subsidence, would,
+by putting a stop to immigration and intercrossing of individuals from
+the mother country, have allowed full scope to the causes which have
+led to the modification of the species; while the continued stream of
+immigrants from Java, would, by continual intercrossing, check such
+modification. This view will not, however, explain all the facts; for
+the character of the fauna of the Timorese group is indicated as well by
+the forms which are absent from it as by those which it contains, and is
+by this kind of evidence shown to be much more Australian than Indian.
+No less than twenty-nine genera, all more or less abundant in Java, and
+most of which range over a wide area, are altogether absent; while of
+the equally diffused Australian genera only about fourteen are wanting.
+This would clearly indicate that there has been, until recently, a wide
+separation from Java; and the fact that the islands of Bali and Lombock
+are small, and are almost wholly volcanic, and contain a smaller number
+of modified forms than the other islands, would point them out as of
+comparatively recent origin. A wide arm of the sea probably occupied
+their place at the time when Timor was in the closest proximity to
+Australia; and as the subterranean fires were slowly piling up the now
+fertile islands of Bali and Lombock, the northern shores of Australia
+would be sinking beneath the ocean. Some such changes as have been here
+indicated, enable us to understand how it happens, that though the birds
+of this group are on the whole almost as much Indian as Australian, yet
+the species which are peculiar to the group are mostly Australian in
+character; and also why such a large number of common Indian forms
+which extend through Java to Bali, should not have transmitted a single
+representative to the island further east.
+
+The Mammalia of Timor as well as those of the other islands of the
+group are exceedingly scanty, with the exception of bats. These last are
+tolerably abundant, and no doubt many more remain to be discovered. Out
+of fifteen species known from Timor, nine are found also in Java, or the
+islands west of it; three are Moluccan species, most of which are also
+found in Australia, and the rest are peculiar to Timor.
+
+The land mammals are only seven in number, as follows: 1. The common
+monkey, Macacus cynomolgus, which is found in all the Indo-Malayan
+islands, and has spread from Java through Bali and Lombock to Timor.
+This species is very frequent on the banks of rivers, and may have
+been conveyed from island to island on trees carried down by floods. 2.
+Paradoxurus fasciatus; a civet cat, very common over a large part of
+the Archipelago. 3. Felis megalotis; a tiger cat, said to be peculiar
+to Timor, where it exists only in the interior, and is very rare. Its
+nearest allies are in Java. 4. Cervus timoriensis; a deer, closely
+allied to the Javan and Moluccan species, if distinct. 5. A wild pig,
+Sus timoriensis; perhaps the same as some of the Moluccan species. 6.
+A shrew mouse, Sorex tenuis; supposed to be peculiar to Timor. 7. An
+Eastern opossum, Cuscus orientalis; found also in the Moluccas, if not a
+distinct species.
+
+The fact that not one of these species is Australian or nearly allied to
+any Australian form, is strongly corroborative of the opinion that Timor
+has never formed a part of that country; as in that case some kangaroo
+or other marsupial animal would almost certainly be found there. It is
+no doubt very difficult to account for the presence of some of the few
+mammals that do exist in Timor, especially the tiger cat and the deer.
+We must consider, however, that during thousands, and perhaps hundreds
+of thousands of years, these islands and the seas between them have
+been subjected to volcanic action. The land has been raised and has sunk
+again; the straits have been narrowed or widened; many of the islands
+may have been joined and dissevered again; violent floods have again and
+again devastated the mountains and plains, carrying out to sea hundreds
+of forest trees, as has often happened during volcanic eruptions in
+Java; and it does not seem improbable that once in a thousand, or ten
+thousand years, there should have occurred such a favourable combination
+of circumstances as would lead to the migration of two or three land
+animals from one island to another. This is all that we need ask to
+account for the very scanty and fragmentary group of Mammalia which now
+inhabit the large island of Timor. The deer may very probably have been
+introduced by man, for the Malays often keep tame fawns; and it may
+not require a thousand, or even five hundred years, to establish new
+characters in an animal removed to a country so different in climate and
+vegetation as is Timor from the Moluccas. I have not mentioned horses,
+which are often thought to be wild in Timor, because there are no
+grounds whatever for such a belief. The Timor ponies have every one an
+owner, and are quite as much domesticated animals as the cattle on a
+South American hacienda.
+
+I have dwelt at some length upon the origin of the Timorese fauna
+because it appears to be a most interesting and instructive problem. It
+is very seldom that we can trace the animals of a district so clearly as
+we can in this case to two definite sources, and still more rarely that
+they furnish such decisive evidence of the time, the manner, and the
+proportions of their introduction. We have here a group of Oceanic
+Islands in miniature--islands which have never formed part of the
+adjacent lands, although so closely approaching them; and their
+productions have the characteristics of true Oceanic Islands slightly
+modified. These characteristics are: the absence all Mammalia except
+bats; and the occurrence of peculiar species of birds, insects, and land
+shells, which, though found nowhere else, are plainly related to those
+of the nearest land. Thus, we have an entire absence of all Australian
+mammals, and the presence of only a few stragglers from the west which
+can be accounted for in the manner already indicated. Bats are tolerably
+abundant.
+
+Birds have many peculiar species, with a decided relationship to those
+of the two nearest masses of land. The insects have similar relations
+with the birds. As an example, four species of the Papilionidae are
+peculiar to Timor, three others are also found in Java, and one in
+Australia. Of the four peculiar species two are decided modifications
+of Javanese forms, while the others seem allied to those of the Moluccas
+and Celebes. The very few land shells known are all, curiously enough,
+allied to or identical with Moluccan or Celebes forms. The Pieridae
+(white and yellow butterflies) which wander more, and from frequenting
+open grounds, are more liable to be blown out to sea, seem about equally
+related to those of Java, Australia, and the Moluccas.
+
+It has been objected to in Mr. Darwin's theory, of Oceanic Islands
+having never been connected with the mainland, that this would imply
+that their animal population was a matter of chance; it has been termed
+the "flotsam and jetsam theory," and it has been maintained that nature
+does not work by the "CHAPTER of accidents." But in the case which I
+have here described, we have the most positive evidence that such has
+been the mode of peopling the islands. Their productions are of that
+miscellaneous character which we should expect from such an origin; and
+to suppose that they have been portions of Australia or of Java will
+introduce perfectly gratuitous difficulties, and render it quite
+impossible to explain those curious relations which the best known group
+of animals (the birds) have been shown to exhibit. On the other hand,
+the depth of the surrounding seas, the form of the submerged banks,
+and the volcanic character of most of the islands, all point to an
+independent origin.
+
+Before concluding, I must make one remark to avoid misapprehension. When
+I say that Timor has never formed part of Australia, I refer only to
+recent geological epochs. In Secondary or even Eocene or Miocene times,
+Timor and Australia may have been connected; but if so, all record of
+such a union has been lost by subsequent submergence, and in accounting
+for the present land-inhabitants of any country we have only to consider
+those changes which have occurred since its last elevation above the
+waters. Since such last elevation, I feel confident that Timor has not
+formed part of Australia.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. CELEBES.
+
+ (MACASSAR, SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER, 1856.)
+
+I LEFT Lombock on the 30th of August, and reached Macassar in three
+days. It was with great satisfaction that I stepped on a shore which I
+had been vainly trying to reach since February, and where I expected to
+meet with so much that was new and interesting.
+
+The coast of this part of Celebes is low and flat, lined with trees and
+villages so as to conceal the interior, except at occasional openings
+which show a wide extent of bare and marshy rice-fields. A few hills
+of no great height were visible in the background; but owing to the
+perpetual haze over the land at this time of the year, I could nowhere
+discern the high central range of the peninsula, or the celebrated peak
+of Bontyne at its southern extremity. In the roadstead of Macassar there
+was a fine 42-gun frigate, the guardship of the place, as well as a
+small war steamer and three or four little cutters used for cruising
+after the pirates which infest these seas. There were also a few
+square-rigged trading-vessels, and twenty or thirty native praus of
+various sizes. I brought letters of introduction to a Dutch gentleman,
+Mr. Mesman, and also to a Danish shopkeeper, who could both speak
+English and who promised to assist me in finding a place to stay,
+suitable for my pursuits. In the meantime, I went to a kind of
+clubhouse, in default of any hotel in the place.
+
+Macassar was the first Dutch town I had visited, and I found it prettier
+and cleaner than any I had yet seen in the East. The Dutch have some
+admirable local regulations. All European houses must be kept well
+white-washed, and every person must, at four in the afternoon, water the
+road in front of his house. The streets are kept clear of refuse, and
+covered drains carry away all impurities into large open sewers, into
+which the tide is admitted at high-water and allowed to flow out when
+it has ebbed, carrying all the sewage with it into the sea. The town
+consists chiefly of one long narrow street along the seaside, devoted to
+business, and principally occupied by the Dutch and Chinese merchants'
+offices and warehouses, and the native shops or bazaars. This extends
+northwards for more than a mile, gradually merging into native
+houses often of a most miserable description, but made to have a neat
+appearance by being all built up exactly to the straight line of the
+street, and being generally backed by fruit trees. This street is
+usually thronged with a native population of Bugis and Macassar men, who
+wear cotton trousers about twelve inches long, covering only from the
+hip to half-way down the thigh, and the universal Malay sarong, of gay
+checked colours, worn around the waist or across the shoulders in a
+variety of ways. Parallel to this street run two short ones which form
+the old Dutch town, and are enclosed by gates. These consist of private
+houses, and at their southern end is the fort, the church, and a road at
+right angles to the beach, containing the houses of the Governor and
+of the principal officials. Beyond the fort, again along the beach,
+is another long street of native huts and many country-houses of the
+tradesmen and merchants. All around extend the flat rice-fields, now
+bare and dry and forbidding, covered with dusty stubble and weeds. A few
+months back these were a mass of verdure, and their barren appearance
+at this season offered a striking contrast to the perpetual crops on the
+same kind of country in Lombock and Bali, where the seasons are exactly
+similar, but where an elaborate system of irrigation produces the effect
+of a perpetual spring.
+
+The day after my arrival I paid a visit of ceremony to the Governor,
+accompanied by my friend the Danish merchant, who spoke excellent
+English. His Excellency was very polite, and offered me every facility
+for travelling about the country and prosecuting my researches in
+natural history. We conversed in French, which all Dutch officials speak
+very well.
+
+Finding it very inconvenient and expensive to stay in the town, I
+removed at the end of a week to a little bamboo house, kindly offered me
+by Mr. Mesman. It was situated about two miles away, on a small coffee
+plantation and farm, and about a mile beyond Mr. M.'s own country-house.
+It consisted of two rooms raised about seven feet above the ground, the
+lower part being partly open (and serving excellently to skin birds in)
+and partly used as a granary for rice. There was a kitchen and other
+outhouses, and several cottages nearby, occupied by men in Mr. M.'s
+employ.
+
+After being settled a few days in my new house, I found that no
+collections could be made without going much further into the country.
+The rice-fields for some miles around resembled English stubbles late
+in autumn, and were almost as unproductive of bird or insect life. There
+were several native villages scattered about, so embosomed in fruit
+trees that at a distance they looked like clumps or patches of forest.
+These were my only collecting places; but they produced a very limited
+number of species, and were soon exhausted. Before I could move to any
+more promising district it was necessary to obtain permission from the
+Rajah of Goa, whose territories approach to within two miles of the town
+of Macassar. I therefore presented myself at the Governor's office and
+requested a letter to the Rajah, to claim his protection, and permission
+to travel in his territories whenever I might wish to do so. This was
+immediately granted, and a special messenger was sent with me to carry
+the letter.
+
+My friend Mr. Mesman kindly lent me a horse, and accompanied me on my
+visit to the Rajah, with whom he was great friends. We found his Majesty
+seated out of doors, watching the erection of a new house. He was naked
+from the waist up, wearing only the usual short trousers and sarong.
+Two chairs were brought out for us, but all the chiefs and other natives
+were seated on the ground. The messenger, squatting down at the Rajah's
+feet, produced the letter, which was sewn up in a covering of yellow
+silk. It was handed to one of the chief officers, who ripped it open and
+returned it to the Rajah, who read it, and then showed it to Mr. M., who
+both speaks and reads the Macassar language fluently, and who explained
+fully what I required. Permission was immediately granted me to go where
+I liked in the territories of Goa, but the Rajah desired, that should I
+wish to stay any time at a place I would first give him notice, in order
+that he might send someone to see that no injury was done me. Some wine
+was then brought us, and afterwards some detestable coffee and wretched
+sweetmeats, for it is a fact that I have never tasted good coffee where
+people grow it themselves.
+
+Although this was the height of the dry season, and there was a fine
+wind all day, it was by no means a healthy time of year. My boy Ali had
+hardly been a day on shore when he was attacked by fever, which put me
+to great inconvenience, as at the house where I was staying, nothing
+could be obtained but at mealtime. After having cured Ali, and with much
+difficulty got another servant to cook for me, I was no sooner settled
+at my country abode than the latter was attacked with the same disease;
+and, having a wife in the town, left me. Hardly was he gone than I fell
+ill myself with strong intermittent fever every other day. In about a
+week I got over it, by a liberal use of quinine, when scarcely was I on
+my legs than Ali again became worse than ever. Ali's fever attacked him
+daily, but early in the morning he was pretty well, and then managed
+to cook enough for me for the day. In a week I cured him, and also
+succeeded in getting another boy who could cook and shoot, and had no
+objection to go into the interior. His name was Baderoon, and as he
+was unmarried and had been used to a roving life, having been several
+voyages to North Australia to catch trepang or "beche de mer", I was in
+hopes of being able to keep him. I also got hold of a little impudent
+rascal of twelve or fourteen, who could speak some Malay, to carry my
+gun or insect-net and make himself generally useful. Ali had by this
+time become a pretty good bird-skinner, so that I was fairly supplied
+with servants.
+
+I made many excursions into the country, in search of a good station for
+collecting birds and insects. Some of the villages a few miles inland
+are scattered about in woody ground which has once been virgin forest,
+but of which the constituent trees have been for the most part replaced
+by fruit trees, and particularly by the large palm, Arenga saccharifera,
+from which wine and sugar are made, and which also produces a coarse
+black fibre used for cordage. That necessary of life, the bamboo, has
+also been abundantly planted. In such places I found a good many birds,
+among which were the fine cream-coloured pigeon, Carpophaga luctuosa,
+and the rare blue-headed roller, Coracias temmincki, which has a most
+discordant voice, and generally goes in pairs, flying from tree to tree,
+and exhibiting while at rest that all-in-a-heap appearance and jerking
+motion of the head and tail which are so characteristic of the great
+Fissirostral group to which it belongs. From this habit alone,
+the kingfishers, bee-eaters, rollers, trogons, and South American
+puff-birds, might be grouped together by a person who had observed them
+in a state of nature, but who had never had an opportunity of examining
+their form and structure in detail. Thousands of crows, rather smaller
+than our rook, keep up a constant cawing in these plantations; the
+curious wood-swallows (Artami), which closely resemble swallows in their
+habits and flight but differ much in form and structure, twitter from
+the tree-tops; while a lyre-tailed drongo-shrike, with brilliant black
+plumage and milk-white eyes, continually deceives the naturalist by the
+variety of its unmelodious notes.
+
+In the more shady parts butterflies were tolerably abundant; the most
+common being species of Euplaea and Danais, which frequent gardens
+and shrubberies, and owing to their weak flight are easily captured. A
+beautiful pale blue and black butterfly, which flutters along near the
+ground among the thickets, and settles occasionally upon flowers, was
+one of the most striking; and scarcely less so, was one with a rich
+orange band on a blackish ground--these both belong to the Pieridae, the
+group that contains our common white butterflies, although differing
+so much from them in appearance. Both were quite new to European
+naturalists. [The former has been named Eronia tritaea; the latter
+Tachyris ithonae.] Now and then I extended my walks some miles further,
+to the only patch of true forest I could find, accompanied by my two
+boys with guns and insect-net. We used to start early, taking our
+breakfast with us, and eating it wherever we could find shade and water.
+At such times my Macassar boys would put a minute fragment of rice and
+meat or fish on a leaf, and lay it on a stone or stump as an offering to
+the deity of the spot; for though nominal Mahometans the Macassar people
+retain many pagan superstitions, and are but lax in their religious
+observances. Pork, it is true, they hold in abhorrence, but will
+not refuse wine when offered them, and consume immense quantities of
+"sagueir," or palm-wine, which is about as intoxicating as ordinary beer
+or cider. When well made it is a very refreshing drink, and we often
+took a draught at some of the little sheds dignified by the name of
+bazaars, which are scattered about the country wherever there is any
+traffic.
+
+One day Mr. Mesman told me of a larger piece of forest where he
+sometimes went to shoot deer, but he assured me it was much further off,
+and that there were no birds. However, I resolved to explore it, and the
+next morning at five o'clock we started, carrying our breakfast and some
+other provisions with us, and intending to stay the night at a house on
+the borders of the wood. To my surprise two hours' hard walking brought
+us to this house, where we obtained permission to pass the night. We
+then walked on, Ali and Baderoon with a gun each, Baso carrying
+our provisions and my insect-box, while I took only my net and
+collecting-bottle and determined to devote myself wholly to the insects.
+Scarcely had I entered the forest when I found some beautiful little
+green and gold speckled weevils allied to the genus Pachyrhynchus, a
+group which is almost confined to the Philippine Islands, and is quite
+unknown in Borneo, Java, or Malacca. The road was shady and apparently
+much trodden by horses and cattle, and I quickly obtained some
+butterflies I had not before met with. Soon a couple of reports were
+heard, and coming up to my boys I found they had shot two specimens of
+one of the finest of known cuckoos, Phoenicophaus callirhynchus. This
+bird derives its name from its large bill being coloured of a brilliant
+yellow, red, and black, in about equal proportions. The tail is
+exceedingly long, and of a fine metallic purple, while the plumage of
+the body is light coffee brown. It is one of the characteristic birds of
+the island of Celebes, to which it is confined.
+
+After sauntering along for a couple of hours we reached a small river,
+so deep that horses could only cross it by swimming, so we had to
+turn back; but as we were getting hungry, and the water of the almost
+stagnant river was too muddy to drink, we went towards a house a few
+hundred yards off. In the plantation we saw a small raised hut, which
+we thought would do well for us to breakfast in, so I entered, and found
+inside a young woman with an infant. She handed me a jug of water, but
+looked very much frightened. However, I sat down on the doorstep, and
+asked for the provisions. In handing them up, Baderoon saw the infant,
+and started back as if he had seen a serpent. It then immediately struck
+me that this was a hut in which, as among the Dyaks of Borneo and many
+other savage tribes, the women are secluded for some time after the
+birth of their child, and that we did very wrong to enter it; so we
+walked off and asked permission to eat our breakfast in the family
+mansion close at hand, which was of course granted. While I ate, three
+men, two women, and four children watched every motion, and never took
+eyes off me until I had finished.
+
+On our way back in the heat of the day, I had the good fortune to
+capture three specimens of a fine Ornithoptera, the largest, the
+most perfect, and the most beautiful of butterflies. I trembled with
+excitement as I took the first out of my net and found it to be in
+perfect condition. The ground colour of this superb insect was a rich
+shining bronzy black, the lower wings delicately grained with white, and
+bordered by a row of large spots of the most brilliant satiny yellow.
+The body was marked with shaded spots of white, yellow, and fiery
+orange, while the head and thorax were intense black. On the under-side
+the lower wings were satiny white, with the marginal spots half black
+and half yellow. I gazed upon my prize with extreme interest, as I at
+first thought it was quite a new species. It proved however to be a
+variety of Ornithoptera remus, one of the rarest and most remarkable
+species of this highly esteemed group. I also obtained several other
+new and pretty butterflies. When we arrived at our lodging-house, being
+particularly anxious about my insect treasures, I suspended the box
+from a bamboo on which I could detect no sign of ants, and then began
+skinning some of my birds. During my work I often glanced at my precious
+box to see that no intruders had arrived, until after a longer spell of
+work than usual I looked again, and saw to my horror that a column of
+small red ants were descending the string and entering the box. They
+were already busy at work at the bodies of my treasures, and another
+half-hour would have seen my whole day's collection destroyed. As it
+was, I had to take every insect out, clean them thoroughly as well as
+the box, and then seek a place of safety for them. As the only effectual
+one, I begged a plate and a basin from my host, filled the former with
+water, and standing the latter in it placed my box on the top, and then
+felt secure for the night; a few inches of clean water or oil being the
+only barrier these terrible pests are not able to pass.
+
+On returning home to Mamajam (as my house was called) I had a slight
+return of intermittent fever, which kept me some days indoors. As soon
+as I was well, I again went to Goa, accompanied by Mr. Mesman, to beg
+the Rajah's assistance in getting a small house built for me near the
+forest. We found him at a cock-fight in a shed near his palace, which
+however, he immediately left to receive us, and walked with us up an
+inclined plane of boards which serves for stairs to his house. This was
+large, well-built, and lofty, with bamboo floor and glass windows. The
+greater part of it seemed to be one large hall divided by the supporting
+posts. Near a window sat the Queen, squatting on a rough wooden
+arm-chair, chewing the everlasting sirih and betel-nut, while a brass
+spittoon by her side and a sirih-box in front were ready to administer
+to her wants. The Rajah seated himself opposite to her in a similar
+chair, and a similar spittoon and sirih-box were held by a little boy
+squatting at his side. Two other chairs were brought for us. Several
+young women, some the Rajah's daughters, others slaves, were standing
+about; a few were working at frames making sarongs, but most of them
+were idle.
