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

188 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [CH. xvii.It was furnished in European style, with handsome chandelierlamps, and the chairs and tables all well made by native workmen.As soon as we entered, madeira and bitters were offeredus. Then two handsome boys, neatly dressed in white and withsmoothly brushed jet-black hair, handed us each a basin of waterand a clean napkin on a salver. The dinner was excellent. Fowlscooked in various ways, wild pig roasted, stewed and fried, africassee of bats, potatoes, rice, and other vegetables, all servedon good china, with finger glasses and fine napkins, and abundanceof good clai-et and beer, seemed to me rather curious at thetable of a native chief on the mountains of Celebes. Our hostwas dressed in a suit of black with patent-leather shoes, andreally looked comfortable and almost gentlemanly in them. Hesat at the head of the table and did the honours well, though hedid not talk much. Our conversation was entirely in Malay, asthat is the ofiicial language here, and in fact the mother-tongueand only language of the Controlleur, who is a native-born halfbreed.The Major's father, who was chief before him, wore, Iwas informed, a strip of bark as his sole costume, and lived in arude hut raised on lofty poles, and abundantly decorated withhuman heads. Of course we were expected, and our dinner wasprepared in the best style, but I was assured that the chiefs alltake a pride in adopting European customs, and in being ableto receive their visitors in a liandsome manner.After dinner and coffee, the Controlleur went on to Tondano,and I strolled about the village waiting for my baggage, whichwas coming in a bullock-cart and did not arrive till after midnight.Supper was very similar to dinner, and on retiring Ifound an elegant little room with a comfortable bed, gauzecurtains with blue and led hangings, and every convenience.Next morning at sunrise the thermometer in tlie verandah stoodat 69^, which I was told is about the usual lowest temperatureat this place, 2,500 feet above the sea. I had a good breakfastof coffee, eggs, and fresh bread and butter, which I took in thespacious verandah, amid the odour of roses, jessamine, and othersweet-scented flowers, wliich filled tlie garden in front ; andabout eight o'clock left Tomohon with a dozen men carryingmy baggage.Our road lay over a mountain ridge about 4,000 feet abovethe sea, and then descended about 500 feet to the little villageof Ruriikan, the highest in the district of Minahasa, and probablyin all Celebes. Here I had determined to stay for sometime to see whether this elevation would produce any changein the zoology. The village had only been formed about tenyears, and was quite as neat as those I had passed through andmucli more picturesque. It is placed on a small level spot, fromwhich there is an abrupt wooded descent down to tlie beautifullake of Tondano, with volcanic mountains beyond. On oneside is a ravine, and beyond it a fine mountainous and woodedcountry.