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

202 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.ready to start. I now went eastward over an undulatingcountry skii-ting the great volcano of Klabat, to a village calledLempias, situated close to the extensive forest that covers thelower slopes of that mountain. My baggage was carried fromvillage to village by relays of men, and as each change involvedsome delay, I did not reach my destination (a distance ofeighteen miles) till sunset. I was wet through, and had to waitfor an hour in an uncomfortable state till the first instalment ofmy baggage arrived, which luckily contained my clothes, whilethe rest did not come in till midnight.This being tlie district inhabited by that singular animal theBabirusa (Hog-deer) I inquired about skulls, and soon obtainedseveral in tolerable condition, as well as a fine one of the rareand curious "Sapi-utan" (Anoa depressicornis). Of this animalI had seen two li\"ing specimens at Menado, and was surprisedat their great resemblance to small cattle, or still more to theEland of South Africa. Their !Malay name signifies " forest ox,"and they difier from very small high-bred oxen principally bythe low-hanging dewla^j, and straight pointed horns whichslope back over tlie neck. I did not find the forest here so rich ininsects as I had expected, and my hunters got me very few birds,but what they did obtain were very interesting. Among thesewere the rare forest Kingfisher (Crittura cyanotis), a small newspecies of ^legapodius, and one specimen of the large and interestingMaleo (Megacephalon rubripes), to obtain which wasone of my chief reasons for visiting this district. Getting nomore, however, after ten days' search I removed to Licoupang,at the extremit}^ of the peninsula, a place celebrated for thesebirds, as well as for the Babirusa and Sapi-utan. I found hereMr. Goldmann, the eldest son of the Governor of the Moluccas,who was superintending the establishment of some Governmentsalt-works. This was a better locality, and I obtainedsome fine butterflies and very good birds, among which was onemore specimen of the rare ground dove (Phlegaenastristigmata),which I had first obtained near the Maros waterfall in SouthCelebes.Hearing what I was particularly in search of, Mr. Goldmannkindly ofiered to make a luinting-ijarty to the place where the" Maleos " are most abundant, a remote and uninliabited seabeachabout twenty miles distant. The climate here was quitedifierent to that on the mountains, not a drop of rain havingfallen for four months ; so I made arrangements to stay on thebeach a week, in order to secure a good number of specimens.We went partly by boat and partly through the forest, accomjjaniedby the ^lajor or liead-man of Licoupang, with a dozennatives and about twenty dogs. On the way they caught ayoung Sapi-utan and five wild pigs. Of the former I preservedthe liead. This animal is entirely confined to tlie remotemountain forests of Celebes and one or two adjacent islandswhich form part of the same group. In the adults the head is