+
+And here I might (if I followed the example of most travellers) launch
+out into a glowing description of the charms of these damsels, the
+elegant costumes they wore, and the gold and silver ornaments with which
+they were adorned. The jacket or body of purple gauze would figure well
+in such a description, allowing the heaving bosom to be seen beneath it,
+while "sparkling eyes," and "jetty tresses," and "tiny feet" might be
+thrown in profusely. But, alas! regard for truth will not permit me to
+expatiate too admiringly on such topics, determined as I am to give
+as far as I can a true picture of the people and places I visit. The
+princesses were, it is true, sufficiently good-looking, yet neither
+their persons nor their garments had that appearance of freshness and
+cleanliness without which no other charms can be contemplated with
+pleasure. Everything had a dingy and faded appearance, very disagreeable
+and unroyal to a European eye. The only thing that excited some degree
+of admiration was the quiet and dignified manner of the Rajah and the
+great respect always paid to him. None can stand erect in his presence,
+and when he sits on a chair, all present (Europeans of course excepted)
+squat upon the ground. The highest seat is literally, with these people,
+the place of honour and the sign of rank. So unbending are the rules in
+this respect, that when an English carriage which the Rajah of Lombock
+had sent for arrived, it was found impossible to use it because the
+driver's seat was the highest, and it had to be kept as a show in its
+coach house. On being told the object of my visit, the Rajah at once
+said that he would order a house to be emptied for me, which would be
+much better than building one, as that would take a good deal of time.
+Bad coffee and sweetmeats were given us as before.
+
+Two days afterwards, I called on the Rajah to ask him to send a guide
+with me to show me the house I was to occupy. He immediately ordered a
+man to be sent for, gave him instructions, and in a few minutes we
+were on our way. My conductor could speak no Malay, so we walked on in
+silence for an hour, when we turned into a pretty good house and I was
+asked to sit down. The head man of the district lived here, and in about
+half an hour we started again, and another hour's walk brought us to the
+village and where I was to be lodged. We went to the residence of the
+village chief, who conversed with my conductor for some time.
+
+Getting tired, I asked to be shown the house that was prepared for me,
+but the only reply I could get was, "Wait a little," and the parties
+went on talking as before. So I told them I could not wait, as I wanted
+to see the house and then to go shooting in the forest. This seemed
+to puzzle them, and at length, in answer to questions, very poorly
+explained by one or two bystanders who knew a little Malay, it came out
+that no house was ready, and no one seemed to have the least idea where
+to get one. As I did not want to trouble the Rajah any more, I thought
+it best to try to frighten them a little; so I told them that if they
+did not immediately find me a house as the Rajah had ordered, I should
+go back and complain to him, but that if a house was found me I would
+pay for the use of it. This had the desired effect, and one of the head
+men of the village asked me to go with him and look for a house. He
+showed me one or two of the most miserable and ruinous description,
+which I at once rejected, saying, "I must have a good one, and near to
+the forest." The next he showed me suited very well, so I told him to
+see that it was emptied the next day, for that the day after I should
+come and occupy it.
+
+On the day mentioned, as I was not quite ready to go, I sent my two
+Macassar boys with brooms to sweep out the house thoroughly. They
+returned in the evening and told me that when they got there the house
+was inhabited, and not a single article removed. However, on hearing
+they had come to clean and take possession, the occupants made a move,
+but with a good deal of grumbling, which made me feel rather uneasy as
+to how the people generally might take my intrusion into their village.
+The next morning we took our baggage on three packhorses, and, after a
+few break-downs, arrived about noon at our destination.
+
+After getting all my things set straight, and having made a hasty meal,
+I determined if possible to make friends with the people. I therefore
+sent for the owner of the house and as many of his acquaintances as
+liked to come, to have a "bitchara," or talk. When they were all seated,
+I gave them a little tobacco all around, and having my boy Baderoon for
+interpreter, tried to explain to them why I came there; that I was very
+sorry to turn them out of the house, but that the Rajah had ordered it
+rather than build a new one, which was what I had asked for, and then
+placed five silver rupees in the owner's hand as one month's rent. I
+then assured them that my being there would be a benefit to them, as I
+should buy their eggs and fowls and fruit; and if their children would
+bring me shells and insects, of which I showed them specimens, they also
+might earn a good many coppers. After all this had been fully explained
+to them, with a long talk and discussion between every sentence, I could
+see that I had made a favourable impression; and that very afternoon, as
+if to test my promise to buy even miserable little snail-shells, a dozen
+children came one after another, bringing me a few specimens each of
+a small Helix, for which they duly received "coppers," and went away
+amazed but rejoicing.
+
+A few days' exploration made me well acquainted with the surrounding
+country. I was a long way from the road in the forest which I had first
+visited, and for some distance around my house were old clearings and
+cottages. I found a few good butterflies, but beetles were very scarce,
+and even rotten timber and newly-felled trees (generally so productive)
+here produced scarcely anything. This convinced me that there was not a
+sufficient extent of forest in the neighbourhood to make the place worth
+staying at long, but it was too late now to think of going further, as
+in about a month the wet season would begin; so I resolved to stay here
+and get what was to be had. Unfortunately, after a few days I became ill
+with a low fever which produced excessive lassitude and disinclination
+to all exertion. In vain I endeavoured to shake it off; all I could do
+was to stroll quietly each day for an hour about the gardens near, and
+to the well, where some good insects were occasionally to be found; and
+the rest of the day to wait quietly at home, and receive what beetles
+and shells my little corps of collectors brought me daily. I imputed
+my illness chiefly to the water, which was procured from shallow wells,
+around which there was almost always a stagnant puddle in which the
+buffaloes wallowed. Close to my house was an enclosed mudhole where
+three buffaloes were shut up every night, and the effluvia from which
+freely entered through the open bamboo floor. My Malay boy Ali was
+affected with the same illness, and as he was my chief bird-skinner I
+got on but slowly with my collections.
+
+The occupations and mode of life of the villagers differed but little
+from those of all other Malay races. The time of the women was almost
+wholly occupied in pounding and cleaning rice for daily use, in bringing
+home firewood and water, and in cleaning, dyeing, spinning, and weaving
+the native cotton into sarongs. The weaving is done in the simplest kind
+of frame stretched on the floor; and is a very slow and tedious process.
+To form the checked pattern in common use, each patch of coloured
+threads has to be pulled up separately by hand and the shuttle passed
+between them; so that about an inch a day is the usual progress in stuff
+a yard and a half wide. The men cultivate a little sirih (the pungent
+pepper leaf used for chewing with betel-nut) and a few vegetables; and
+once a year rudely plough a small patch of ground with their buffaloes
+and plant rice, which then requires little attention until harvest time.
+Now and then they have to see to the repairs of their houses, and make
+mats, baskets, or other domestic utensils, but a large part of their
+time is passed in idleness.
+
+Not a single person in the village could speak more than a few words
+of Malay, and hardly any of the people appeared to have seen a European
+before. One most disagreeable result of this was that I excited terror
+alike in man and beast. Wherever I went, dogs barked, children screamed,
+women ran away, and men stared as though I were some strange and
+terrible cannibal or monster. Even the pack-horses on the roads and
+paths would start aside when I appeared and rush into the jungle; and
+as to those horrid, ugly brutes, the buffaloes, they could never be
+approached by me; not for fear of my own but of others' safety. They
+would first stick out their necks and stare at me, and then on a
+nearer view break loose from their halters or tethers, and rush away
+helter-skelter as if a demon were after them, without any regard for
+what might be in their way. Whenever I met buffaloes carrying packs
+along a pathway, or being driven home to the village, I had to turn
+aside into the jungle and hide myself until they had passed, to avoid
+a catastrophe which would increase the dislike with which I was already
+regarded. Everyday about noon the buffaloes were brought into the villa,
+and were tethered in the shade around the houses; and then I had to
+creep about like a thief by back ways, for no one could tell what
+mischief they might do to children and houses were I to walk among
+them. If I came suddenly upon a well where women were drawing water or
+children bathing, a sudden flight was the certain result; which things
+occurring day after day, were very unpleasant to a person who does not
+like to be disliked, and who had never been accustomed to be treated as
+an ogre.
+
+About the middle of November, finding my health no better, and insects,
+birds, and shells all very scarce, I determined to return to Mamajam,
+and pack up my collections before the heavy rains commenced. The wind
+had already begun to blow from the west, and many signs indicated that
+the rainy season might set in earlier than usual; and then everything
+becomes very damp, and it is almost impossible to dry collections
+properly. My kind friend Mr. Mesman again lent me his pack-horses, and
+with the assistance of a few men to carry my birds and insects, which I
+did not like to trust on horses' backs, we got everything home safe. Few
+can imagine the luxury it was to stretch myself on a sofa, and to take
+my supper comfortably at table seated in my easy bamboo chair, after
+having for five weeks taken all my meals uncomfortably on the floor.
+Such things are trifles in health, but when the body is weakened by
+disease the habits of a lifetime cannot be so easily set aside.
+
+My house, like all bamboo structures in this country, was a leaning one,
+the strong westerly winds of the wet season having set all its posts
+out of the perpendicular to such a degree as to make me think it might
+someday possibly go over altogether. It is a remarkable thing that the
+natives of Celebes have not discovered the use of diagonal struts in
+strengthening buildings. I doubt if there is a native house in the
+country two years old and at all exposed to the wind, which stands
+upright; and no wonder, as they merely consist of posts and joists all
+placed upright or horizontal, and fastened rudely together with rattans.
+They may be seen in every stage of the process of tumbling down, from
+the first slight inclination, to such a dangerous slope that it becomes
+a notice to quit to the occupiers.
+
+The mechanical geniuses of the country have only discovered two ways of
+remedying the evil. One is, after it has commenced, to tie the house to
+a post in the ground on the windward side by a rattan or bamboo cable.
+The other is a preventive, but how they ever found it out and did not
+discover the true way is a mystery. This plan is, to build the house
+in the usual way, but instead of having all the principal supports
+of straight posts, to have two or three of them chosen as crooked as
+possible. I had often noticed these crooked posts in houses, but imputed
+it to the scarcity of good, straight timber, until one day I met some
+men carrying home a post shaped something like a dog's hind leg, and
+inquired of my native boy what they were going to do with such a piece
+of wood. "To make a post for a house," said he. "But why don't they get
+a straight one, there are plenty here?" said I. "Oh," replied he, "they
+prefer some like that in a house, because then it won't fall," evidently
+imputing the effect to some occult property of crooked timber. A little
+consideration and a diagram will, however, show, that the effect imputed
+to the crooked post may be really produced by it. A true square changes
+its figure readily into a rhomboid or oblique figure, but when one or
+two of the uprights are bent or sloping, and placed so as to oppose each
+other, the effect of a strut is produced, though in a rude and clumsy
+manner.
+
+Just before I had left Mamajam the people had sown a considerable
+quantity of maize, which appears above ground in two or three days, and
+in favourable seasons ripens in less than two months. Owing to a week's
+premature rains the ground was all flooded when I returned, and the
+plants just coming into ear were yellow and dead. Not a grain would be
+obtained by the whole village, but luckily it is only a luxury, not a
+necessity of life. The rain was the signal for ploughing to begin, in
+order to sow rice on all the flat lands between us and the town. The
+plough used is a rude wooden instrument with a very short single handle,
+a tolerably well-shaped coulter, and the point formed of a piece of hard
+palm-wood fastened in with wedges. One or two buffaloes draw it at a
+very slow pace. The seed is sown broadcast, and a rude wooden harrow is
+used to smooth the surface.
+
+By the beginning of December the regular wet season had set in. Westerly
+winds and driving rains sometimes continued for days together; the
+fields for miles around were under water, and the ducks and buffaloes
+enjoyed themselves amazingly. All along the road to Macassar, ploughing
+was daily going on in the mud and water, through which the wooden plough
+easily makes its way, the ploughman holding the plough-handle with one
+hand while a long bamboo in the other serves to guide the buffaloes.
+These animals require an immense deal of driving to get them on at all;
+a continual shower of exclamations is kept up at them, and "Oh! ah! Gee!
+ugh!" are to be heard in various keys and in an uninterrupted succession
+all day long. At night we were favoured with a different kind of
+concert. The dry ground around my house had become a marsh tenanted by
+frogs, who kept up a most incredible noise from dusk to dawn. They
+were somewhat musical too, having a deep vibrating note which at times
+closely resembles the tuning of two or three bass-viols in an orchestra.
+In Malacca and Borneo I had heard no such sounds as these, which
+indicates that the frogs, like most of the animals of Celebes, are of
+species peculiar to it.
+
+My kind friend and landlord, Mr. Mesman, was a good specimen of the
+Macassar-born Dutchman. He was about thirty-five years of age, had a
+large family, and lived in a spacious house near the town, situated
+in the midst of a grove of fruit trees, and surrounded by a perfect
+labyrinth of offices, stables, and native cottages occupied by his
+numerous servants, slaves, or dependants. He usually rose before the
+sun, and after a cup of coffee looked after his servants, horses, and
+dogs, until seven, when a substantial breakfast of rice and meat was
+ready in a cool verandah. Putting on a clean white linen suit, he then
+drove to town in his buggy, where he had an office, with two or three
+Chinese clerks who looked after his affairs. His business was that of
+a coffee and opium merchant. He had a coffee estate at Bontyne, and
+a small prau which traded to the Eastern islands near New Guinea, for
+mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell. About one he would return home,
+have coffee and cake or fried plantain, first changing his dress for a
+coloured cotton shirt and trousers and bare feet, and then take a siesta
+with a book. About four, after a cup of tea, he would walk round his
+premises, and generally stroll down to Mamajam to pay me a visit, and
+look after his farm.
+
+This consisted of a coffee plantation and an orchard of fruit trees,
+a dozen horses and a score of cattle, with a small village of Timorese
+slaves and Macassar servants. One family looked after the cattle and
+supplied the house with milk, bringing me also a large glassful every
+morning, one of my greatest luxuries. Others had charge of the horses,
+which were brought in every afternoon and fed with cut grass. Others had
+to cut grass for their master's horses at Macassar--not a very easy task
+in the dry season, when all the country looks like baked mud; or in
+the rainy season, when miles in every direction are flooded. How they
+managed it was a mystery to me, but they know grass must be had, and
+they get it. One lame woman had charge of a flock of ducks. Twice a
+day she took them out to feed in the marshy places, let them waddle and
+gobble for an hour or two, and then drove them back and shut them up
+in a small dark shed to digest their meal, whence they gave forth
+occasionally a melancholy quack. Every night a watch was set,
+principally for the sake of the horses--the people of Goa, only two
+miles off, being notorious thieves, and horses offering the easiest and
+most valuable spoil. This enabled me to sleep in security, although many
+people in Macassar thought I was running a great risk, living alone in
+such a solitary place and with such bad neighbours.
+
+My house was surrounded by a kind of straggling hedge of roses,
+jessamines, and other flowers, and every morning one of the women
+gathered a basketful of the blossoms for Mr. Mesman's family. I
+generally took a couple for my own breakfast table, and the supply never
+failed during my stay, and I suppose never does. Almost every Sunday Mr.
+M. made a shooting excursion with his eldest son, a lad of fifteen, and
+I generally accompanied him; for though the Dutch are Protestants,
+they do not observe Sunday in the rigid manner practised in England and
+English colonies. The Governor of the place has his public reception
+every Sunday evening, when card-playing is the regular amusement.
+
+On December 13th I went on board a prau bound for the Aru Islands, a
+journey which will be described in the latter part of this work.
+
+On my return, after a seven months' absence, I visited another district
+to the north of Macassar, which will form the subject of the next
+CHAPTER.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. CELEBES.
+
+ (MACASSAR, JULY TO NOVEMBER, 1857.)
+
+I REACHED Macassar again on the 11th of July, and established myself in
+my old quarters at Mamajam, to sort, arrange, clean, and pack up my Aru
+collections. This occupied me a month; and having shipped them off for
+Singapore, had my guns repaired, and received a new one from England,
+together with a stock of pins, arsenic, and other collecting requisites.
+I began to feel eager for work again, and had to consider where I should
+spend my time until the end of the year; I had left Macassar seven
+months before, a flooded marsh being ploughed up for the rice-sowing.
+The rains had continued for five months, yet now all the rice was cut,
+and dry and dusty stubble covered the country just as when I had first
+arrived there.
+
+After much inquiry I determined to visit the district of Maros, about
+thirty miles north of Macassar, where Mr. Jacob Mesman, a brother of my
+friend, resided, who had kindly offered to find me house-room and
+give me assistance should I feel inclined to visit him. I accordingly
+obtained a pass from the Resident, and having hired a boat set off one
+evening for Maros. My boy Ali was so ill with fever that I was obliged
+to leave him in the hospital, under the care of my friend the German
+doctor, and I had to make shift with two new servants utterly ignorant
+of everything. We coasted along during the night, and at daybreak
+entered the Maros river, and by three in the afternoon reached the
+village. I immediately visited the Assistant Resident, and applied for
+ten men to carry my baggage, and a horse for myself. These were promised
+to be ready that night, so that I could start as soon as I liked in the
+morning. After having taken a cup of tea I took my leave, and slept in
+the boat. Some of the men came at night as promised, but others did not
+arrive until the next morning. It took some time to divide my baggage
+fairly among them, as they all wanted to shirk the heavy boxes, and
+would seize hold of some light article and march off with it, until made
+to come back and wait until the whole had been fairly apportioned. At
+length about eight o'clock all was arranged, and we started for our walk
+to Mr. M.'s farm.
+
+The country was at first a uniform plain of burned-up rice-grounds, but
+at a few miles' distance precipitous hills appeared, backed by the lofty
+central range of the peninsula. Towards these our path lay, and after
+having gone six or eight miles the hills began to advance into the plain
+right and left of us, and the ground became pierced here and there with
+blocks and pillars of limestone rock, while a few abrupt conical hills
+and peaks rose like islands. Passing over an elevated tract forming
+the shoulder of one of the hills, a picturesque scene lay before us.
+We looked down into a little valley almost entirely surrounded by
+mountains, rising abruptly in huge precipices, and forming a succession
+of knolls and peaks and domes of the most varied and fantastic shapes.
+In the very centre of the valley was a large bamboo house, while
+scattered around were a dozen cottages of the same material.
+
+I was kindly received by Mr. Jacob Mesman in an airy saloon detached
+from the house, and entirely built of bamboo and thatched with grass.
+After breakfast he took me to his foreman's house, about a hundred yards
+off, half of which was given up to me until I should decide where to
+have a cottage built for my own use. I soon found that this spot was too
+much exposed to the wind and dust, which rendered it very difficult
+to work with papers or insects. It was also dreadfully hot in the
+afternoon, and after a few days I got a sharp attack of fever, which
+determined me to move. I accordingly fixed on a place about a mile off,
+at the foot of a forest-covered hill, where in a few days Mr. M. built
+for me a nice little house, consisting of a good-sized enclosed verandah
+or open room, and a small inner sleeping-room, with a little cookhouse
+outside. As soon as it was finished I moved into it, and found the
+change most agreeable.
+
+The forest which surrounded me was open and free from underwood,
+consisting of large trees, widely scattered with a great quantity of
+palm-trees (Arenga saccharifera), from which palm wine and sugar
+are made. There were also great numbers of a wild Jack-fruit tree
+(Artocarpus), which bore abundance of large reticulated fruit, serving
+as an excellent vegetable. The ground was as thickly covered with dry
+leaves as it is in an English wood in November; the little rocky streams
+were all dry, and scarcely a drop of water or even a damp place was
+anywhere to be seen. About fifty yards below my house, at the foot of
+the hill, was a deep hole in a watercourse where good water was to be
+had, and where I went daily to bathe by having buckets of water taken
+out and pouring it over my body.
+
+My host Mr. M. enjoyed a thoroughly country life, depending almost
+entirely on his gun and dogs to supply his table. Wild pigs of large
+size were very plentiful and he generally got one or two a week, besides
+deer occasionally, and abundance of jungle-fowl, hornbills, and great
+fruit pigeons. His buffaloes supplied plenty of milk from which he made
+his own butter; he grew his own rice and coffee, and had ducks, fowls,
+and their eggs, in profusion. His palm-trees supplied him all the year
+round with "sagueir," which takes the place of beer; and the sugar made
+from them is an excellent sweetmeat. All the fine tropical vegetables
+and fruits were abundant in their season, and his cigars were made from
+tobacco of his own raising. He kindly sent me a bamboo of buffalo-milk
+every morning; it was as thick as cream, and required diluting with
+water to keep it fluid during the day. It mixes very well with tea and
+coffee, although it has a slight peculiar flavour, which after a time
+is not disagreeable. I also got as much sweet "sagueir" as I liked to
+drink, and Mr. M. always sent me a piece of each pig he killed, which
+with fowls, eggs, and the birds we shot ourselves, and buffalo beef
+about once a fortnight, kept my larder sufficiently well supplied.
+
+Every bit of flatland was cleared and used as rice-fields, and on the
+lower slopes of many of the hills tobacco and vegetables were grown.
+Most of the slopes are covered with huge blocks of rock, very fatiguing
+to scramble over, while a number of the hills are so precipitous as to
+be quite inaccessible. These circumstances, combined with the excessive
+drought, were very unfavourable for my pursuits. Birds were scarce, and
+I got but few new to me. Insects were tolerably plentiful, but unequal.
