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diff --git a/2530-8.txt b/2530-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..25c1f38 --- /dev/null +++ b/2530-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10675 @@ +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 + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Malay Archipelago, Volume I. 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