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

244 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [cHAr.have seen have either beeu volcanic or coralline, and along thecoast there are fringing coral reefs very dangerous to navigation.At the same time, the character of its natural historj' proves itto be a rather ancient land, since it possesses a number ofanimals peculiar to itself or common to the small islands aroundit, but almost alwaj's distinct from those of New Guinea on theeast, of Ceram on the south, and of Celebes and the Sula islandson the west.The island of Morty, close to the north-eastern extremity ofGilolo, was visited by my assistant Charles Allen, as well as byDr. Bernstein ; and the collections obtained there jjresent somecurious differences from those of the main island. About fiftj''-six species of land-birds are known to inhabit this island, andof these a kingfisher (Tanysiptera doris), a honeysucker(Tropidorhynchus fuscicapillus), and a large crow-like starling(Lycocorax morotensis), are quite distinct from allied speciesfound in Gilolo. The island is coralline and sandy, and wemust therefore believe it to have been separated from Gilolo ata somewhat remote epoch ; while we learn from its naturalhistorj" that an arm of the sea twenty-five miles wide serves tolimit the range even of birds of considerable powers of flight.CHAPTER XXIII.TEKNATE TO THE KAIOA ISLANDS AND BATCHIAN.(OCTOBER 1858.)Ox returning to Ternate from Sahoe, I at once began makingpreparations for a journey to Batchian, an island which I hadbeen constantly recommended to visit since I had arrived inthis part of the Moluccas. After all was ready I found that Ishould have to hire a boat, as no opportunity of obtaining apassage presented itself. I accordingly went into the nativetown, and could only find two boats for hire, one much largerthan I required, and tlie other far smaller than I wished. Ichose the smaller one, chiefly because it would not cost me onethirdas much as the larger one, and also because in a coastingvoyage a small vessel can be more easily managed, and morereadily got into a place of safety during violent gales than alarge one. I took with me my Bornean lad Ali, who was nowvery useful to me ; Lahagi, a native of Ternate, a very goodsteady man, and a fair shooter, who had been with me to NewGuinea ; Lahi, a native of Gilolo, who could speak Malay, asand Garo, a boy who was towoodcutter and general assistant ;act as cook. As the boat was so small that we had hardly roomto stow ourselves away when all my stores were on board, I onlyi,ook one other man named Latchi, as pilot. He was a Papuan