+Beetles, usually so numerous and interesting, were exceedingly scarce,
+some of the families being quite absent and others only represented
+by very minute species. The Flies and Bees, on the other hand, were
+abundant, and of these I daily obtained new and interesting species. The
+rare and beautiful Butterflies of Celebes were the chief object of my
+search, and I found many species altogether new to me, but they were
+generally so active and shy as to render their capture a matter of great
+difficulty. Almost the only good place for them was in the dry beds of
+the streams in the forest, where, at damp places, muddy pools, or even
+on the dry rocks, all sorts of insects could be found. In these rocky
+forests dwell some of the finest butterflies in the world. Three species
+of Ornithoptera, measuring seven or eight inches across the wings, and
+beautifully marked with spots or masses of satiny yellow on a black
+ground, wheel through the thickets with a strong sailing flight. About
+the damp places are swarms of the beautiful blue-banded Papilios,
+miletus and telephus, the superb golden green P. macedon, and the rare
+little swallow-tail Papilio rhesus, of all of which, though very active,
+I succeeded in capturing fine series of specimens.
+
+I have rarely enjoyed myself more than during my residence here. As I
+sat taking my coffee at six in the morning, rare birds would often
+be seen on some tree close by, when I would hastily sally out in my
+slippers, and perhaps secure a prize I had been seeking after for weeks.
+The great hornbills of Celebes (Buceros cassidix) would often come with
+loud-flapping wings, and perch upon a lofty tree just in front of me;
+and the black baboon-monkeys, Cynopithecus nigrescens, often stared down
+in astonishment at such an intrusion into their domains while at
+night herds of wild pigs roamed about the house, devouring refuse, and
+obliging us to put away everything eatable or breakable from our little
+cooking-house. A few minutes' search on the fallen trees around my house
+at sunrise and sunset, would often produce me more beetles than I would
+meet with in a day's collecting, and odd moments could be made valuable
+which when living in villages or at a distance from the forest are
+inevitably wasted. Where the sugar-palms were dripping with sap, flies
+congregated in immense numbers, and it was by spending half an hour at
+these when I had the time to spare, that I obtained the finest and most
+remarkable collection of this group of insects that I have ever made.
+
+Then what delightful hours I passed wandering up and down the dry
+river-courses, full of water-holes and rocks and fallen trees, and
+overshadowed by magnificent vegetation. I soon got to know every hole
+and rock and stump, and came up to each with cautious step and bated
+breath to see what treasures it would produce. At one place I would find
+a little crowd of the rare butterfly Tachyris zarinda, which would
+rise up at my approach, and display their vivid orange and cinnabar-red
+wings, while among them would flutter a few of the fine blue-banded
+Papilios. Where leafy branches hung over the gully, I might expect to
+find a grand Ornithoptera at rest and an easy prey. At certain rotten
+trunks I was sure to get the curious little tiger beetle, Therates
+flavilabris. In the denser thickets I would capture the small metal-blue
+butterflies (Amblypodia) sitting on the leaves, as well as some rare and
+beautiful leaf-beetles of the families Hispidae and Chrysomelidae.
+
+I found that the rotten jack-fruits were very attractive to many
+beetles, and used to split them partly open and lay them about in the
+forest near my house to rot. A morning's search at these often produced
+me a score of species--Staphylinidae, Nitidulidae, Onthophagi, and
+minute Carabidae, being the most abundant. Now and then the "sagueir"
+makers brought me a fine rosechafer (Sternoplus schaumii) which they
+found licking up the sweet sap. Almost the only new birds I met with
+for some time were a handsome ground thrush (Pitta celebensis), and a
+beautiful violet-crowned dove (Ptilonopus celebensis), both very similar
+to birds I had recently obtained at Aru, but of distinct species.
+
+About the latter part of September a heavy shower of rain fell,
+admonishing us that we might soon expect wet weather, much to the
+advantage of the baked-up country. I therefore determined to pay a visit
+to the falls of the Maros river, situated at the point where it issues
+from the mountains--a spot often visited by travellers and considered
+very beautiful. Mr. M. lent me a horse, and I obtained a guide from a
+neighbouring village; and taking one of my men with me, we started
+at six in the morning, and after a ride of two hours over the flat
+rice-fields skirting the mountains which rose in grand precipices on our
+left, we reached the river about half-way between Maros and the falls,
+and thence had a good bridle-road to our destination, which we reached
+in another hour. The hills had closed in around us as we advanced;
+and when we reached a ruinous shed which had been erected for the
+accommodation of visitors, we found ourselves in a flat-bottomed
+valley about a quarter of a mile wide, bounded by precipitous and often
+overhanging limestone rocks. So far the ground had been cultivated, but
+it now became covered with bushes and large scattered trees.
+
+As soon as my scanty baggage had arrived and was duly deposited in the
+shed, I started off alone for the fall, which was about a quarter of a
+mile further on. The river is here about twenty yards wide, and issues
+from a chasm between two vertical walls of limestone, over a rounded
+mass of basaltic rock about forty feet high, forming two curves
+separated by a slight ledge. The water spreads beautifully over this
+surface in a thin sheet of foam, which curls and eddies in a succession
+of concentric cones until it falls into a fine deep pool below. Close
+to the very edge of the fall a narrow and very rugged path leads to the
+river above, and thence continues close under the precipice along the
+water's edge, or sometimes in the water, for a few hundred yards, after
+which the rocks recede a little, and leave a wooded bank on one side,
+along which the path is continued, until in about half a mile, a second
+and smaller fall is reached. Here the river seems to issue from a
+cavern, the rocks having fallen from above so as to block up the channel
+and bar further progress. The fall itself can only be reached by a path
+which ascends behind a huge slice of rock which has partly fallen
+away from the mountain, leaving a space two or three feet wide, but
+disclosing a dark chasm descending into the bowels of the mountain, and
+which, having visited several such, I had no great curiosity to explore.
+
+Crossing the stream a little below the upper fall, the path ascends
+a steep slope for about five hundred feet, and passing through a
+gap enters a narrow valley, shut in by walls of rock absolutely
+perpendicular and of great height. Half a mile further this valley turns
+abruptly to the right, and becomes a mere rift in the mountain. This
+extends another half mile, the walls gradually approaching until they
+are only two feet apart, and the bottom rising steeply to a pass which
+leads probably into another valley, but which I had no time to explore.
+Returning to where this rift had begun the main path turns up to the
+left in a sort of gully, and reaches a summit over which a fine natural
+arch of rock passes at a height of about fifty feet. Thence was a steep
+descent through thick jungle with glimpses of precipices and distant
+rocky mountains, probably leading into the main river valley again. This
+was a most tempting region to explore, but there were several reasons
+why I could go no further. I had no guide, and no permission to enter
+the Bugis territories, and as the rains might at any time set in,
+I might be prevented from returning by the flooding of the river. I
+therefore devoted myself during the short time of my visit to obtaining
+what knowledge I could of the natural productions of the place.
+
+The narrow chasms produced several fine insects quite new to me, and one
+new bird, the curious Phlaegenas tristigmata, a large ground pigeon
+with yellow breast and crown, and purple neck. This rugged path is the
+highway from Maros to the Bugis country beyond the mountains. During
+the rainy season it is quite impassable, the river filling its bed and
+rushing between perpendicular cliffs many hundred feet high. Even at the
+time of my visit it was most precipitous and fatiguing, yet women and
+children came over it daily, and men carrying heavy loads of palm sugar
+(of very little value). It was along the path between the lower and the
+upper falls, and about the margin of the upper pool, that I found most
+insects. The large semi-transparent butterfly, Idea tondana, flew lazily
+along by dozens, and it was here that I at length obtained an insect
+which I had hoped but hardly expected to meet with--the magnificent
+Papilio androcles, one of the largest and rarest known swallow-tailed
+butterflies. During my four days' stay at the falls, I was so fortunate
+as to obtain six good specimens. As this beautiful creature flies, the
+long white tails flicker like streamers, and when settled on the beach
+it carries them raised upwards, as if to preserve them from injury. It
+is scarce even here, as I did not see more than a dozen specimens
+in all, and had to follow many of them up and down the river's bank
+repeatedly before I succeeded in their capture. When the sun shone
+hottest, about noon, the moist beach of the pool below the upper
+fall presented a beautiful sight, being dotted with groups of gay
+butterflies--orange, yellow, white, blue, and green--which on being
+disturbed rose into the air by hundreds, forming clouds of variegated
+colours.
+
+Such gorges, chasms, and precipices here abound, as I have nowhere seen
+in the Archipelago. A sloping surface is scarcely anywhere to be found,
+huge walls and rugged masses of rock terminating all the mountains
+and enclosing the valleys. In many parts there are vertical or even
+overhanging precipices five or six hundred feet high, yet completely
+clothed with a tapestry of vegetation. Ferns, Pandanaceae, shrubs,
+creepers, and even forest trees, are mingled in an evergreen network,
+through the interstices of which appears the white limestone rock or
+the dark holes and chasms with which it abounds. These precipices
+are enabled to sustain such an amount of vegetation by their peculiar
+structure. Their surfaces are very irregular, broken into holes and
+fissures, with ledges overhanging the mouths of gloomy caverns; but from
+each projecting part have descended stalactites, often forming a wild
+gothic tracery over the caves and receding hollows, and affording an
+admirable support to the roots of the shrubs, trees, and creepers, which
+luxuriate in the warm pure atmosphere and the gentle moisture which
+constantly exudes from the rocks. In places where the precipice offers
+smooth surfaces of solid rock, it remains quite bare, or only stained
+with lichens, and dotted with clumps of ferns that grow on the small
+ledges and in the minutest crevices.
+
+The reader who is familiar with tropical nature only through the medium
+of books and botanical gardens will picture to himself in such a spot
+many other natural beauties. He will think that I have unaccountably
+forgotten to mention the brilliant flowers, which, in gorgeous masses of
+crimson, gold or azure, must spangle these verdant precipices, hang over
+the cascade, and adorn the margin of the mountain stream. But what is
+the reality? In vain did I gaze over these vast walls of verdure, among
+the pendant creepers and bushy shrubs, all around the cascade on the
+river's bank, or in the deep caverns and gloomy fissures--not one single
+spot of bright colour could be seen, not one single tree or bush or
+creeper bore a flower sufficiently conspicuous to form an object in
+the landscape. In every direction the eye rested on green foliage and
+mottled rock. There was infinite variety in the colour and aspect of
+the foliage; there was grandeur in the rocky masses and in the exuberant
+luxuriance of the vegetation; but there was no brilliancy of colour,
+none of those bright flowers and gorgeous masses of blossom so generally
+considered to be everywhere present in the tropics. I have here given an
+accurate sketch of a luxuriant tropical scene as noted down on the spot,
+and its general characteristics as regards colour have been so often
+repeated, both in South America and over many thousand miles in the
+Eastern tropics, that I am driven to conclude that it represents the
+general aspect of nature at the equatorial (that is, the most tropical)
+parts of the tropical regions.
+
+How is it then, that the descriptions of travellers generally give
+a very different idea? and where, it may be asked, are the glorious
+flowers that we know do exist in the tropics? These questions can be
+easily answered. The fine tropical flowering-plants cultivated in our
+hothouses have been culled from the most varied regions, and therefore
+give a most erroneous idea of their abundance in any one region. Many of
+them are very rare, others extremely local, while a considerable number
+inhabit the more arid regions of Africa and India, in which tropical
+vegetation does not exhibit itself in its usual luxuriance. Fine and
+varied foliage, rather than gay flowers, is more characteristic of those
+parts where tropical vegetation attains its highest development, and in
+such districts each kind of flower seldom lasts in perfection more than
+a few weeks, or sometimes a few days. In every locality a lengthened
+residence will show an abundance of magnificent and gaily-blossomed
+plants, but they have to be sought for, and are rarely at any one time
+or place so abundant as to form a perceptible feature in the landscape.
+But it has been the custom of travellers to describe and group together
+all the fine plants they have met with during a long journey, and thus
+produce the effect of a gay and flower-painted landscape. They have
+rarely studied and described individual scenes where vegetation was most
+luxuriant and beautiful, and fairly stated what effect was produced
+in them by flowers. I have done so frequently, and the result of these
+examinations has convinced me that the bright colours of flowers have a
+much greater influence on the general aspect of nature in temperate
+than in tropical climates. During twelve years spent amid the grandest
+tropical vegetation, I have seen nothing comparable to the effect
+produced on our landscapes by gorse, broom, heather, wild hyacinths,
+hawthorn, purple orchises, and buttercups.
+
+The geological structure of this part of Celebes is interesting.
+The limestone mountains, though of great extent, seem to be entirely
+superficial, resting on a basis of basalt which in some places forms low
+rounded hills between the more precipitous mountains. In the rocky beds
+of the streams basalt is almost always found, and it is a step in this
+rock which forms the cascade already described. From it the limestone
+precipices rise abruptly; and in ascending the little stairway along the
+side of the fall, you step two or three times from one rock on to the
+other--the limestone dry and rough, being worn by the water and rains
+into sharp ridges and honeycombed holes--the basalt moist, even, and
+worn smooth and slippery by the passage of bare-footed pedestrians. The
+solubility of the limestone by rain-water is well seen in the little
+blocks and peaks which rise thickly through the soil of the alluvial
+plains as you approach the mountains. They are all skittle-shaped,
+larger in the middle than at the base, the greatest diameter occurring
+at the height to which the country is flooded in the wet season,
+and thence decreasing regularly to the ground. Many of them overhang
+considerably, and some of the slenderer pillars appear to stand upon a
+point. When the rock is less solid it becomes curiously honeycombed by
+the rains of successive winters, and I noticed some masses reduced to
+a complete network of stone through which light could be seen in every
+direction.
+
+From these mountains to the sea extends a perfectly flat alluvial plain,
+with no indication that water would accumulate at a great depth beneath
+it, yet the authorities at Macassar have spent much money in boring a
+well a thousand feet deep in hope of getting a supply of water like that
+obtained by the Artesian wells in the London and Paris basins. It is not
+to be wondered at that the attempt was unsuccessful.
+
+Returning to my forest hut, I continued my daily search after birds and
+insects. The weather, however, became dreadfully hot and dry, every drop
+of water disappearing from the pools and rock-holes, and with it the
+insects which frequented them. Only one group remained unaffected by
+the intense drought; the Diptera, or two-winged flies, continued as
+plentifully as ever, and on these I was almost compelled to concentrate
+my attention for a week or two, by which means I increased my collection
+of that Order to about two hundred species. I also continued to obtain
+a few new birds, among which were two or three kinds of small hawks and
+falcons, a beautiful brush-tongued paroquet, Trichoglossus ornatus, and
+a rare black and white crow, Corvus advena.
+
+At length, about the middle of October, after several gloomy days, down
+came a deluge of rain which continued to fall almost every afternoon,
+showing that the early part of the wet season had commenced. I hoped
+now to get a good harvest of insects, and in some respects I was not
+disappointed. Beetles became much more numerous, and under a thick bed
+of leaves that had accumulated on some rocks by the side of a forest
+stream, I found an abundance of Carabidae, a family generally scarce in
+the tropics. The butterflies, however, disappeared. Two of my servants
+were attacked with fever, dysentery, and swelled feet, just at the time
+that the third had left me, and for some days they both lay groaning in
+the house. When they got a little better I was attacked myself, and as
+my stores were nearly finished and everything was getting very damp,
+I was obliged to prepare for my return to Macassar, especially as the
+strong westerly winds would render the passage in a small open boat
+disagreeable, if not dangerous.
+
+Since the rains began, numbers of huge millipedes, as thick as one's
+finger and eight or ten inches long, crawled about everywhere--in the
+paths, on trees, about the house--and one morning when I got up I even
+found one in my bed! They were generally of a dull lead colour or of
+a deep brick red, and were very nasty-looking things to be coming
+everywhere in one's way, although quite harmless. Snakes too began to
+show themselves. I killed two of a very abundant species--big-headed,
+and of a bright green colour, which lie coiled up on leaves and shrubs
+and can scarcely be seen until one is close upon them. Brown snakes got
+into my net while beating among dead leaves for insects, and made me
+rather cautious about inserting my hand until I knew what kind of game I
+had captured. The fields and meadows which had been parched and sterile,
+now became suddenly covered with fine long grass; the river-bed where
+I had so many times walked over burning rocks, was now a deep and rapid
+stream; and numbers of herbaceous plants and shrubs were everywhere
+springing up and bursting into flower. I found plenty of new insects,
+and if I had had a good, roomy, water-and-wind-proof house, I should
+perhaps have stayed during the wet season, as I feel sure many things
+can then be obtained which are to be found at no other time. With my
+summer hut, however, this was impossible. During the heavy rains a fine
+drizzly mist penetrated into every part of it, and I began to have the
+greatest difficulty in keeping my specimens dry.
+
+Early in November I returned to Macassar, and having packed up my
+collections, started in the Dutch mail steamer for Amboyna and Ternate.
+Leaving this part of my journey for the present, I will in the next
+CHAPTER conclude my account of Celebes, by describing the extreme
+northern part of the island which I visited two years later.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. CELEBES.
+
+ (MENADO, JUNE TO SEPTEMBER, 1859.)
+
+IT was after my residence at Timor-Coupang that I visited the
+northeastern extremity of Celebes, touching Banda, Amboyna, and Ternate
+on my way. I reached Menado on the 10th of June, 1859, and was very
+kindly received by Mr. Tower, an Englishman, but a very old resident in
+Menado, where he carries on a general business. He introduced me to Mr.
+L. Duivenboden (whose father had been my friend at Ternate), who had
+much taste for natural history; and to Mr. Neys, a native of Menado, but
+who was educated at Calcutta, and to whom Dutch, English, and Malay
+were equally mother-tongues. All these gentlemen showed me the greatest
+kindness, accompanied me in my earliest walks about the country, and
+assisted me by every means in their power. I spent a week in the
+town very pleasantly, making explorations and inquiries after a good
+collecting station, which I had much difficulty in finding, owing to the
+wide cultivation of coffee and cacao, which has led to the clearing
+away of the forests for many miles around the town, and over extensive
+districts far into the interior.
+
+The little town of Menado is one of the prettiest in the East. It has
+the appearance of a large garden containing rows of rustic villas with
+broad paths between, forming streets generally at right angles with each
+other. Good roads branch off in several directions towards the interior,
+with a succession of pretty cottages, neat gardens, and thriving
+plantations, interspersed with wildernesses of fruit trees. To the west
+and south the country is mountainous, with groups of fine volcanic peaks
+6,000 or 7,000 feet high, forming grand and picturesque backgrounds to
+the landscape.
+
+The inhabitants of Minahasa (as this part of Celebes is called) differ
+much from those of all the rest of the island, and in fact from any
+other people in the Archipelago. They are of a light-brown or yellow
+tint, often approaching the fairness of a European; of a rather short
+stature, stout and well-made; of an open and pleasing countenance, more
+or less disfigured as age increases by projecting check-bones; and with
+the usual long, straight, jet-black hair of the Malayan races. In some
+of the inland villages where they may be supposed to be of the purest
+race, both men and women are remarkably handsome; while nearer the
+coasts where the purity of their blood has been destroyed by the
+intermixture of other races, they approach to the ordinary types of the
+wild inhabitants of the surrounding countries.
+
+In mental and moral characteristics they are also highly peculiar.
+They are remarkably quiet and gentle in disposition, submissive to the
+authority of those they consider their superiors, and easily induced
+to learn and adopt the habits of civilized people. They are clever
+mechanics, and seem capable of acquiring a considerable amount of
+intellectual education.
+
+Up to a very recent period these people were thorough savages, and
+there are persons now living in Menado who remember a state of things
+identical with that described by the writers of the sixteenth and
+seventeenth centuries. The inhabitants of the several villages
+were distinct tribes, each under its own chief, speaking languages
+unintelligible to each other, and almost always at war. They built their
+houses elevated upon lofty posts to defend themselves from the attacks
+of their enemies. They were headhunters like the Dyaks of Borneo, and
+were said to be sometimes cannibals. When a chief died, his tomb was
+adorned with two fresh human heads; and if those of enemies could not
+be obtained, slaves were killed for the occasion. Human skulls were the
+great ornaments of the chiefs' houses. Strips of bark were their only
+dress. The country was a pathless wilderness, with small cultivated
+patches of rice and vegetables, or clumps of fruit-trees, diversifying
+the otherwise unbroken forest. Their religion was that naturally
+engendered in the undeveloped human mind by the contemplation of grand
+natural phenomena and the luxuriance of tropical nature. The burning
+mountain, the torrent and the lake, were the abode of their deities;
+and certain trees and birds were supposed to have special influence
+over men's actions and destiny. They held wild and exciting festivals
+to propitiate these deities or demons, and believed that men could be
+changed by them into animals--either during life or after death.
+
+Here we have a picture of true savage life; of small isolated
+communities at war with all around them, subject to the wants and
+miseries of such a condition, drawing a precarious existence from the
+luxuriant soil, and living on, from generation to generation, with no
+desire for physical amelioration, and no prospect of moral advancement.
+
+Such was their condition down to the year 1822, when the coffee-plant
+was first introduced, and experiments were made as to its cultivation.
