The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

106 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.of the Buceros bicornis, which one of them assured me lie hadshot while feeding the female, which was shut up in a hole in atree. I had often read of this curious habit, and immediatelyreturned to the place, accompanied by several of the natives.After crossing a stream and a bog, we found a large tree leaningover some water, and on its lower side, at a height of abouttwenty feet, appeared a small hole, and what looked like aquantity of mud, which I was assui'ed had been used in stoppingup the large hole. After a while we heard the harsh cry of abird inside, and could see the white extremity of its beak putout. I offered a rupee to any one who would go up and get outthe bird, with the egg or young one ;but they all declared itwas too difficult, and they were afraid to try. I therefore veryreluctantly came away. In about an hour afterwards, much tomy surprise, a tremendous loud hoarse screaming was heardand the bird was bi"ought me, together with a j'oung one whichhad been found in the hole. This was a most curious object, aslarge as a pigeon, but without a particle of plumage on anypart of it. It was exceedingly plump and soft, and with a semitranspai-entskin, so that it looked more like a bag of jelly,with head and feet stuck on, tlian like a real bird.The extraordinary habit of the male, in plastering up thefemale with her egg, and feeding her during the whole time ofincubation, and till the young one is fledged, is common toseveral of the large hornbills, and is one of those strange factsin 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 thereasons which lead us to conclude that the large islands in thewestern portion of the Archipelago—Java, Sumatra, andBorneo—as well as the Malay peninsula and the Philippineislands, have been recently separated from the continent ofAsia. I now propose to give a sketch of the Natural Historyof these, which I term the Indo-Malay islands, and to show howfar it supports this view, and how much information it is ableto give us of the antiquity and origin of the separate islands.The flora of the Archipelago is at present so imperfectlyknown, and I have myself paid so little attention to it, that Icannot draw from it many facts of importance. The Malayantype of vegetation is however a very important one ; and Dr.Hooker informs us, in his Flora Indica, that it spreads overall the moister and more equable parts of India, and that manyplants found in Ceylon, the Himala5''as, the Nilghiri, and Khasiamountains are identical with those of .Java and the Malay