+It was found to succeed admirably from fifteen hundred feet, up to four
+thousand feet above the sea. The chiefs of villages were induced to
+undertake its cultivation. Seed and native instructors were sent
+from Java; food was supplied to the labourers engaged in clearing and
+planting; a fixed price was established at which all coffee brought to
+the government collectors was to be paid for, and the village chiefs who
+now received the titles of "Majors" were to receive five percent of the
+produce. After a time, roads were made from the port of Menado up to
+the plateau, and smaller paths were cleared from village to village;
+missionaries settled in the more populous districts and opened schools;
+and Chinese traders penetrated to the interior and supplied clothing and
+other luxuries in exchange for the money which the sale of the coffee
+had produced.
+
+At the same time, the country was divided into districts, and the system
+of "Controlleurs," which had worked so well in Java, was introduced. The
+"Controlleur" was a European, or a native of European blood, who was the
+general superintendent of the cultivation of the district, the
+adviser of the chiefs, the protector of the people, and the means of
+communication between both and the European Government. His duties
+obliged him to visit every village in succession once a month, and to
+send in a report on their condition to the Resident. As disputes between
+adjacent villages were now settled by appeal to a superior authority,
+the old and inconvenient semi-fortified houses were disused, and under
+the direction of the "Controlleurs" most of the houses were rebuilt on a
+neat and uniform plan. It was this interesting district which I was now
+about to visit.
+
+Having decided on my route, I started at 8 A.M. on the 22d of June.
+Mr. Tower drove me the first three miles in his chaise, and Mr. Neys
+accompanied me on horseback three miles further to the village of
+Lotta. Here we met the Controlleur of the district of Tondano, who was
+returning home from one of his monthly tours, and who had agreed to act
+as my guide and companion on the journey. From Lotta we had an almost
+continual ascent for six miles, which brought us on to the plateau of
+Tondano at an elevation of about 2,400 feet. We passed through three
+villages whose neatness and beauty quite astonished me. The main road,
+along which all the coffee is brought down from the interior in carts
+drawn by buffaloes, is always turned aside at the entrance of a village,
+so as to pass behind it, and thus allow the village street itself to
+be kept neat and clean. This is bordered by neat hedges often formed
+entirely of rose-trees, which are perpetually in blossom. There is a
+broad central path and a border of fine turf, which is kept well swept
+and neatly cut. The houses are all of wood, raised about six feet on
+substantial posts neatly painted blue, while the walls are whitewashed.
+They all have a verandah enclosed with a neat balustrade, and are
+generally surrounded by orange-trees and flowering shrubs. The
+surrounding scenery is verdant and picturesque. Coffee plantations
+of extreme luxuriance, noble palms and tree ferns, wooded hills and
+volcanic peaks, everywhere meet the eye. I had heard much of the beauty
+of this country, but the reality far surpassed my expectations.
+
+About one o'clock we reached Tomohón, the chief place of a district,
+having a native chief now called the "Major," at whose house we were to
+dine. Here was a fresh surprise for me. The house was large, airy and
+very substantially built of hard native timber, squared and put together
+in a most workmanlike manner. It was furnished in European style, with
+handsome chandelier lamps, and the chairs and tables all well made by
+native workmen. As soon as we entered, madeira and bitters were offered
+us. Then two handsome boys neatly dressed in white, and with smoothly
+brushed jet-black hair, handed us each a basin of water and a clean
+napkin on a salver. The dinner was excellent. Fowls cooked in various
+ways; wild pig roasted, stewed and fried; a fricassee of bats, potatoes,
+rice and other vegetables; all served on good china, with finger glasses
+and fine napkins, and abundance of good claret and beer, seemed to
+me rather curious at the table of a native chief on the mountains of
+Celebes. Our host was dressed in a suit of black with patent-leather
+shoes, and really looked comfortable and almost gentlemanly in them. He
+sat at the head of the table and did the honours well, though he did
+not talk much. Our conversation was entirely in Malay, as that is the
+official language here, and in fact the mother-tongue and only language
+of the Controlleur, who is a native-born half-breed. The Major's father
+who was chief before him, wore, I was informed, a strip of bark as his
+sole costume, and lived in a rude but raised home on lofty poles, and
+abundantly decorated with human heads. Of course we were expected, and
+our dinner was prepared in the best style, but I was assured that the
+chiefs all take a pride in adopting European customs, and in being able
+to receive their visitors in a handsome manner.
+
+After dinner and coffee, the Controlleur went on to Tondano, and I
+strolled about the village waiting for my baggage, which was coming in
+a bullock-cart, and did not arrive until after midnight. Supper was very
+similar to dinner, and on retiring I found an elegant little room with
+a comfortable bed, gauze curtains with blue and red hangings, and every
+convenience. Next morning at sunrise the thermometer in the verandah
+stood at 69°, which I was told is about the usual lowest temperature at
+this place, 2,500 feet above the sea. I had a good breakfast of coffee,
+eggs, and fresh bread and butter, which I took in the spacious verandah
+amid the odour of roses, jessamine, and other sweet-scented flowers,
+which filled the garden in front; and about eight o'clock left Tomohón
+with a dozen men carrying my baggage.
+
+Our road lay over a mountain ridge about 4,000 feet above the sea, and
+then descended about 500 feet to the little village of Rurúkan, the
+highest in the district of Minahasa, and probably in all Celebes. Here I
+had determined to stay for some time to see whether this elevation would
+produce any change in the zoology. The village had only been formed
+about ten years, and was quite as neat as those I had passed through,
+and much more picturesque. It is placed on a small level spot, from
+which there is an abrupt wooded descent down to the beautiful lake of
+Tondano, with volcanic mountains beyond. On one side is a ravine, and
+beyond it a fine mountainous and wooded country.
+
+Near the village are the coffee plantations. The trees are planted in
+rows, and are kept topped to about seven feet high. This causes the
+lateral branches to grow very strong, so that some of the trees become
+perfect hemispheres, loaded with fruit from top to bottom, and producing
+from ten to twenty pounds each of cleaned coffee annually. These
+plantations were all formed by the Government, and are cultivated by the
+villagers under the direction of their chief. Certain days are appointed
+for weeding or gathering, and the whole working population are summoned
+by the sound of a gong. An account is kept of the number of hours' work
+done by each family, and at the year's end, the produce of the sale is
+divided among them proportionately. The coffee is taken to Government
+stores established at central places over the whole country, and is paid
+for at a low fixed price. Out of this a certain percentage goes to the
+chiefs and majors, and the remainder is divided among the inhabitants.
+This system works very well, and I believe is at present far better for
+the people than free-trade would be. There are also large rice-fields,
+and in this little village of seventy houses, I was informed that a
+hundred pounds' worth of rice was sold annually.
+
+I had a small house at the very end of the village, almost hanging over
+the precipitous slope down to the stream, and with a splendid view from
+the verandah. The thermometer in the morning often stood at 62° and
+never rose so high as 80°, so that with the thin clothing used in the
+tropical plains we were always cool and sometimes positively cold, while
+the spout of water where I went daily for my bath had quite an icy
+feel. Although I enjoyed myself very much among these fine mountains
+and forests, I was somewhat disappointed as to my collections. There
+was hardly any perceptible difference between the animal life in this
+temperate region and in the torrid plains below, and what difference
+did exist was in most respects disadvantageous to me. There seemed to be
+nothing absolutely peculiar to this elevation. Birds and quadrupeds were
+less plentiful, but of the same species. In insects there seemed to be
+more difference. The curious beetles of the family Cleridae, which are
+found chiefly on bark and rotten wood, were finer than I have seen them
+elsewhere. The beautiful Longicorns were scarcer than usual, and the few
+butterflies were all of tropical species. One of these, Papilio blumei,
+of which I obtained a few specimens only, is among the most magnificent
+I have ever seen. It is a green and gold swallow-tail, with azure-blue
+and spoon-shaped tails, and was often seen flying about the village when
+the sun shone, but in a very shattered condition. The great amount
+of wet and cloudy weather was a great drawback all the time I was at
+Rurúkan.
+
+Even in the vegetation there is very little to indicate elevation.
+The trees are more covered with lichens and mosses, and the ferns and
+tree-ferns are finer and more luxuriant than I had been accustomed to
+seeing on the low grounds, both probably attributable to the almost
+perpetual moisture that here prevails. Abundance of a tasteless
+raspberry, with blue and yellow compositae, have somewhat of a temperate
+aspect; and minute ferns and Orchideae, with dwarf Begonias on the
+rocks, make some approach to a sub-alpine vegetation. The forest,
+however, is most luxuriant. Noble palms, Pandani, and tree-ferns are
+abundant in it, while the forest trees are completely festooned with
+Orchideae, Bromeliae, Araceae, Lycopodiums, and mosses. The ordinary
+stemless ferns abound; some with gigantic fronds ten or twelve feet
+long, others barely an inch high; some with entire and massive leaves,
+others elegantly waving their finely-cut foliage, and adding endless
+variety and interest to the forest paths. The cocoa-nut palm still
+produces fruit abundantly, but is said to be deficient in oil. Oranges
+thrive better than below, producing abundance of delicious fruit; but
+the shaddock or pumplemous (Citrus decumana) requires the full force of
+a tropical sun, for it will not thrive even at Tondano a thousand feet
+lower. On the hilly slopes rice is cultivated largely, and ripens well,
+although the temperature rarely or never rises to 80°, so that one would
+think it might be grown even in England in fine summers, especially if
+the young plants were raised under glass.
+
+The mountains have an unusual quantity of earth and vegetable mould
+spread over them. Even on the steepest slopes there is everywhere a
+covering of clays and sands, and generally a good thickness of vegetable
+soil. It is this which perhaps contributes to the uniform luxuriance
+of the forest, and delays the appearance of that sub-alpine vegetation
+which depends almost as much on the abundance of rocky and exposed
+surfaces as on difference of climate. At a much lower elevation on
+Mount Ophir in Malacca, Dacrydiums and Rhododendrons with abundance of
+Nepenthes, ferns, and terrestrial orchids suddenly took the place of the
+lofty forest; but this was plainly due to the occurrence of an extensive
+slope of bare, granitic rock at an elevation of less than 3,000 feet.
+The quantity of vegetable soil, and also of loose sands and clays,
+resting on steep slopes, hill-tops and the sides of ravines, is a
+curious and important phenomenon. It may be due in part to constant,
+slight earthquake shocks facilitating the disintegration of rock; but,
+would also seem to indicate that the country has been long exposed to
+gentle atmospheric action, and that its elevation has been exceedingly
+slow and continuous.
+
+During my stay at Rurúkan, my curiosity was satisfied by experiencing a
+pretty sharp earthquake-shock. On the evening of June 29th, at a quarter
+after eight, as I was sitting reading, the house began shaking with a
+very gentle, but rapidly increasing motion. I sat still enjoying the
+novel sensation for some seconds; but in less than half a minute it
+became strong enough to shake me in my chair, and to make the house
+visibly rock about, and creak and crack as if it would fall to pieces.
+Then began a cry throughout the village of "Tana goyang! tana goyang!"
+(Earthquake! earthquake!) Everybody rushed out of their houses--women
+screamed and children cried--and I thought it prudent to go out too.
+On getting up, I found my head giddy and my steps unsteady, and could
+hardly walk without falling. The shock continued about a minute, during
+which time I felt as if I had been turned round and round, and was
+almost seasick. Going into the house again, I found a lamp and a bottle
+of arrack upset. The tumbler which formed the lamp had been thrown out
+of the saucer in which it had stood. The shock appeared to be nearly
+vertical, rapid, vibratory, and jerking. It was sufficient, I have no
+doubt, to have thrown down brick, chimneys, walls, and church towers;
+but as the houses here are all low, and strongly framed of timber, it
+is impossible for them to be much injured, except by a shock that would
+utterly destroy a European city. The people told me it was ten years
+since they had had a stronger shock than this, at which time many houses
+were thrown down and some people killed.
+
+At intervals of ten minutes to half an hour, slight shocks and tremors
+were felt, sometimes strong enough to send us all out again. There was
+a strange mixture of the terrible and the ludicrous in our situation. We
+might at any moment have a much stronger shock, which would bring down
+the house over us, or--what I feared more--cause a landslip, and send
+us down into the deep ravine on the very edge of which the village is
+built; yet I could not help laughing each time we ran out at a slight
+shock, and then in a few moments ran in again. The sublime and the
+ridiculous were here literally but a step apart. On the one hand, the
+most terrible and destructive of natural phenomena was in action
+around us--the rocks, the mountains, the solid earth were trembling and
+convulsed, and we were utterly impotent to guard against the danger that
+might at any moment overwhelm us. On the other hand was the spectacle of
+a number of men, women, and children running in and out of their houses,
+on what each time proved a very unnecessary alarm, as each shock ceased
+just as it became strong enough to frighten us. It seemed really very
+much like "playing at earthquakes," and made many of the people join me
+in a hearty laugh, even while reminding each other that it really might
+be no laughing matter.
+
+At length the evening got very cold, and I became very sleepy, and
+determined to turn in; leaving orders to my boys, who slept nearer
+the door, to wake me in case the house was in danger of falling. But
+I miscalculated my apathy, for I could not sleep much. The shocks
+continued at intervals of half an hour or an hour all night, just strong
+enough to wake me thoroughly each time and keep me on the alert, ready
+to jump up in case of danger. I was therefore very glad when morning
+came. Most of the inhabitants had not been to bed at all, and some had
+stayed out of doors all night. For the next two days and nights shocks
+still continued at short intervals, and several times a day for a week,
+showing that there was some very extensive disturbance beneath our
+portion of the earth's crust. How vast the forces at work really are can
+only be properly appreciated when, after feeling their effects, we look
+abroad over the wide expanse of hill and valley, plain and mountain, and
+thus realize in a slight degree the immense mass of matter heaved
+and shaken. The sensation produced by an earthquake is never to be
+forgotten. We feel ourselves in the grasp of a power to which the
+wildest fury of the winds and waves are as nothing; yet the effect is
+more a thrill of awe than the terror which the more boisterous war of
+the elements produces. There is a mystery and an uncertainty as to the
+amount of danger we incur, which gives greater play to the imagination,
+and to the influences of hope and fear. These remarks apply only to a
+moderate earthquake. A severe one is the most destructive and the most
+horrible catastrophe to which human beings can be exposed.
+
+A few days after the earthquake I took a walk to Tondano, a large
+village of about 7,000 inhabitants, situated at the lower end of the
+lake of the same name. I dined with the Controlleur, Mr. Bensneider,
+who had been my guide to Tomohón. He had a fine large house, in which he
+often received visitors; and his garden was the best for flowers which I
+had seen in the tropics, although there was no great variety. It was he
+who introduced the rose hedges which give such a charming appearance to
+the villages; and to him is chiefly due the general neatness and good
+order that everywhere prevail. I consulted him about a fresh locality,
+as I found Rurúkan too much in the clouds, dreadfully damp and gloomy,
+and with a general stagnation of bird and insect life. He recommended me
+a village some distance beyond the lake, near which was a large forest,
+where he thought I should find plenty of birds. As he was going himself
+in a few days, I decided to accompany him.
+
+After dinner I asked him for a guide to the celebrated waterfall on the
+outlet stream of the lake. It is situated about a mile and half below
+the village, where a slight rising ground closes in the basin, and
+evidently once formed, the shore of the lake. Here the river enters a
+gorge, very narrow and tortuous, along which it rushes furiously for a
+short distance and then plunges into a great chasm, forming the head
+of a large valley. Just above the fall the channel is not more than ten
+feet wide, and here a few planks are thrown across, whence, half hid by
+luxuriant vegetation, the mad waters may be seen rushing beneath, and a
+few feet farther plunge into the abyss. Both sight and sound are grand
+and impressive. It was here that, four years before my visit, the
+Governor-General of the Netherland Indies committed suicide, by leaping
+into the torrent. This at least is the general opinion, as he suffered
+from a painful disease which was supposed to have made him weary of his
+life. His body was found next day in the stream below.
+
+Unfortunately, no good view of the fall could now be obtained, owing
+to the quantity of wood and high grass that lined the margins of the
+precipices. There are two falls, the lower being the most lofty; and it
+is possible, by long circuit, to descend into the valley and see them
+from below. Were the best points of view searched for and rendered
+accessible, these falls would probably be found to be the finest in the
+Archipelago. The chasm seems to be of great depth, probably 500 or 600
+feet. Unfortunately, I had no time to explore this valley, as I was
+anxious to devote every fine day to increasing my hitherto scanty
+collections.
+
+Just opposite my abode in Rurúkan was the schoolhouse. The schoolmaster
+was a native, educated by the Missionary at Tomohón. School was held
+every morning for about three hours, and twice a week in the evening
+there was catechising and preaching. There was also a service on Sunday
+morning. The children were all taught in Malay, and I often heard them
+repeating the multiplication-table, up to twenty times twenty, very
+glibly. They always wound up with singing, and it was very pleasing to
+hear many of our old psalm-tunes in these remote mountains, sung with
+Malay words. Singing is one of the real blessings which Missionaries
+introduce among savage nations, whose native chants are almost always
+monotonous and melancholy.
+
+On catechising evenings the schoolmaster was a great man, preaching and
+teaching for three hours at a stretch much in the style of an English
+ranter. This was pretty cold work for his auditors, however warming to
+himself; and I am inclined to think that these native teachers, having
+acquired facility of speaking and an endless supply of religious
+platitudes to talk about, ride their hobby rather hard, without much
+consideration for their flock. The Missionaries, however, have much
+to be proud of in this country. They have assisted the Government in
+changing a savage into a civilized community in a wonderfully short
+space of time. Forty years ago the country was a wilderness, the people
+naked savages, garnishing their rude houses with human heads. Now it is
+a garden, worthy of its sweet native name of "Minahasa." Good roads
+and paths traverse it in every direction; some of the finest coffee
+plantations in the world surround the villages, interspersed with
+extensive rice-fields more than sufficient for the support of the
+population.
+
+The people are now the most industrious, peaceable, and civilized in the
+whole Archipelago. They are the best clothed, the best housed, the best
+fed, and the best educated; and they have made some progress towards
+a higher social state. I believe there is no example elsewhere of such
+striking results being produced in so short a time--results which are
+entirely due to the system of government now adopted by the Dutch in
+their Eastern possessions. The system is one which may be called a
+"paternal despotism." Now we Englishmen do not like despotism--we hate
+the name and the thing, and we would rather see people ignorant,
+lazy, and vicious, than use any but moral force to make them wise,
+industrious, and good. And we are right when we are dealing with men of
+our own race, and of similar ideas and equal capacities with ourselves.
+Example and precept, the force of public opinion, and the slow, but sure
+spread of education, will do everything in time, without engendering any
+of those bitter feelings, or producing any of that servility, hypocrisy,
+and dependence, which are the sure results of despotic government. But
+what should we think of a man who should advocate these principles
+of perfect freedom in a family or a school? We should say that he was
+applying a good, general principle to a case in which the conditions
+rendered it inapplicable--the case in which the governed are in an
+admitted state of mental inferiority to those who govern them, and are
+unable to decide what is best for their permanent welfare. Children must
+be subjected to some degree of authority, and guidance; and if properly
+managed they will cheerfully submit to it, because they know their own
+inferiority, and believe their elders are acting solely for their good.
+They learn many things the use of which they cannot comprehend, and
+which they would never learn without some moral and social, if not
+physical, pressure. Habits of order, of industry, of cleanliness, of
+respect and obedience, are inculcated by similar means. Children would
+never grow up into well-behaved and well-educated men, if the same
+absolute freedom of action that is allowed to men were allowed to them.
+Under the best aspect of education, children are subjected to a
+mild despotism for the good of themselves and of society; and their
+confidence in the wisdom and goodness of those who ordain and apply this
+despotism, neutralizes the bad passions and degrading feelings, which
+under less favourable conditions are its general results.
+
+Now, there is not merely an analogy--there is in many respects an
+identity of relation between master and pupil or parent and child on the
+one hand, and an uncivilized race and its civilized rulers on the other.
+We know (or think we know) that the education and industry, and the
+common usages of civilized man, are superior to those of savage life;
+and, as he becomes acquainted with them, the savage himself admits this.
+He admires the superior acquirements of the civilized man, and it is
+with pride that he will adopt such usages as do not interfere too much
+with his sloth, his passions, or his prejudices. But as the willful
+child or the idle schoolboy, who was never taught obedience, and never
+made to do anything which of his own free will he was not inclined to
+do, would in most cases obtain neither education nor manners; so it is
+much more unlikely that the savage, with all the confirmed habits of
+manhood and the traditional prejudices of race, should ever do more than
+copy a few of the least beneficial customs of civilization, without some
+stronger stimulus than precept, very imperfectly backed by example.
+
+If we are satisfied that we are right in assuming the government over a
+savage race, and occupying their country, and if we further consider it
+our duty to do what we can to improve our rude subjects and raise them
+up towards our own level, we must not be too much afraid of the cry
+of "despotism" and "slavery," but must use the authority we possess to
+induce them to do work which they may not altogether like, but which
+we know to be an indispensable step in their moral and physical
+advancement. The Dutch have shown much good policy in the means by which
+they have done this. They have in most cases upheld and strengthened the
+authority of the native chiefs, to whom the people have been accustomed
+to render a voluntary obedience; and by acting on the intelligence and
+self-interest of these chiefs, have brought about changes in the manners
+and customs of the people, which would have excited ill-feeling and
+perhaps revolt, had they been directly enforced by foreigners.
+
+In carrying out such a system, much depends upon the character of the
+people; and the system which succeeds admirably in one place could
+only be very partially worked out in another. In Minahasa the natural
+docility and intelligence of the race have made their progress rapid;
+and how important this is, is well illustrated by the fact, that in the
+immediate vicinity of the town of Menado are a tribe called Banteks,
+of a much less tractable disposition, who have hitherto resisted all
+efforts of the Dutch Government to induce them to adopt any systematic
+cultivation. These remain in a ruder condition, but engage themselves
+willingly as occasional porters and labourers, for which their greater
+strength and activity well adapt them.
+
+No doubt the system here sketched seems open to serious objection. It
+is to a certain extent despotic, and interferes with free trade, free
+labour, and free communication. A native cannot leave his village
+without a pass, and cannot engage himself to any merchant or captain
+without a Government permit. The coffee has all to be sold to
+Government, at less than half the price that the local merchant would
+give for it, and he consequently cries out loudly against "monopoly"
+and "oppression." He forgets, however, that the coffee plantations were
+established by the Government at great outlay of capital and skill; that
+it gives free education to the people, and that the monopoly is in lieu
+of taxation. He forgets that the product he wants to purchase and make
+a profit by, is the creation of the Government, without whom the people
+would still be savages. He knows very well that free trade would, as its
+first result, lead to the importation of whole cargoes of arrack,
+which would be carried over the country and exchanged for coffee. That
+drunkenness and poverty would spread over the land; that the public
+coffee plantations would not be kept up; that the quality and quantity
+of the coffee would soon deteriorate; that traders and merchants would
+get rich, but that the people would relapse into poverty and barbarism.
+That such is invariably the result of free trade with any savage tribes
+who possess a valuable product, native or cultivated, is well known to
+those who have visited such people; but we might even anticipate from
+general principles that evil results would happen.
+
+If there is one thing rather than another to which the grand law of
+continuity or development will apply, it is to human progress. There are
+certain stages through which society must pass in its onward march from
+barbarism to civilization. Now one of these stages has always been
+some form or other of despotism, such as feudalism or servitude, or a
+despotic paternal government; and we have every reason to believe that
+it is not possible for humanity to leap over this transition epoch, and
+pass at once from pure savagery to free civilization. The Dutch system
+attempts to supply this missing link, and to bring the people on by
+gradual steps to that higher civilization, which we (the English) try to
+force upon them at once. Our system has always failed. We demoralize and
+we extirpate, but we never really civilize. Whether the Dutch system
+can permanently succeed is but doubtful, since it may not be possible to
+compress the work of ten centuries into one; but at all events it takes
+nature as a guide, and is therefore, more deserving of success, and more
+likely to succeed, than ours.
+
+There is one point connected with this question which I think the
+Missionaries might take up with great physical and moral results. In
+this beautiful and healthy country, and with abundance of food and
+necessaries, the population does not increase as it ought to do. I can
+only impute this to one cause. Infant mortality, produced by neglect
+while the mothers are working in the plantations, and by general
+ignorance of the conditions of health in infants. Women all work, as
+they have always been accustomed to do. It is no hardship to them, but
+I believe is often a pleasure and relaxation. They either take their
+infants with them, in which case they leave them in some shady spot on
+the ground, going at intervals to give them nourishment, or they leave
+them at home in the care of other children too young to work. Under
+neither of these circumstances can infants be properly attended to, and
+great mortality is the result, keeping the increase of population far
+below the rate which the general prosperity of the country and the
+universality of marriage would lead us to expect. This is a matter in
+which the Government is directly interested, since it is by the increase
+of the population alone that there can be any large and permanent
+increase in the production of coffee. The Missionaries should take up
+the question because, by inducing married women to confine themselves to
+domestic duties, they will decidedly promote a higher civilization, and
+directly increase the health and happiness of the whole community. The
+people are so docile and so willing to adopt the manners and customs of
+Europeans, that the change might be easily effected by merely showing
+them that it was a question of morality and civilization, and an
+essential step in their progress towards an equality with their white
+rulers.
+
+After a fortnight's stay at Rurúkan, I left that pretty and interesting
+village in search of a locality and climate more productive of birds and
+insects. I passed the evening with the Controlleur of Tondano, and the
+next morning at nine, left in a small boat for the head of the lake, a
+distance of about ten miles. The lower end of the lake is bordered by
+swamps and marshes of considerable extent, but a little further on, the
+hills come down to the water's edge and give it very much the appearance
+of a greet river, the width being about two miles. At the upper end is
+the village of Kakas, where I dined with the head man in a good house
+like those I have already described; and then went on to Langówan, four
+miles distant over a level plain. This was the place where I had been
+recommended to stay, and I accordingly unpacked my baggage and made
+myself comfortable in the large house devoted to visitors. I obtained
+a man to shoot for me, and another to accompany me the next day to the
+forest, where I was in hopes of finding a good collecting ground.
+
+In the morning after breakfast I started off, but found I had four miles
+to walk over a wearisome straight road through coffee plantations before
+I could get to the forest, and as soon as I did so, it came on to rain
+heavily and did not cease until night. This distance to walk every day
+was too far for any profitable work, especially when the weather was so
+uncertain. I therefore decided at once that I must go further on, until
+I found someplace close to or in a forest country. In the afternoon my
+friend Mr. Bensneider arrived, together with the Controlleur of the next
+district, called Belang, from whom I learned that six miles further on
+there was a village called Panghu, which had been recently formed and
+had a good deal of forest close to it; and he promised me the use of a
+small house if I liked to go there.
+
+The next morning I went to see the hot-springs and mud volcanoes, for
+which this place is celebrated. A picturesque path among plantations
+and ravines brought us to a beautiful circular basin about forty feet in
+diameter, bordered by a calcareous ledge, so uniform and truly curved,
+that it looked like a work of art. It was filled with clear water
+very near the boiling point, and emitted clouds of steam with a strong
+sulphureous odour. It overflows at one point and forms a little stream
+of hot water, which at a hundred yards' distance is still too hot to
+hold the hand in. A little further on, in a piece of rough wood, were
+two other springs not so regular in outline, but appearing to be much
+hotter, as they were in a continual state of active ebullition. At
+intervals of a few minutes, a great escape of steam or gas took place,
+throwing up a column of water three or four feet high.
+
+We then went to the mud-springs, which are about a mile off, and are
+still more curious. On a sloping tract of ground in a slight hollow is
+a small lake of liquid mud, with patches of blue, red, or white, and
+in many places boiling and bubbling most furiously. All around on the
+indurated clay are small wells and craters full of boiling mud. These
+seem to be forming continually, a small hole appearing first, which
+emits jets of steam and boiling mud, which upon hardening, forms a
+little cone with a crater in the middle. The ground for some distance is
+very unsafe, as it is evidently liquid at a small depth, and bends with
+pressure like thin ice. At one of the smaller, marginal jets which I
+managed to approach, I held my hand to see if it was really as hot as it
+looked, when a little drop of mud that spurted on to my finger scalded
+like boiling water.
+
+A short distance off, there was a flat bare surface of rock as smooth
+and hot as an oven floor, which was evidently an old mud-pool, dried
+up and hardened. For hundreds of yards around where there were banks of
+reddish and white clay used for whitewash, it was still so hot close to
+the surface that the hand could hardly bear to be held in cracks a few
+inches deep, and from which arose a strong sulphureous vapour. I was
+informed that some years back a French gentleman who visited these
+springs ventured too near the liquid mud, when the crust gave way and he
+was engulfed in the horrible caldron.
+
+This evidence of intense heat so near the surface over a large tract
+of country was very impressive, and I could hardly divest myself of the
+notion that some terrible catastrophe might at any moment devastate
+the country. Yet it is probable that all these apertures are really
+safety-valves, and that the inequalities of the resistance of various
+parts of the earth's crust will always prevent such an accumulation of
+force as would be required to upheave and overwhelm any extensive area.
+About seven miles west of this is a volcano which was in eruption about
+thirty years before my visit, presenting a magnificent appearance and
+covering the surrounding country with showers of ashes. The plains
+around the lake formed by the intermingling and decomposition of
+volcanic products are of amazing fertility, and with a little management
+in the rotation of crops might be kept in continual cultivation. Rice is
+now grown on them for three or four years in succession, when they are
+left fallow for the same period, after which rice or maize can be again
+grown. Good rice produces thirty-fold, and coffee trees continue
+bearing abundantly for ten or fifteen years, without any manure and with
+scarcely any cultivation.
+
+I was delayed a day by incessant rain, and then proceeded to Panghu,
+which I reached just before the daily rain began at 11 A.M. After
+leaving the summit level of the lake basin, the road is carried along
+the slope of a fine forest ravine. The descent is a long one, so that I
+estimated the village to be not more than 1,500 feet above the sea, yet
+I found the morning temperature often 69°, the same as at Tondano at
+least 600 or 700 feet higher. I was pleased with the appearance of the
+place, which had a good deal of forest and wild country around it; and
+found prepared for me a little house consisting only of a verandah and a
+back room. This was only intended for visitors to rest in, or to pass a
+night, but it suited me very well. I was so unfortunate, however, as
+to lose both my hunters just at this time. One had been left at Tondano
+with fever and diarrhoea, and the other was attacked at Langówan with
+inflammation of the chest, and as his case looked rather bad I had
+him sent back to Menado. The people here were all so busy with their
+rice-harvest, which was important for them to finish owing to the early
+rains, that I could get no one to shoot for me.
+
+During the three weeks that I stayed at Panghu it rained nearly every
+day, either in the afternoon only, or all day long; but there were
+generally a few hours' sunshine in the morning, and I took advantage of
+these to explore the roads and paths, the rocks and ravines, in search
+of insects. These were not very abundant, yet I saw enough to convince
+me that the locality was a good one, had I been there at the beginning
+instead of at the end of the dry season. The natives brought me daily a
+few insects obtained at the Sagueir palms, including some fine Cetonias
+and stag-beetles. Two little boys were very expert with the blowpipe,
+and brought me a good many small birds, which they shot with pellets
+of clay. Among these was a pretty little flower-pecker of a new species
+(Prionochilus aureolimbatus), and several of the loveliest honeysuckers
+I had yet seen. My general collection of birds was, however, almost at
+a standstill; for though I at length obtained a man to shoot for me, he
+was not good for much, and seldom brought me more than one bird a day.
+The best thing he shot was the large and rare fruit-pigeon peculiar to
+Northern Celebes (Carpophaga forsteni), which I had long been seeking.
+
+I was myself very successful in one beautiful group of insects, the
+tiger-beetles, which seem more abundant and varied here than anywhere
+else in the Archipelago. I first met with them on a cutting in the road,
+where a hard clayey bank was partially overgrown with mosses and small
+ferns. Here, I found running about, a small olive-green species which
+never took flight; and more rarely, a fine purplish black wingless
+insect, which was always found motionless in crevices, and was
+therefore, probably nocturnal. It appeared to me to form a new genus.
+About the roads in the forest, I found the large and handsome Cicindela
+heros, which I had before obtained sparingly at Macassar; but it was in
+the mountain torrent of the ravine itself that I got my finest things.
+On dead trunks overhanging the water and on the banks and foliage, I
+obtained three very pretty species of Cicindela, quite distinct in size,
+form, and colour, but having an almost identical pattern of pale spots.
+I also found a single specimen of a most curious species with very long
+antennae. But my finest discovery here was the Cicindela gloriosa, which
+I found on mossy stones just rising above the water. After obtaining
+my first specimen of this elegant insect, I used to walk up the stream,
+watching carefully every moss-covered rock and stone. It was rather shy,
+and would often lead me on a long chase from stone to stone, becoming
+invisible every time it settled on the damp moss, owing to its rich
+velvety green colour. On some days I could only catch a few glimpses of
+it; on others I got a single specimen; and on a few occasions two, but
+never without a more or less active pursuit. This and several other
+species I never saw but in this one ravine.
+
+Among the people here I saw specimens of several types, which, with the
+peculiarities of the languages, gives me some notion of their probable
+origin. A striking illustration of the low state of civilization
+of these people, until quite recently, is to be found in the great
+diversity of their languages. Villages three or four miles apart have
+separate dialects, and each group of three or four such villages has a
+distinct language quite unintelligible to all the rest; so that, until
+the recent introduction of Malay by the Missionaries, there must
+have been a bar to all free communication. These languages offer
+many peculiarities. They contain a Celebes-Malay element and a Papuan
+element, along with some radical peculiarities found also in the
+languages of the Siau and Sanguir islands further north, and therefore,
+probably derived from the Philippine Islands. Physical characteristics
+correspond. There are some of the less civilized tribes which have
+semi-Papuan features and hair, while in some villages the true Celebes
+or Bugis physiognomy prevails. The plateau of Tondano is chiefly
+inhabited by people nearly as white as the Chinese, and with very
+pleasing semi-European features. The people of Siau and Sanguir much
+resemble these, and I believe them to be perhaps immigrants from some
+of the islands of North Polynesia. The Papuan type will represent the
+remnant of the aborigines, while those of the Bugis character show the
+extension northward of the superior Malay races.
+
+As I was wasting valuable time at Panghu, owing to the bad weather and
+the illness of my hunters, I returned to Menado after a stay of three
+weeks. Here I had a little touch of fever, and what with drying and
+packing all of my collections and getting fresh servants, it was a
+fortnight before I was again ready to start. I now went eastward over
+an undulating country skirting the great volcano of Klabat, to a village
+called Lempias, situated close to the extensive forest that covers the
+lower slopes of that mountain. My baggage was carried from village to
+village by relays of men; and as each change involved some delay, I did
+not reach my destination (a distance of eighteen miles) until sunset. I
+was wet through, and had to wait for an hour in an uncomfortable
+state until the first installment of my baggage arrived, which luckily
+contained my clothes, while the rest did not come in until midnight.
+
+This being the district inhabited by that singular annual the Babirusa
+(Hog-deer), I inquired about skulls and soon obtained several in
+tolerable condition, as well as a fine one of the rare and curious
+"Sapi-utan" (Anoa depressicornis). Of this animal I had seen two living
+specimens at Menado, and was surprised at their great resemblance to
+small cattle, or still more to the Eland of South Africa. Their Malay
+name signifies "forest ox," and they differ from very small highbred
+oxen principally by the low-hanging dewlap, and straight, pointed horns
+which slope back over the neck. I did not find the forest here so rich
+in insects as I had expected, and my hunters got me very few birds, but
+what they did obtain were very interesting. Among these were the rare
+forest Kingfisher (Cittura cyanotis), a small new species of Megapodius,
+and one specimen of the large and interesting Maleo (Megacephalon
+rubripes), to obtain which was one of my chief reasons for visiting this
+district. Getting no more, however, after ten days' search, I removed
+to Licoupang, at the extremity of the peninsula, a place celebrated for
+these birds, as well as for the Babirusa and Sapi-utan. I found here
+Mr. Goldmann, the eldest son of the Governor of the Moluccas, who was
+superintending the establishment of some Government salt-works. This was
+a better locality, and I obtained some fine butterflies and very
+good birds, among which was one more specimen of the rare ground dove
+(Phlegaenas tristigmata), which I had first obtained near the Maros
+waterfall in South Celebes.
+
+Hearing what I was particularly in search of, Mr. Goldmann kindly
+offered to make a hunting-party to the place where the "Maleos" are most
+abundant, a remote and uninhabited sea-beach about twenty miles distant.
+The climate here was quite different from that on the mountains; not a
+drop of rain having fallen for four months; so I made arrangements to
+stay on the beach a week, in order to secure a good number of specimens.
+We went partly by boat and partly through the forest, accompanied by the
+Major or head-man of Licoupang, with a dozen natives and about twenty
+dogs. On the way they caught a young Sapi-utan and five wild pigs. Of
+the former I preserved the head. This animal is entirely confined to the
+remote mountain forests of Celebes and one or two adjacent islands which
+form part of the same group. In the adults the head is black, with a
+white mark over each eye, one on each cheek and another on the throat.
+The horns are very smooth and sharp when young, but become thicker and
+ridged at the bottom with age. Most naturalists consider this curious
+animal to be a small ox, but from the character of the horns, the fine
+coat of hair and the descending dewlap, it seemed closely to approach
+the antelopes.
+
+Arrived at our destination, we built a but and prepared for a stay of
+some days--I to shoot and skin "Maleos", and Mr. Goldmann and the Major
+to hunt wild pigs, Babirusa, and Sapi-utan. The place is situated in the
+large bay between the islands of Limbe and Banca, and consists of
+steep beach more than a mile in length, of deep loose and coarse black
+volcanic sand (or rather gravel), very fatiguing to walk over. It is
+bounded at each extremity by a small river with hilly ground beyond,
+while the forest behind the beach itself is tolerably level and its
+growth stunted. We probably have here an ancient lava stream from the
+Klabat volcano, which has flowed down a valley into the sea, and the
+decomposition of which has formed the loose black sand. In confirmation
+of this view, it may be mentioned that the beaches beyond the small
+rivers in both directions are of white sand.
+
+It is in this loose, hot, black sand that those singular birds, the
+"Maleos" deposit their eggs. In the months of August and September, when
+there is little or no rain, they come down in pairs from the interior to
+this or to one or two other favourite spots, and scratch holes three or
+four feet deep, just above high-water mark, where the female deposits a
+single large egg, which she covers over with about a foot of sand--and
+then returns to the forest. At the end of ten or twelve days she comes
+again to the same spot to lay another egg, and each female bird is
+supposed to lay six or eight eggs during the season. The male assists
+the female in making the hole, coming down and returning with her. The
+appearance of the bird when walking on the beach is very handsome.
+The glossy black and rosy white of the plumage, the helmeted head and
+elevated tail, like that of the common fowl, give a striking character,
+which their stately and somewhat sedate walk renders still more
+remarkable. There is hardly any difference between the sexes, except
+that the casque or bonnet at the back of the head and the tubercles at
+the nostrils are a little larger, and the beautiful rosy salmon colour a
+little deeper in the male bird; but the difference is so slight that it
+is not always possible to tell a male from a female without dissection.
+They run quickly, but when shot at or suddenly disturbed, take wing with
+a heavy noisy flight to some neighbouring tree, where they settle on a
+low branch; and, they probably roost at night in a similar situation.
+Many birds lay in the same hole, for a dozen eggs are often found
+together; and these are so large that it is not possible for the body of
+the bird to contain more than one fully-developed egg at the same time.
+In all the female birds which I shot, none of the eggs besides the one
+large one exceeded the size of peas, and there were only eight or nine
+of these, which is probably the extreme number a bird can lay in one
+season.
+
+Every year the natives come for fifty miles round to obtain these eggs,
+which are esteemed as a great delicacy, and when quite fresh, are indeed
+delicious. They are richer than hens' eggs and of a finer favour, and
+each one completely fills an ordinary teacup, and forms with bread or
+rice a very good meal. The colour of the shell is a pale brick red, or
+very rarely pure white. They are elongate and very slightly smaller at
+one end, from four to four and a half inches long by two and a quarter
+or two and a half wide.
+
+After the eggs are deposited in the sand, they are no further cared for
+by the mother. The young birds, upon breaking the shell, work their way
+up through the sand and run off at once to the forest; and I was assured
+by Mr. Duivenboden of Ternate, that they can fly the very day they are
+hatched. He had taken some eggs on board his schooner which hatched
+during the night, and in the morning the little birds flew readily
+across the cabin. Considering the great distances the birds come to
+deposit the eggs in a proper situation (often ten or fifteen miles) it
+seems extraordinary that they should take no further care of them. It
+is, however, quite certain that they neither do nor can watch them. The
+eggs being deposited by a number of hens in succession in the same hole,
+would render it impossible for each to distinguish its own; and the food
+necessary for such large birds (consisting entirely of fallen fruits)
+can only be obtained by roaming over an extensive district, so that
+if the numbers of birds which come down to this single beach in the
+breeding season, amounting to many hundreds, were obliged to remain in
+the vicinity, many would perish of hunger.
+
+In the structure of the feet of this bird, we may detect a cause for
+its departing from the habits of its nearest allies, the Megapodii and
+Talegalli, which heap up earth, leaves, stones, and sticks into a huge
+mound, in which they bury their eggs. The feet of the Maleo are not
+nearly so large or strong in proportion as in these birds, while its
+claws are short and straight instead of being long and much curved. The
+toes are, however, strongly webbed at the base, forming a broad powerful
+foot, which, with the rather long leg, is well adapted to scratch away
+the loose sand (which flies up in a perfect shower when the birds are at
+work), but which could not without much labour accumulate the heaps of
+miscellaneous rubbish, which the large grasping feet of the Megapodius
+bring together with ease.
+
+We may also, I think, see in the peculiar organization of the entire
+family of the Megapodidae or Brush Turkeys, a reason why they depart so
+widely from the usual habits of the Class of birds. Each egg being so
+large as entirely to fill up the abdominal cavity and with difficulty
+pass the walls of the pelvis, a considerable interval is required before
+the successive eggs can be matured (the natives say about thirteen
+days). Each bird lays six or eight eggs or even more each season, so
+that between the first and last there may be an interval of two or three
+months. Now, if these eggs were hatched in the ordinary way, either the
+parents must keep sitting continually for this long period, or if they
+only began to sit after the last egg was deposited, the first would
+be exposed to injury by the climate, or to destruction by the large
+lizards, snakes, or other animals which abound in the district; because
+such large birds must roam about a good deal in search of food. Here
+then we seem to have a case in which the habits of a bird may be
+directly traced to its exceptional organization; for it will hardly be
+maintained that this abnormal structure and peculiar food were given
+to the Megapodidae in order that they might not exhibit that parental
+affection, or possess those domestic instincts so general in the Class
+of birds, and which so much excite our admiration.
+
+It has generally been the custom of writers on Natural History to take
+the habits and instincts of animals as fixed points, and to consider
+their structure and organization, as specially adapted, to be in
+accordance with these. This assumption is however an arbitrary one, and
+has the bad effect of stifling inquiry into the nature and causes
+of "instincts and habits," treating them as directly due to a "first
+cause," and therefore, incomprehensible to us. I believe that a careful
+consideration of the structure of a species, and of the peculiar
+physical and organic conditions by which it is surrounded, or has been
+surrounded in past ages, will often, as in this case, throw much light
+on the origin of its habits and instincts. These again, combined with
+changes in external conditions, react upon structure, and by means of
+"variation" and "natural selection", both are kept in harmony.
+
+My friends remained three days, and got plenty of wild pigs and two
+Anóas, but the latter were much injured by the dogs, and I could only
+preserve the heads. A grand hunt which we attempted on the third day
+failed, owing to bad management in driving in the game, and we waited
+for five hours perched on platforms in trees without getting a shot,
+although we had been assured that pigs, Babirusas, and Anóas would rush
+past us in dozens. I myself, with two men, stayed three days longer to
+get more specimens of the Maleos, and succeeded in preserving twenty-six
+very fine ones--the flesh and eggs of which supplied us with abundance
+of good food.
+
+The Major sent a boat, as he had promised, to take home my baggage,
+while I walked through the forest with my two boys and a guide, about
+fourteen miles. For the first half of the distance there was no path,
+and we had often to cut our way through tangled rattans or thickets of
+bamboo. In some of our turnings to find the most practicable route,
+I expressed my fear that we were losing our way, as the sun being
+vertical, I could see no possible clue to the right direction. My
+conductors, however, laughed at the idea, which they seemed to
+consider quite ludicrous; and sure enough, about half way, we suddenly
+encountered a little hut where people from Licoupang came to hunt and
+smoke wild pigs. My guide told me he had never before traversed the
+forest between these two points; and this is what is considered by some
+travellers as one of the savage "instincts," whereas it is merely the
+result of wide general knowledge. The man knew the topography of the
+whole district; the slope of the land, the direction of the streams, the
+belts of bamboo or rattan, and many other indications of locality and
+direction; and he was thus enabled to hit straight upon the hut, in
+the vicinity of which he had often hunted. In a forest of which he knew
+nothing, he would be quite as much at a loss as a European. Thus it is,
+I am convinced, with all the wonderful accounts of Indians finding their
+way through trackless forests to definite points; they may never have
+passed straight between the two particular points before, but they
+are well acquainted with the vicinity of both, and have such a general
+knowledge of the whole country, its water system, its soil and its
+vegetation, that as they approach the point they are to reach, many
+easily-recognised indications enable them to hit upon it with certainty.
+
+The chief feature of this forest was the abundance of rattan palms
+hanging from the trees, and turning and twisting about on the ground,
+often in inextricable confusion. One wonders at first how they can get
+into such queer shapes; but it is evidently caused by the decay and fall
+of the trees up which they have first climbed, after which they grow
+along the ground until they meet with another trunk up which to ascend.
+A tangled mass of twisted living rattan, is therefore, a sign that at
+some former period a large tree has fallen there, though there may be
+not the slightest vestige of it left. The rattan seems to have unlimited
+powers of growth, and a single plant may mount up several trees in
+succession, and thus reach the enormous length they are said sometimes
+to attain. They much improve the appearance of a forest as seen from the
+coast; for they vary the otherwise monotonous tree-tops with feathery
+crowns of leaves rising clear above them, and each terminated by an
+erect leafy spike like a lightning-conductor.
+
+The other most interesting object in the forest was a beautiful palm,
+whose perfectly smooth and cylindrical stem rises erect to more than a
+hundred feet high, with a thickness of only eight or ten inches; while
+the fan-shaped leaves which compose its crown, are almost complete
+circles of six or eight feet diameter, borne aloft on long and slender
+petioles, and beautifully toothed round the edge by the extremities
+of the leaflets, which are separated only for a few inches from the
+circumference. It is probably the Livistona rotundifolia of botanists,
+and is the most complete and beautiful fan-leaf I have ever seen,
+serving admirably for folding into water-buckets and impromptu baskets,
+as well as for thatching and other purposes.
+
+A few days afterwards I returned to Menado on horse-back, sending my
+baggage around by sea; and had just time to pack up all my collections
+to go by the next mail steamer to Amboyna. I will now devote a few pages
+to an account of the chief peculiarities of the Zoology of Celebes, and
+its relation to that of the surrounding countries.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. NATURAL HISTORY OF CELEBES.
+
+THE position of Celebes is the most central in the Archipelago.
+Immediately to the north are the Philippine islands; on the west is
+Borneo; on the east are the Molucca islands; and on the south is the
+Timor group--and it is on all sides so connected with these islands by
+its own satellites, by small islets, and by coral reefs, that neither by
+inspection on the map nor by actual observation around its coast, is it
+possible to determine accurately which should be grouped with it, and
+which with the surrounding districts. Such being the case, we should
+naturally expect to find that the productions of this central island
+in some degree represented the richness and variety of the whole
+Archipelago, while we should not expect much individuality in a country,
+so situated, that it would seem as if it were pre-eminently fitted to
+receive stragglers and immigrants from all around.
+
+As so often happens in nature, however, the fact turns out to be just
+the reverse of what we should have expected; and an examination of its
+animal productions shows Celebes to be at once the poorest in the
+number of its species, and the most isolated in the character of its
+productions, of all the great islands in the Archipelago. With its
+attendant islets it spreads over an extent of sea hardly inferior in
+length and breadth to that occupied by Borneo, while its actual land
+area is nearly double that of Java; yet its Mammalia and terrestrial
+birds number scarcely more than half the species found in the last-named
+island. Its position is such that it could receive immigrants from every
+side more readily than Java, yet in proportion to the species which
+inhabit it, far fewer seem derived from other islands, while far more
+are altogether peculiar to it; and a considerable number of its animal
+forms are so remarkable, as to find no close allies in any other part of
+the world. I now propose to examine the best known groups of Celebesian
+animals in some detail, to study their relations to those of other
+islands, and to call attention to the many points of interest which they
+suggest.
+
+We know far more of the birds of Celebes than we do of any other group
+of animals. No less than 191 species have been discovered, and though
+no doubt, many more wading and swimming birds have to be added; yet the
+list of land birds, 144 in number, and which for our present purpose
+are much the most important, must be very nearly complete. I myself
+assiduously collected birds in Celebes for nearly ten months, and my
+assistant, Mr. Allen, spent two months in the Sula islands. The Dutch
+naturalist Forsten spent two years in Northern Celebes (twenty years
+before my visit), and collections of birds had also been sent to Holland
+from Macassar. The French ship of discovery, L'Astrolabe, also touched
+at Menado and procured collections. Since my return home, the Dutch
+naturalists Rosenberg and Bernstein have made extensive collections
+both in North Celebes and in the Sula islands; yet all their researches
+combined have only added eight species of land birds to those forming
+part of my own collection--a fact which renders it almost certain that
+there are very few more to discover.
+
+Besides Salayer and Boutong on the south, with Peling and Bungay on the
+east, the three islands of the Sula (or Zula) Archipelago also belong
+zoologically to Celebes, although their position is such that it would
+seem more natural to group them with the Moluccas. About 48 land birds
+are now known from the Sula group, and if we reject from these, five
+species which have a wide range over the Archipelago, the remainder are
+much more characteristic of Celebes than of the Moluccas. Thirty-one
+species are identical with those of the former island, and four are
+representatives of Celebes forms, while only eleven are Moluccan
+species, and two more representatives.
+
+But although the Sula islands belong to Celebes, they are so close to
+Bouru and the southern islands of the Gilolo group, that several purely
+Moluccan forms have migrated there, which are quite unknown to the
+island of Celebes itself; the whole thirteen Moluccan species being
+in this category, thus adding to the productions of Celebes a
+foreign element which does not really belong to it. In studying the
+peculiarities of the Celebesian fauna, it will therefore be well to
+consider only the productions of the main island.
+
+The number of land birds in the island of Celebes is 128, and from these
+we may, as before, strike out a small number of species which roam
+over the whole Archipelago (often from India to the Pacific), and
+which therefore only serve to disguise the peculiarities of individual
+islands. These are 20 in number, and leave 108 species which we may
+consider as more especially characteristic of the island. On accurately
+comparing these with the birds of all the surrounding countries, we find
+that only nine extend into the islands westward, and nineteen into the
+islands eastward, while no less than 80 are entirely confined to the
+Celebesian fauna--a degree of individuality which, considering the
+situation of the island, is hardly to be equalled in any other part of
+the world. If we still more closely examine these 80 species, we shall
+be struck by the many peculiarities of structure they present, and by
+the curious affinities with distant parts of the world which many
+of them seem to indicate. These points are of so much interest and
+importance that it will be necessary to pass in review all those species
+which are peculiar to the island, and to call attention to whatever is
+most worthy of remark.
+
+Six species of the Hawk tribe are peculiar to Celebes; three of these
+are very distinct from allied birds which range over all India to Java
+and Borneo, and which thus seem to be suddenly changed on entering
+Celebes. Another (Accipiter trinotatus) is a beautiful hawk, with
+elegant rows of large round white spots on the tail, rendering it very
+conspicuous and quite different from any other known bird of the family.
+Three owls are also peculiar; and one, a barn owl (Strix rosenbergii),
+is very much larger and stronger than its ally Strix javanica, which
+ranges from India through all the islands as far as Lombock.
+
+Of the ten Parrots found in Celebes, eight are peculiar. Among them are
+two species of the singular racquet-tailed parrots forming the genus
+Prioniturus, and which are characterised by possessing two long
+spoon-shaped feathers in the tail. Two allied species are found in the
+adjacent island of Mindanao, one of the Philippines, and this form of
+tail is found in no other parrots in the whole world. A small species of
+Lorikeet (Trichoglossus flavoviridis) seems to have its nearest ally in
+Australia.
+
+The three Woodpeckers which inhabit the island are all peculiar, and are
+allied to species found in Java and Borneo, although very different from
+them all.
+
+Among the three peculiar Cuckoos, two are very remarkable. Phoenicophaus
+callirhynchus is the largest and handsomest species of its genus, and is
+distinguished by the three colours of its beak, bright yellow, red, and
+black. Eudynamis melanorynchus differs from all its allies in having a
+jet-black bill, whereas the other species of the genus always have it
+green, yellow, or reddish.
+
+The Celebes Roller (Coracias temmincki) is an interesting example of
+one species of a genus being cut off from the rest. There are species of
+Coracias in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but none in the Malay peninsula,
+Sumatra, Java, or Borneo. The present species seems therefore quite out
+of place; and what is still more curious is the fact that it is not at
+all like any of the Asiatic species, but seems more to resemble those of
+Africa.
+
+In the next family, the Bee-eaters, is another equally isolated bird,
+Meropogon forsteni, which combines the characters of African and Indian
+Bee-eaters, and whose only near ally, Meropogon breweri, was discovered
+by M. Du Chaillu in West Africa!
+
+The two Celebes Hornbills have no close allies in those which abound in
+the surrounding countries. The only Thrush, Geocichla erythronota,
+is most nearly allied to a species peculiar to Timor. Two of the
+Flycatchers are closely allied to Indian species, which are not found
+in the Malay islands. Two genera somewhat allied to the Magpies
+(Streptocitta and Charitornis), but whose affinities are so doubtful
+that Professor Schlegel places them among the Starlings, are entirely
+confined to Celebes. They are beautiful long-tailed birds, with black
+and white plumage, and with the feathers of the head somewhat rigid and
+scale-like.
+
+Doubtfully allied to the Starlings are two other very isolated and
+beautiful birds. One, Enodes erythrophrys, has ashy and yellow plumage,
+but is ornamented with broad stripes of orange-red above the eyes. The
+other, Basilornis celebensis, is a blue-black bird with a white patch
+on each side of the breast, and the head ornamented with a beautiful
+compressed scaly crest of feathers, resembling in form that of the
+well-known Cock-of-the-rock of South America. The only ally to this bird
+is found in Ceram, and has the feathers of the crest elongated upwards
+into quite a different form.
+
+A still more curious bird is the Scissirostrum pagei, which although
+it is at present classed in the Starling family, differs from all other
+species in the form of the bill and nostrils, and seems most nearly
+allied in its general structure to the Ox-peckers (Buphaga) of tropical
+Africa, next to which the celebrated ornithologist Prince Bonaparte
+finally placed it. It is almost entirely of a slatey colour, with yellow
+bill and feet, but the feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts each
+terminate in a rigid, glossy pencil or tuft of a vivid crimson. These
+pretty little birds take the place of the metallic-green starlings
+of the genus Calornis, which are found in most other islands of the
+Archipelago, but which are absent from Celebes. They go in flocks,
+feeding upon grain and fruits, often frequenting dead trees, in holes of
+which they build their nests; and they cling to the trunks as easily as
+woodpeckers or creepers.
+
+Out of eighteen Pigeons found in Celebes, eleven are peculiar to it. Two
+of them, Ptilonopus gularis and Turacaena menadensis, have their
+nearest allies in Timor. Two others, Carpophaga forsteni and Phlaegenas
+tristigmata, most resemble Philippine island species; and Carpophaga
+radiata belongs to a New Guinea group. Lastly, in the Gallinaceous
+tribe, the curious helmeted Maleo (Megacephalon rubripes) is quite
+isolated, having its nearest (but still distant) allies in the
+Brush-turkeys of Australia and New Guinea.
+
+Judging, therefore, by the opinions of the eminent naturalists who have
+described and classified its birds, we find that many of the species
+have no near allies whatsoever in the countries which surround Celebes,
+but are either quite isolated, or indicate relations with such distant
+regions as New Guinea, Australia, India, or Africa. Other cases of
+similar remote affinities between the productions of distant countries
+no doubt exist, but in no spot upon the globe that I am yet acquainted
+with, do so many of them occur together, or do they form so decided a
+feature in the natural history of the country.
+
+The Mammalia of Celebes are very few in number, consisting of fourteen
+terrestrial species and seven bats. Of the former no less than eleven
+are peculiar, including two which there is reason to believe may have
+been recently carried into other islands by man. Three species which
+have a tolerably wide range in the Archipelago, are: (1) The curious
+Lemur, Tarsius spectrum, which is found in all the islands as far
+westward as Malacca; (2) the common Malay Civet, Viverra tangalunga,
+which has a still wider range; and (3) a Deer, which seems to be the
+same as the Rusa hippelaphus of Java, and was probably introduced by man
+at an early period.
+
+The more characteristic species are as follow:
+
+Cynopithecus nigrescens, a curious baboon-like monkey if not a true
+baboon, which abounds all over Celebes, and is found nowhere else but
+in the one small island of Batchian, into which it has probably been
+introduced accidentally. An allied species is found in the Philippines,
+but in no other island of the Archipelago is there anything resembling
+them. These creatures are about the size of a spaniel, of a jet-black
+colour, and have the projecting dog-like muzzle and overhanging brows
+of the baboons. They have large red callosities and a short fleshy tail,
+scarcely an inch long and hardly visible. They go in large bands, living
+chiefly in the trees, but often descending on the ground and robbing
+gardens and orchards.
+
+Anoa depressicornis, the Sapi-utan, or wild cow of the Malays, is an
+animal which has been the cause of much controversy, as to whether it
+should be classed as ox, buffalo, or antelope. It is smaller than any
+other wild cattle, and in many respects seems to approach some of the
+ox-like antelopes of Africa. It is found only in the mountains, and
+is said never to inhabit places where there are deer. It is somewhat
+smaller than a small Highland cow, and has long straight horns, which
+are ringed at the base and slope backwards over the neck.
+
+The wild pig seems to be of a species peculiar to the island; but a much
+more curious animal of this family is the Babirusa or Pig-deer; so
+named by the Malays from its long and slender legs, and curved tusks
+resembling horns. This extraordinary creature resembles a pig in general
+appearance, but it does not dig with its snout, as it feeds on fallen
+fruits. The tusks of the lower jaw are very long and sharp, but the
+upper ones instead of growing downwards in the usual way are completely
+reversed, growing upwards out of bony sockets through the skin on
+each side of the snout, curving backwards to near the eyes, and in old
+animals often reaching eight or ten inches in length. It is difficult to
+understand what can be the use of these extraordinary horn-like teeth.
+Some of the old writers supposed that they served as hooks, by which
+the creature could rest its head on a branch. But the way in which they
+usually diverge just over and in front of the eye has suggested the more
+probable idea, that they serve to guard these organs from thorns and
+spines, while hunting for fallen fruits among the tangled thickets of
+rattans and other spiny plants. Even this, however, is not satisfactory,
+for the female, who must seek her food in the same way, does not possess
+them. I should be inclined to believe rather, that these tusks were once
+useful, and were then worn down as fast as they grew; but that changed
+conditions of life have rendered them unnecessary, and they now develop
+into a monstrous form, just as the incisors of the Beaver or Rabbit
+will go on growing, if the opposite teeth do not wear them away. In old
+animals they reach an enormous size, and are generally broken off as if
+by fighting.
+
+Here again we have a resemblance to the Wart-hogs of Africa, whose upper
+canines grow outwards and curve up so as to form a transition from the
+usual mode of growth to that of the Babirusa. In other respects there
+seems no affinity between these animals, and the Babirusa stands
+completely isolated, having no resemblance to the pigs of any other part
+of the world. It is found all over Celebes and in the Sula islands,
+and also in Bourn, the only spot beyond the Celebes group to which it
+extends; and which island also shows some affinity to the Sula islands
+in its birds, indicating perhaps, a closer connection between them at
+some former period than now exists.
+
+The other terrestrial mammals of Celebes are five species of squirrels,
+which are all distinct from those of Java and Borneo, and mark the
+furthest eastward range of the genus in the tropics; and two of Eastern
+opossums (Cuscus), which are different from those of the Moluccas, and
+mark the furthest westward extension of this genus and of the Marsupial
+order. Thus we see that the Mammalia of Celebes are no less individual
+and remarkable than the birds, since three of the largest and most
+interesting species have no near allies in surrounding countries, but
+seem vaguely to indicate a relation to the African continent.
+
+Many groups of insects appear to be especially subject to local
+influences, their forms and colours changing with each change of
+conditions, or even with a change of locality where the conditions seem
+almost identical. We should therefore anticipate that the individuality
+manifested in the higher animals would be still more prominent in these
+creatures with less stable organisms. On the other hand, however, we
+have to consider that the dispersion and migration of insects is much
+more easily effected than that of mammals or even of birds. They are
+much more likely to be carried away by violent winds; their eggs may
+be carried on leaves either by storms of wind or by floating trees, and
+their larvae and pupae, often buried in trunks of trees or enclosed in
+waterproof cocoons, may be floated for days or weeks uninjured over
+the ocean. These facilities of distribution tend to assimilate the
+productions of adjacent lands in two ways: first, by direct mutual
+interchange of species; and secondly, by repeated immigrations of
+fresh individuals of a species common to other islands, which by
+intercrossing, tend to obliterate the changes of form and colour, which
+differences of conditions might otherwise produce. Bearing these facts
+in mind, we shall find that the individuality of the insects of Celebes
+is even greater than we have any reason to expect.
+
+For the purpose of insuring accuracy in comparisons with other islands,
+I shall confine myself to those groups which are best known, or which
+I have myself carefully studied. Beginning with the Papilionidae or
+Swallow-tailed butterflies, Celebes possesses 24 species, of which the
+large number of 18 are not found in any other island. If we compare this
+with Borneo, which out of 29 species has only two not found elsewhere,
+the difference is as striking as anything can be. In the family of the
+Pieridae, or white butterflies, the difference is not quite so great,
+owing perhaps to the more wandering habits of the group; but it is still
+very remarkable. Out of 30 species inhabiting Celebes, 19 are peculiar,
+while Java (from which more species are known than from Sumatra or
+Borneo), out of 37 species, has only 13 peculiar. The Danaidae are
+large, but weak-flying butterflies, which frequent forests and gardens,
+and are plainly but often very richly coloured. Of these my own
+collection contains 16 species from Celebes and 15 from Borneo; but
+whereas no less than 14 are confined to the former island, only two are
+peculiar to the latter. The Nymphalidae are a very extensive group,
+of generally strong-winged and very bright-coloured butterflies, very
+abundant in the tropics, and represented in our own country by our
+Fritillaries, our Vanessas, and our Purple-emperor. Some months ago I
+drew up a list of the Eastern species of this group, including all the
+new ones discovered by myself, and arrived at the following comparative
+results:--
+
+
+                Species of  Species peculiar to      Percentage
+               Nymphalidae.    each island.     of peculiar Species.
+
+     Java.....     70......           23..........        33
+     Borneo....    52......           15..........        29
+     Celebes ...   48......           35..........        73
+
+The Coleoptera are so extensive that few of the groups have yet been
+carefully worked out. I will therefore refer to one only, which I have
+myself recently studied--the Cetoniadae or Rose-chafers--a group of
+beetles which, owing to their extreme beauty, have been much sought
+after. From Java 37 species of these insects are known, and from Celebes
+only 30; yet only 13, or 35 percent, are peculiar to the former island,
+and 19, or 63 percent, to the latter.
+
+The result of these comparisons is, that although Celebes is a single,
+large island with only a few smaller ones closely grouped around it,
+we must really consider it as forming one of the great divisions of the
+Archipelago, equal in rank and importance to the whole of the Moluccan
+or Philippine groups, to the Papuan islands, or to the Indo-Malay
+islands (Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Malay peninsula). Taking those
+families of insects and birds which are best known, the following table
+shows the comparison of Celebes with the other groups of islands:--
+
+
+                        PAPILIONIDAE AND    HAWKS, PARROTS, AND
+                            PERIDAE               PIGEONS.
+                       Percent of peculiar   Percent of peculiar
+                            Species.              Species.
+     Indo-Malay region....     56..........         54
+     Philippine group ....     66..........         73
+     Celebes.........          69..........         60
+     Moluccan group .....      52..........         62
+     Timor group.......        42..........         47
+     Papuan group ......       64..........         74
+
+These large and well-known families well represent the general character
+of the zoology of Celebes; and they show that this island is really one
+of the most isolated portions of the Archipelago, although situated in
+its very centre.
+
+But the insects of Celebes present us with other phenomena more curious
+and more difficult to explain than their striking individuality.
+The butterflies of that island are in many cases characterised by a
+peculiarity of outline, which distinguishes them at a glance from those
+of any other part of the world. It is most strongly manifested in the
+Papilios and the Pieridae, and consists in the forewings being either
+strongly curved or abruptly bent near the base, or in the extremity
+being elongated and often somewhat hooked. Out of the 14 species of
+Papilio in Celebes, 13 exhibit this peculiarity in a greater or less
+degree, when compared with the most nearly allied species of the
+surrounding islands. Ten species of Pieridae have the same character,
+and in four or five of the Nymphalidae it is also very distinctly
+marked. In almost every case, the species found in Celebes are much
+larger than those of the islands westward, and at least equal to those
+of the Moluccas, or even larger. The difference of form is, however, the
+most remarkable feature, as it is altogether a new thing for a whole
+set of species in one country to differ in exactly the same way from the
+corresponding sets in all the surrounding countries; and it is so well
+marked, that without looking at the details of colouring, most Celebes
+Papilios and many Pieridae, can be at once distinguished from those of
+other islands by their form alone.
+
+The outside figure of each pair here given, shows the exact size and
+form of the fore-wing in a butterfly of Celebes, while the inner one
+represents the most closely allied species from one of the adjacent
+islands. Figure 1 shows the strongly curved margin of the Celebes
+species, Papilio gigon, compared with the much straighter margin of
+Papilio demolion from Singapore and Java. Figure 2 shows the abrupt bend
+over the base of the wing in Papilio miletus of Celebes, compared with
+the slight curvature in the common Papilio sarpedon, which has almost
+exactly the same form from India to New Guinea and Australia. Figure
+3 shows the elongated wing of Tachyris zarinda, a native of Celebes,
+compared with the much shorter wing of Tachyris nero, a very closely
+allied species found in all the western islands. The difference of form
+is in each case sufficiently obvious, but when the insects themselves
+are compared, it is much more striking than in these partial outlines.
+
+From the analogy of birds, we should suppose that the pointed wing
+gave increased rapidity of flight, since it is a character of terns,
+swallows, falcons, and of the swift-flying pigeons. A short and rounded
+wing, on the other hand, always accompanies a more feeble or more
+laborious flight, and one much less under command. We might suppose,
+therefore, that the butterflies which possess this peculiar form were
+better able to escape pursuit. But there seems no unusual abundance of
+insectivorous birds to render this necessary; and as we cannot believe
+that such a curious peculiarity is without meaning, it seems probable
+that it is the result of a former condition of things, when the island
+possessed a much richer fauna, the relics of which we see in the
+isolated birds and Mammalia now inhabiting it; and when the abundance
+of insectivorous creatures rendered some unusual means of escape
+a necessity for the large-winged and showy butterflies. It is some
+confirmation of this view, that neither the very small nor the very
+obscurely coloured groups of butterflies have elongated wings, nor is
+any modification perceptible in those strong-winged groups which already
+possess great strength and rapidity of flight. These were already
+sufficiently protected from their enemies, and did not require increased
+power of escaping from them. It is not at all clear what effect the
+peculiar curvature of the wings has in modifying flight.
+
+Another curious feature in the zoology of Celebes is also worthy of
+attention. I allude to the absence of several groups which are found on
+both sides of it, in the Indo-Malay islands as well as in the Moluccas;
+and which thus seem to be unable, from some unknown cause, to obtain a
+footing in the intervening island. In Birds we have the two families of
+Podargidae and Laniadae, which range over the whole Archipelago and into
+Australia, and which yet have no representative in Celebes. The genera
+Ceyx among Kingfishers, Criniger among Thrushes, Rhipidura among
+Flycatchers, Calornis among Starlings, and Erythrura among Finches,
+are all found in the Moluccas as well as in Borneo and Java--but not a
+single species belonging to any one of them is found in Celebes. Among
+insects, the large genus of Rose-chafers, Lomaptera, is found in every
+country and island between India and New Guinea, except Celebes. This
+unexpected absence of many groups, from one limited district in the very
+centre of their area of distribution, is a phenomenon not altogether
+unique, but, I believe, nowhere so well marked as in this case; and it
+certainly adds considerably to the strange character of this remarkable
+island.
+
+The anomalies and eccentricities in the natural history of Celebes which
+I have endeavoured to sketch in this CHAPTER, all point to an origin in
+a remote antiquity. The history of extinct animals teaches us that their
+distribution in time and in space are strikingly similar. The rule is,
+that just as the productions of adjacent areas usually resemble each
+other closely, so do the productions of successive periods in the same
+area; and as the productions of remote areas generally differ widely, so
+do the productions of the same area at remote epochs. We are therefore
+led irresistibly to the conclusion, that change of species, still more
+of generic and of family form, is a matter of time. But time may have
+led to a change of species in one country, while in another the forms
+have been more permanent, or the change may have gone on at an equal
+rate but in a different manner in both. In either case, the amount of
+individuality in the productions of a district will be to some extent
+a measure of the time that a district has been isolated from those that
+surround it. Judged by this standard, Celebes must be one of the oldest
+parts of the Archipelago. It probably dates from a period not only
+anterior to that when Borneo, Java, and Sumatra were separated from the
+continent, but from that still more remote epoch when the land that now
+constitutes these islands had not risen above the ocean.
+
+Such an antiquity is necessary, to account for the number of animal
+forms it possesses, which show no relation to those of India or
+Australia, but rather with those of Africa; and we are led to speculate
+on the possibility of there having once existed a continent in the
+Indian Ocean which might serve as a bridge to connect these distant
+countries. Now it is a curious fact, that the existence of such a land
+has been already thought necessary, to account for the distribution
+of the curious Quadrumana forming the family of the Lemurs. These have
+their metropolis in Madagascar, but are found also in Africa, in Ceylon,
+in the peninsula of India, and in the Malay Archipelago as far as
+Celebes, which is its furthest eastern limit. Dr. Sclater has proposed
+for the hypothetical continent connecting these distant points, and
+whose former existence is indicated by the Mascarene islands and the
+Maldive coral group, the name of Lemuria. Whether or not we believe
+in its existence in the exact form here indicated, the student of
+geographical distribution must see in the extraordinary and isolated
+productions of Celebes, proof of the former existence of some continent
+from whence the ancestors of these creatures, and of many other
+intermediate forms, could have been derived.
+
+In this short sketch of the most striking peculiarities of the Natural
+History of Celebes, I have been obliged to enter much into details that
+I fear will have been uninteresting to the general reader, but unless I
+had done so, my exposition would have lost much of its force and value.
+It is by these details alone that I have been able to prove the unusual
+features that Celebes presents to us. Situated in the very midst of an
+Archipelago, and closely hemmed in on every side by islands teeming with
+varied forms of life, its productions have yet a surprising amount of
+individuality. While it is poor in the actual number of its species, it
+is yet wonderfully rich in peculiar forms, many of which are singular
+or beautiful, and are in some cases absolutely unique upon the globe. We
+behold here the curious phenomenon of groups of insects changing their
+outline in a similar manner when compared with those of surrounding
+islands, suggesting some common cause which never seems to have acted
+elsewhere in exactly the same way. Celebes, therefore, presents us with
+a most striking example of the interest that attaches to the study of
+the geographical distribution of animals. We can see that their present
+distribution upon the globe is the result of all the more recent changes
+the earth's surface has undergone; and, by a careful study of the
+phenomena, we are sometimes able to deduce approximately what those past
+changes must have been in order to produce the distribution we find to
+exist. In the comparatively simple case of the Timor group, we were able
+to deduce these changes with some approach to certainty. In the much
+more complicated case of Celebes, we can only indicate their general
+nature, since we now see the result, not of any single or recent change
+only, but of a whole series of the later revolutions which have resulted
+in the present distribution of land in the Eastern Hemisphere.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. BANDA.
+
+ (DECEMBER 1857, MAY 1859, APRIL 1861.)
+
+THE Dutch mail steamer in which I travelled from Macassar to Banda and
+Amboyna was a roomy and comfortable vessel, although it would only
+go six miles an hour in the finest weather. As there were but three
+passengers besides myself, we had abundance of room, and I was able to
+enjoy a voyage more than I had ever done before. The arrangements are
+somewhat different from those on board English or Indian steamers. There
+are no cabin servants, as every cabin passenger invariably brings his
+own, and the ship's stewards attend only to the saloon and the eating
+department. At six A.M. a cup of tea or coffee is provided for those
+who like it. At seven to eight there is a light breakfast of tea, eggs,
+sardines, etc. At ten, Madeira, Gin and bitters are brought on deck as a
+whet for the substantial eleven o'clock breakfast, which differs from a
+dinner only in the absence of soup. Cups of tea and coffee are brought
+around at three P.M.; bitters, etc. again at five, a good dinner with
+beer and claret at half-past six, concluded by tea and coffee at eight.
+Between whiles, beer and sodawater are supplied when called for, so
+there is no lack of little gastronomical excitements to while away the
+tedium of a sea voyage.
+
+Our first stopping place was Coupang, at the west end of the large
+island of Timor. We then coasted along that island for several hundred
+miles, having always a view of hilly ranges covered with scanty
+vegetation, rising ridge behind ridge to the height of six or seven
+thousand feet. Turning off towards Banda we passed Pulo-Cambing, Wetter,
+and Roma, all of which are desolate and barren volcanic islands, almost
+as uninviting as Aden, and offering a strange contrast to the usual
+verdure and luxuriance of the Archipelago. In two days more we reached
+the volcanic group of Banda, covered with an unusually dense and
+brilliant green vegetation, indicating that we had passed beyond the
+range of the hot dry winds from the plains of Central Australia. Banda
+is a lovely little spot, its three islands enclosing a secure harbour
+from whence no outlet is visible, and with water so transparent, that
+living corals and even the minutest objects are plainly seen on the
+volcanic sand at a depth of seven or eight fathoms. The ever smoking
+volcano rears its bare cone on one side, while the two larger islands
+are clothed with vegetation to the summit of the hills.
+
+Going on shore, I walked up a pretty path which leads to the highest
+point of the island on which the town is situated, where there is a
+telegraph station and a magnificent view. Below lies the little town,
+with its neat red-tiled white houses and the thatched cottages of the
+natives, bounded on one side by the old Portuguese fort. Beyond, about
+half a mile distant, lies the larger island in the shape of a horseshoe,
+formed of a range of abrupt hills covered with fine forest and nutmeg
+gardens; while close opposite the town is the volcano, forming a nearly
+perfect cone, the lower part only covered with a light green bushy
+vegetation. On its north side the outline is more uneven, and there is
+a slight hollow or chasm about one-fifth of the way down, from which
+constantly issue two columns of smoke, as well as a good deal from the
+rugged surface around and from some spots nearer the summit. A white
+efflorescence, probably sulphur, is thickly spread over the upper part
+of the mountain, marked by the narrow black vertical lines of water
+gullies. The smoke unites as it rises, and forms a dense cloud, which in
+calm, damp weather spreads out into a wide canopy hiding the top of the
+mountain. At night and early morning, it often rises up straight and
+leaves the whole outline clear.
+
+It is only when actually gazing on an active volcano that one can fully
+realize its awfulness and grandeur. Whence comes that inexhaustible
+fire whose dense and sulphurous smoke forever issues from this bare and
+desolate peak? Whence the mighty forces that produced that peak, and
+still from time to time exhibit themselves in the earthquakes that
+always occur in the vicinity of volcanic vents? The knowledge from
+childhood of the fact that volcanoes and earthquakes exist, has taken
+away somewhat of the strange and exceptional character that really
+belongs to them. The inhabitant of most parts of northern Europe sees in
+the earth the emblem of stability and repose. His whole life-experience,
+and that of all his age and generation, teaches him that the earth is
+solid and firm, that its massive rocks may contain water in abundance,
+but never fire; and these essential characteristics of the earth are
+manifest in every mountain his country contains. A volcano is a fact
+opposed to all this mass of experience, a fact of so awful a character
+that, if it were the rule instead of the exception, it would make the
+earth uninhabitable a fact so strange and unaccountable that we may be
+sure it would not be believed on any human testimony, if presented to us
+now for the first time, as a natural phenomenon happening in a distant
+country.
+
+The summit of the small island is composed of a highly crystalline
+basalt; lower down I found a hard, stratified slatey sandstone, while
+on the beach are huge blocks of lava, and scattered masses of white
+coralline limestone. The larger island has coral rock to a height of
+three or four hundred feet, while above is lava and basalt. It seems
+probable, therefore, that this little group of four islands is the
+fragment of a larger district which was perhaps once connected with
+Ceram, but which was separated and broken up by the same forces which
+formed the volcanic cone. When I visited the larger island on another
+occasion, I saw a considerable tract covered with large forest
+trees--dead, but still standing. This was a record of the last great
+earthquake only two years ago, when the sea broke in over this part of
+the island and so flooded it as to destroy the vegetation on all
+the lowlands. Almost every year there is an earthquake here, and at
+intervals of a few years, very severe ones which throw down houses and
+carry ships out of the harbour bodily into the streets.
+
+Notwithstanding the losses incurred by these terrific visitations, and
+the small size and isolated position of these little islands, they have
+been and still are of considerable value to the Dutch Government, as the
+chief nutmeg-garden in the world. Almost the whole surface is planted
+with nutmegs, grown under the shade of lofty Kanary trees (Kanarium
+commune). The light volcanic soil, the shade, and the excessive moisture
+of these islands, where it rains more or less every month in the year,
+seem exactly to suit the nutmeg-tree, which requires no manure and
+scarcely any attention. All the year round flowers and ripe fruit are
+to be found, and none of those diseases occur which under a forced
+and unnatural system of cultivation have ruined the nutmeg planters of
+Singapore and Penang.
+
+Few cultivated plants are more beautiful than nutmeg-trees. They are
+handsomely shaped and glossy-leaved, growing to the height of twenty or
+thirty feet, and bearing small yellowish flowers. The fruit is the
+size and colour of a peach, but rather oval. It is of a tough fleshy
+consistence, but when ripe splits open, and shows the dark-brown nut
+within, covered with the crimson mace, and is then a most beautiful
+object. Within the thin, hard shell of the nut is the seed, which is the
+nutmeg of commerce. The nuts are eaten by the large pigeons of Banda,
+which digest the mace, but cast up the nut with its seed uninjured.
+
+The nutmeg trade has hitherto been a strict monopoly of the Dutch
+Government; but since leaving the country I believe that this monopoly
+has been partially or wholly discontinued, a proceeding which appears
+exceedingly injudicious and quite unnecessary. There are cases in which
+monopolies are perfectly justifiable, and I believe this to be one of
+them. A small country like Holland cannot afford to keep distant and
+expensive colonies at a loss; and having possession of a very small
+island where a valuable product, not a necessity of life, can be
+obtained at little cost, it is almost the duty of the state to
+monopolise it. No injury is done thereby to anyone, but a great benefit
+is conferred upon the whole population of Holland and its dependencies,
+since the produce of the state monopolies saves them from the weight of
+a heavy taxation. Had the Government not kept the nutmeg trade of Banda
+in its own hands, it is probable that the whole of the islands would
+long ago have become the property of one or more large capitalists. The
+monopoly would have been almost the same, since no known spot on the
+globe can produce nutmegs so cheaply as Banda, but the profits of the
+monopoly would have gone to a few individuals instead of to the nation.
+
+As an illustration of how a state monopoly may become a state duty, let
+us suppose that no gold existed in Australia, but that it had been
+found in immense quantities by one of our ships in some small and barren
+island. In this case it would plainly become the duty of the state to
+keep and work the mines for the public benefit, since by doing so, the
+gain would be fairly divided among the whole population by decrease of
+taxation; whereas by leaving it open to free trade while merely keeping
+the government of the island; we should certainly produce enormous evils
+during the first struggle for the precious metal, and should ultimately
+subside into the monopoly of some wealthy individual or great company,
+whose enormous revenue would not equally benefit the community. The
+nutmegs of Banda and the tin of Banca are to some extent parallel cases
+to this supposititious one, and I believe the Dutch Government will act
+most unwisely if they give up their monopoly.
+
+Even the destruction of the nutmeg and clove trees in many islands, in
+order to restrict their cultivation to one or two where the monopoly
+could be easily guarded, usually made the theme of so much virtuous
+indignation against the Dutch, may be defended on similar principles,
+and is certainly not nearly so bad as many monopolies we ourselves have
+until very recently maintained. Nutmegs and cloves are not necessaries
+of life; they are not even used as spices by the natives of the
+Moluccas, and no one was materially or permanently injured by the
+destruction of the trees, since there are a hundred other products
+that can be grown in the same islands, equally valuable and far more
+beneficial in a social point of view. It is a case exactly parallel
+to our prohibition of the growth of tobacco in England, for fiscal
+purposes, and is, morally and economically, neither better nor worse.
+The salt monopoly which we so long maintained in India was in much
+worse. As long as we keep up a system of excise and customs on articles
+of daily use, which requires an elaborate array of officers and
+coastguards to carry into effect, and which creates a number of purely
+legal crimes, it is the height of absurdity for us to affect indignation
+at the conduct of the Dutch, who carried out a much more justifiable,
+less hurtful, and more profitable system in their Eastern possessions.
+
+I challenge objectors to point out any physical or moral evils that
+have actually resulted from the action of the Dutch Government in this
+matter; whereas such evils are the admitted results of every one of our
+monopolies and restrictions. The conditions of the two experiments are
+totally different. The true "political economy" of a higher race, when
+governing a lower race, has never yet been worked out. The application
+of our "political economy" to such cases invariably results in the
+extinction or degradation of the lower race; whence, we may consider
+it probable that one of the necessary conditions of its truth is the
+approximate mental and social unity of the society in which it is
+applied. I shall again refer to this subject in my CHAPTER on Ternate,
+one of the most celebrated of the old spice-islands.
+
+The natives of Banda are very much mixed, and it is probable that at
+least three-fourths of the population are mongrels, in various degrees
+of Malay, Papuan, Arab, Portuguese, and Dutch. The first two form the
+bases of the larger portion, and the dark skins, pronounced features,
+and more or less frizzly hair of the Papuans preponderates. There seems
+little doubt that the aborigines of Banda were Papuans, and a portion
+of them still exists in the Ke islands, where they emigrated when the
+Portuguese first took possession of their native island. It is such
+people as these that are often looked upon as transitional forms between
+two very distinct races, like the Malays and Papuans, whereas they are
+only examples of intermixture.
+
+The animal productions of Banda, though very few, are interesting. The
+islands have perhaps no truly indigenous Mammalia but bats. The deer
+of the Moluccas and the pig have probably been introduced. A species of
+Cuscus or Eastern opossum is also found at Banda, and this may be truly
+indigenous in the sense of not having been introduced by man. Of birds,
+during my three visits of one or two days each, I collected eight kinds,
+and the Dutch collectors have added a few others. The most remarkable is
+a fine and very handsome fruit-pigeon, Carpophaga concinna, which feeds
+upon the nutmegs, or rather on the mace, and whose loud booming note
+is to be continually heard. This bird is found in the Ke and Matabello
+islands as well as Banda, but not in Ceram or any of the larger islands,
+which are inhabited by allied but very distinct species. A beautiful
+small fruit-dove, Ptilonopus diadematus, is also peculiar to Banda.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. AMBOYNA.
+
+ (DECEMBER 1857, OCTOBER 1859, FEBRUARY 1860.)
+
+TWENTY hours from Banda brought us to Amboyna, the capital of the
+Moluccas, and one of the oldest European settlements in the East. The
+island consists of two peninsulas, so nearly divided by inlets of the
+sea, as to leave only a sandy isthmus about a mile wide near their
+eastern extremity. The western inlet is several miles long and forms
+a fine harbour on the southern side of which is situated the town
+of Amboyna. I had a letter of introduction to Dr. Mohnike, the chief
+medical officer of the Moluccas, a German and a naturalist. I found
+that he could write and read English, but could not speak it, being
+like myself a bad linguist; so we had to use French as a medium of
+communication. He kindly offered me a room during my stay in Amboyna,
+and introduced me to his junior, Dr. Doleschall, a Hungarian and also an
+entomologist. He was an intelligent and most amiable young man but I was
+shocked to find that he was dying of consumption, though still able to
+perform the duties of his office. In the evening my host took me to the
+residence of the Governor, Mr. Goldmann, who received me in a most kind
+and cordial manner, and offered me every assistance. The town of Amboyna
+consists of a few business streets, and a number of roads set out at
+right angles to each other, bordered by hedges of flowering shrubs, and
+enclosing country houses and huts embossed in palms and fruit trees.
+Hills and mountains form the background in almost every direction, and
+there are few places more enjoyable for a morning or evening stroll than
+these sandy roads and shady lanes in the suburbs of the ancient city of
+Amboyna.
+
+There are no active volcanoes in the island, nor is it now subject to
+frequent earthquakes, although very severe ones have occurred and may be
+expected again. Mr. William Funnell, in his voyage with Dampier to the
+South Seas in 1705, says: "Whilst we were here, (at Amboyna) we had a
+great earthquake, which continued two days, in which time it did a
+great deal of mischief, for the ground burst open in many places, and
+swallowed up several houses and whole families. Several of the people
+were dug out again, but most of them dead, and many had their legs
+or arms broken by the fall of the houses. The castle walls were rent
+asunder in several places, and we thought that it and all the houses
+would have fallen down. The ground where we were swelled like a wave
+in the sea, but near us we had no hurt done." There are also numerous
+records of eruptions of a volcano on the west side of the island.
+In 1674 an eruption destroyed a village. In 1694 there was another
+eruption. In 1797 much vapour and heat was emitted. Other eruptions
+occurred in 1816 and 1820, and in 1824 a new crater is said to have been
+formed. Yet so capricious is the action of these subterranean fires,
+that since the last-named epoch all eruptive symptoms have so completely
+ceased, that I was assured by many of the most intelligent European
+inhabitants of Amboyna, that they had never heard of any such thing as a
+volcano on the island.
+
+During the few days that elapsed before I could make arrangements to
+visit the interior, I enjoyed myself much in the society of the two
+doctors, both amiable and well-educated men, and both enthusiastic
+entomologists, though obliged to increase their collections almost
+entirely by means of native collectors. Dr. Doleschall studied chiefly
+the flies and spiders, but also collected butterflies and moths, and in
+his boxes I saw grand specimens of the emerald Ornithoptera priamus and
+the azure Papilio ulysses, with many more of the superb butterflies of
+this rich island. Dr. Mohnike confined himself chiefly to the beetles,
+and had formed a magnificent collection during many years residence in
+Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Japan, and Amboyna. The Japanese collection was
+especially interesting, containing both the fine Carabi of northern
+countries, and the gorgeous Buprestidae and Longicorns of the tropics.
+The doctor made the voyage to Jeddo by land from Nagasaki, and is well
+acquainted with the character, manners, and customs of the people of
+Japan, and with the geology, physical features, and natural history
+of the country. He showed me collections of cheap woodcuts printed in
+colours, which are sold at less than a farthing each, and comprise an
+endless variety of sketches of Japanese scenery and manners. Though
+rude, they are very characteristic, and often exhibit touches of great
+humour. He also possesses a large collection of coloured sketches of the
+plants of Japan, made by a Japanese lady, which are the most masterly
+things I have ever seen. Every stem, twig, and leaf is produced by
+single touches of the brush, the character and perspective of very
+complicated plants being admirably given, and the articulations of stem
+and leaves shown in a most scientific manner.
+
+Having made arrangements to stay for three weeks at a small hut on a
+newly cleared plantation in the interior of the northern half of the
+island, I with some difficulty obtained a boat and men to take me
+across the water--for the Amboynese are dreadfully lazy. Passing up the
+harbour, in appearance like a fine river, the clearness of the water
+afforded me one of the most astonishing and beautiful sights I have
+ever beheld. The bottom was absolutely hidden by a continuous series of
+corals, sponges, actiniae, and other marine productions of magnificent
+dimensions, varied forms, and brilliant colours. The depth varied from
+about twenty to fifty feet, and the bottom was very uneven, rocks and
+chasms and little hills and valleys, offering a variety of stations for
+the growth of these animal forests. In and out among them, moved numbers
+of blue and red and yellow fishes, spotted and banded and striped in
+the most striking manner, while great orange or rosy transparent medusae
+floated along near the surface. It was a sight to gaze at for hours, and
+no description can do justice to its surpassing beauty and interest. For
+once, the reality exceeded the most glowing accounts I had ever read of
+the wonders of a coral sea. There is perhaps no spot in the world richer
+in marine productions, corals, shells and fishes, than the harbour of
+Amboyna.
+
+From the north side of the harbour, a good broad path passes through
+swamp, clearing and forest, over hill and valley, to the farther side
+of the island; the coralline rock constantly protruding through the deep
+red earth which fills all the hollows, and is more or less spread over
+the plains and hill-sides. The forest vegetation is here of the most
+luxuriant character; ferns and palms abound, and the climbing rattans
+were more abundant than I had ever seen them, forming tangled festoons
+over almost every large forest tree. The cottage I was to occupy was
+situated in a large clearing of about a hundred acres, part of which
+was already planted with young cacao-trees and plantains to shade them,
+while the rest was covered with dead and half-burned forest trees; and
+on one side there was a tract where the trees had been recently felled
+and were not yet burned. The path by which I had arrived continued along
+one side of this clearing, and then again entering the virgin forest
+passed over hill and dale to the northern aide of the island.
+
+My abode was merely a little thatched hut, consisting of an open
+verandah in front and a small dark sleeping room behind. It was raised
+about five feet from the ground, and was reached by rude steps to the
+centre of the verandah. The walls and floor were of bamboo, and it
+contained a table, two bamboo chairs, and a couch. Here I soon made
+myself comfortable, and set to work hunting for insects among the
+more recently felled timber, which swarmed with fine Curculionidae,
+Longicorns, and Buprestidae, most of them remarkable for their elegant
+forms or brilliant colours, and almost all entirely new to me. Only the
+entomologist can appreciate the delight with which I hunted about for
+hours in the hot sunshine, among the branches and twigs and bark of the
+fallen trees, every few minutes securing insects which were at that time
+almost all rare or new to European collections.
+
+In the shady forest paths were many fine butterflies, most conspicuous
+among which was the shining blue Papilio ulysses, one of the princes of
+the tribe, though at that time so rare in Europe, I found it absolutely
+common in Amboyna, though not easy to obtain in fine condition, a large
+number of the specimens being found when captured to have the wings torn
+or broken. It flies with a rather weak undulating motion, and from its
+large size, its tailed wings and brilliant colour, is one of the most
+tropical-looking insects the naturalist can gaze upon.
+
+There is a remarkable contrast between the beetles of Amboyna and those
+of Macassar, the latter generally small and obscure, the former large
+and brilliant. On the whole, the insects here most resemble those of the
+Aru islands, but they are almost always of distinct species, and when
+they are most nearly allied to each other, the species of Amboyna are
+of larger size and more brilliant colours, so that one might be led to
+conclude that in passing east and west into a less favourable soil and
+climate, they had degenerated into less striking forms.
+
+Of an evening I generally sat reading in the verandah, ready to capture
+any insects that were attracted to the light. One night about nine
+o'clock, I heard a curious noise and rustling overhead, as if some heavy
+animal were crawling slowly over the thatch. The noise soon ceased, and
+I thought no more about it and went to bed soon afterwards. The next
+afternoon just before dinner, being rather tired with my day's work, I
+was lying on the couch with a book in my hand, when gazing upwards I
+saw a large mass of something overhead which I had not noticed before.
+Looking more carefully I could see yellow and black marks, and thought
+it must be a tortoise-shell put up there out of the way between the
+ridge-pole and the roof. Continuing to gaze, it suddenly resolved itself
+into a large snake, compactly coiled up in a kind of knot; and I could
+detect his head and his bright eyes in the very centre of the folds. The
+noise of the evening before was now explained. A python had climbed up
+one of the posts of the house, and had made his way under the thatch
+within a yard of my head, and taken up a comfortable position in the
+roof--and I had slept soundly all night directly under him.
+
+I called to my two boys who were skinning birds below and said, "Here's
+a big snake in the roof;" but as soon as I had shown it to them they
+rushed out of the house and begged me to come out directly. Finding they
+were too much afraid to do anything, we called some of the labourers in
+the plantation, and soon had half a dozen men in consultation outside.
+One of these, a native of Bouru, where there are a great many snakes,
+said he would get him out, and proceeded to work in a businesslike
+manner. He made a strong noose of rattan, and with a long pole in the
+other hand poked at the snake, who then began slowly to uncoil itself.
+He then managed to slip the noose over its head, and getting it well on
+to the body, dragged the animal down. There was a great scuffle as the
+snake coiled round the chairs and posts to resist his enemy, but at
+length the man caught hold of its tail, rushed out of the house (running
+so quick that the creature seemed quite confounded), and tried to strike
+its head against a tree. He missed however, and let go, and the snake
+got under a dead trunk close by. It was again poked out, and again the
+Bouru man caught hold of its tail, and running away quickly dashed its
+head with a swing against a tree, and it was then easily killed with a
+hatchet. It was about twelve feet long and very thick, capable of doing
+much mischief and of swallowing a dog or a child.
+
+I did not get a great many birds here. The most remarkable were the fine
+crimson lory, Eos rubra--a brush-tongued parroquet of a vivid crimson
+colour, which was very abundant. Large flocks of them came about the
+plantation, and formed a magnificent object when they settled down upon
+some flowering tree, on the nectar of which lories feed. I also obtained
+one or two specimens of the fine racquet-tailed kingfisher of Amboyna,
+Tanysiptera nais, one of the most singular and beautiful of that
+beautiful family. These birds differ from all other kingfishers (which
+have usually short tails) by having the two middle tail-feathers
+immensely lengthened and very narrowly webbed, but terminated by
+a spoon-shaped enlargement, as in the motmots and some of the
+humming-birds. They belong to that division of the family termed
+king-hunters, living chiefly on insects and small land-molluscs, which
+they dart down upon and pick up from the ground, just as a kingfisher
+picks a fish out of the water. They are confined to a very limited area,
+comprising the Moluccas, New Guinea and Northern Australia. About ten
+species of these birds are now known, all much resembling each other,
+but yet sufficiently distinguishable in every locality. The Amboynese
+species, of which a very accurate representation is here given, is one
+of the largest and handsomest. It is full seventeen inches long to the
+tips of the tail-feathers; the bill is coral red, the under-surface pure
+white, the back and wings deep purple, while the shoulders, head and
+nape, and some spots on the upper part of the back and wings, are pure
+azure blue; the tail is white, with the feathers narrowly blue-edged,
+but the narrow part of the long feathers is rich blue. This was an
+entirely new species, and has been well named after an ocean goddess, by
+Mr. R. G. Gray.
+
+On Christmas eve I returned to Amboyna, where I stayed about ten days
+with my kind friend Dr. Mohnike. Considering that I had been away only
+twenty days, and that on five or six of those I was prevented doing
+anything by wet weather and slight attacks of fever, I had made a very
+nice collection of insects, comprising a much larger proportion of large
+and brilliant species than I had ever before obtained in so short a
+time. Of the beautiful metallic Buprestidae I had about a dozen handsome
+species, yet in the doctor's collection I observed four or five more
+very fine ones, so that Amboyna is unusually rich in this elegant group.
+
+During my stay here I had a good opportunity of seeing how Europeans
+live in the Dutch colonies, and where they have adopted customs far
+more in accordance with the climate than we have done in our tropical
+possessions. Almost all business is transacted in the morning between
+the hours of seven and twelve, the afternoon being given up to repose,
+and the evening to visiting. When in the house during the heat of the
+day, and even at dinner, they use a loose cotton dress, only putting on
+a suit of thin European-made clothes for out of doors and evening wear.
+They often walk about after sunset bareheaded, reserving the black hat
+for visits of ceremony. Life is thus made far more agreeable, and the
+fatigue and discomfort incident to the climate greatly diminished.
+Christmas day is not made much of, but on New Year's day official
+and complimentary visits are paid, and about sunset we went to the
+Governor's, where a large party of ladies and gentlemen were assembled.
+Tea and coffee were handed around, as is almost universal during a
+visit, as well as cigars, for on no occasion is smoking prohibited
+in Dutch colonies, cigars being generally lighted before the cloth is
+withdrawn at dinner, even though half the company are ladies. I here
+saw for the first time the rare black lory from New Guinea, Chalcopsitta
+atra. The plumage is rather glossy, and slightly tinged with yellowish
+and purple, the bill and feet being entirely black.
+
+The native Amboynese who reside in the city are a strange
+half-civilized, half-savage lazy people, who seem to be a mixture of at
+least three races--Portuguese, Malay, and Papuan or Ceramese, with an
+occasional cross of Chinese or Dutch. The Portuguese element decidedly
+predominates in the old Christian population, as indicated by features,
+habits, and the retention of many Portuguese words in the Malay, which
+is now their language. They have a peculiar style of dress which they
+wear among themselves, a close-fitting white shirt with black trousers,
+and a black frock or upper shirt. The women seem to prefer a dress
+entirely black. On festivals and state occasions they adopt the
+swallow-tail coat, chimneypot hat, and their accompaniments, displaying
+all the absurdity of our European fashionable dress. Though now
+Protestants, they preserve at feasts and weddings the processions and
+music of the Catholic Church, curiously mixed up with the gongs and
+dances of the aborigines of the country. Their language has still much
+more Portuguese than Dutch in it, although they have been in close
+communication with the latter nation for more than two hundred and fifty
+years; even many names of birds, trees and other natural objects, as
+well as many domestic terms, being plainly Portuguese. [The following
+are a few of the Portuguese words in common use by the Malay-speaking
+natives of Amboyna and the other Molucca islands: Pombo (pigeon);
+milo (maize); testa (forehead); horas (hours); alfinete (pin); cadeira
+(chair); lenco (handkerchief); fresco (cool); trigo (flour); sono
+(sloop); familia (family); histori (talk); vosse (you); mesmo (even);
+cunhado (brother-in-law); senhor (sir); nyora for signora (madam). None
+of them, however, have the least notion that these words belong to a
+European language.] This people seems to have had a marvellous power
+of colonization, and a capacity for impressing their national
+characteristics on every country they conquered, or in which they
+effected a merely temporary settlement. In a suburb of Amboyna there
+is a village of aboriginal Malays who are Mahometans, and who speak a
+peculiar language allied to those of Ceram, as well as Malay. They are
+chiefly fishermen, and are said to be both more industrious and more
+honest than the native Christians.
+
+I went on Sunday, by invitation, to see a collection of shells and fish
+made by a gentleman of Amboyna. The fishes are perhaps unrivalled for
+variety and beauty by those of any one spot on the earth. The celebrated
+Dutch ichthyologist, Dr. Blecker, has given a catalogue of seven hundred
+and eighty species found at Amboyna, a number almost equal to those of
+all the seas and rivers of Europe. A large proportion of them are of the
+most brilliant colours, being marked with bands and spots of the purest
+yellows, reds, and blues; while their forms present all that strange and
+endless variety so characteristic of the inhabitants of the ocean.
+The shells are also very numerous, and comprise a number of the finest
+species in the world. The Mactras and Ostreas in particular struck me by
+the variety and beauty of their colours. Shells have long been an
+object of traffic in Amboyna; many of the natives get their living by
+collecting and cleaning them, and almost every visitor takes away a
+small collection. The result is that many of the commoner-sorts have
+lost all value in the eyes of the amateur, numbers of the handsome but
+very common cones, cowries, and olives sold in the streets of London for
+a penny each, being natives of the distant isle of Amboyna, where they
+cannot be bought so cheaply. The fishes in the collection were all well
+preserved in clear spirit in hundreds of glass jars, and the shells were
+arranged in large shallow pith boxes lined with paper, every specimen
+being fastened down with thread. I roughly estimated that there were
+nearly a thousand different kinds of shells, and perhaps ten thousand
+specimens, while the collection of Amboyna fishes was nearly perfect.
+
+On the 4th of January I left Amboyna for Ternate; but two years later,
+in October 1859, I again visited it after my residence in Menado, and
+stayed a month in the town in a small house which I hired for the sake
+of assorting and packing up a large and varied collection which I had
+brought with me from North Celebes, Ternate, and Gilolo. I was obliged
+to do this because the mail steamer would have come the following month
+by way of Amboyna to Ternate, and I should have been delayed two months
+before I could have reached the former place. I then paid my first
+visit to Ceram, and on returning to prepare for my second more complete
+exploration of that island, I stayed (much against my will) two months
+at Paso, on the isthmus which connects the two portions of the island of
+Amboyna. This village is situated on the eastern side of the isthmus,
+on sandy ground, with a very pleasant view over the sea to the island of
+Harúka. On the Amboyna side of the isthmus there is a small river
+which has been continued by a shallow canal to within thirty yards of
+high-water mark on the other side. Across this small space, which is
+sandy and but slightly elevated, all small boats and praus can be easily
+dragged, and all the smaller traffic from Ceram and the islands of
+Saparúa and Harúka, passes through Paso. The canal is not continued
+quite through, merely because every spring-tide would throw up just such
+a sand-bank as now exists.
+
+I had been informed that the fine butterfly Ornithoptera priamus
+was plentiful here, as well as the racquet-tailed kingfisher and the
+ring-necked lory. I found, however, that I had missed the time for the
+former, and birds of all kinds were very scarce, although I obtained a
+few good ones, including one or two of the above-mentioned rarities.
+I was much pleased to get here the fine long-armed chafer, Euchirus
+longimanus. This extraordinary insect is rarely or never captured except
+when it comes to drink the sap of the sugar palms, where it is found by
+the natives when they go early in the morning to take away the bamboos
+which have been filled during the night. For some time one or two were
+brought me every day, generally alive. They are sluggish insects, and
+pull themselves lazily along by means of their immense forelegs. A
+figure of this and other Moluccan beetles is given in the 27th CHAPTER
+of this work.
+
+I was kept at Paso by an inflammatory eruption, brought on by the
+constant attacks of small acari-like harvest-bugs, for which the forests
+of Ceram are famous, and also by the want of nourishing food while in
+that island. At one time I was covered with severe boils. I had them on
+my eye, cheek, armpits, elbows, back, thighs, knees, and ankles, so that
+I was unable to sit or walk, and had great difficulty in finding a side
+to lie upon without pain. These continued for some weeks, fresh ones
+coming out as fast as others got well; but good living and sea baths
+ultimately cured them.
+
+About the end of January Charles Allen, who had been my assistant in
+Malacca and Borneo, again joined me on agreement for three years; and as
+soon as I got tolerably well, we had plenty to do laying in stores and
+making arrangements for our ensuing campaign. Our greatest difficulty
+was in obtaining men, but at last we succeeded in getting two each. An
+Amboyna Christian named Theodorus Matakena, who had been some time with
+me and had learned to skin birds very well, agreed to go with Allen,
+as well as a very quiet and industrious lad named Cornelius, whom I
+had brought from Menado. I had two Amboynese, named Petrus Rehatta, and
+Mesach Matakena; the latter of whom had two brothers, named respectively
+Shadrach and Abednego, in accordance with the usual custom among these
+people of giving only Scripture names to their children.
+
+During the time I resided in this place, I enjoyed a luxury I have never
+met with either before or since--the true bread-fruit. A good deal of it
+has been planted about here and in the surrounding villages, and almost
+every day we had opportunities of purchasing some, as all the boats
+going to Amboyna were unloaded just opposite my door to be dragged
+across the isthmus. Though it grows in several other parts of the
+Archipelago, it is nowhere abundant, and the season for it only lasts a
+short time. It is baked entire in the hot embers, and the inside scooped
+out with a spoon. I compared it to Yorkshire pudding; Charles Allen said
+it was like mashed potatoes and milk. It is generally about the size of
+a melon, a little fibrous towards the centre, but everywhere else quite
+smooth and puddingy, something in consistence between yeast-dumplings
+and batter-pudding. We sometimes made curry or stew of it, or fried it
+in slices; but it is no way so good as simply baked. It may be eaten
+sweet or savory. With meat and gravy it is a vegetable superior to any
+I know, either in temperate or tropical countries. With sugar, milk,
+butter, or treacle, it is a delicious pudding, having a very slight and
+delicate but characteristic flavour, which, like that of good bread and
+potatoes, one never gets tired of. The reason why it is comparatively
+scarce is that it is a fruit of which the seeds are entirely aborted by
+cultivation, and the tree can therefore only be propagated by cuttings.
+The seed-bearing variety is common all over the tropics, and though the
+seeds are very good eating, resembling chestnuts, the fruit is quite
+worthless as a vegetable. Now that steam and Ward's cases render the
+transport of young plants so easy, it is much to be wished that the best
+varieties of this unequalled vegetable should be introduced into our
+West India islands, and largely propagated there. As the fruit will keep
+some time after being gathered, we might then be able to obtain this
+tropical luxury in Covent Garden Market.
+
+Although the few months I at various times spent in Amboyna were not
+altogether very profitable to me in the way of collections, it will
+always remain as a bright spot in the review of my Eastern travels,
+since it was there that I first made the acquaintance of those glorious
+birds and insects which render the Moluccas classic ground in the
+eyes of the naturalist, and characterise its fauna as one of the most
+remarkable and beautiful upon the globe. On the 20th of February I
+finally quitted Amboyna for Ceram and Waigiou, leaving Charles Allen to
+go by a Government boat to Wahai on the north coast of Ceram, and thence
+to the unexplored island of Mysol.
+
+
+    Next Volume   
+
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