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

XXIV.] BATCHIAN. 261individuals. When the entomologist can discover such a spot,he does more in a month than he could possibly do by a year'ssearch in the deptlis of the undistui'bed forest.The next morning we left early, and reached the_mouth of thelittle river in about an hour. It flows through a perfectly flatallu%dal jDlain, but there are hills which approach it near themouth. Towards the lower part, in a swamij where the saltwatermust enter at high tides, were a number of elegant treefernsfrom eight to fifteen feet high. These are generally consideredto be mountain plants, and rarely to occur on the equatorat an elevation of less than one or two thousand feet. In Borneo,in the Aru Islands, and on the banks of the Amazon, I have observedthem at the level of the sea, and think it probable thatthe altitude supposed to be requisite for them may have beendeduced from facts observed in countries where the plains andlowlands are largely cultivated, and most of the indigenousvegetation destroyed. Such is the case in most parts of Java,India, Jamaica, and Brazil, where the vegetation of the tropicshas been most fully explored.Coming out to sea we turned northwards, and in about twohours' sail reached a few huts, called Langundi, where someGalela men had established themselves as collectors of gumdammar,with which they made torches for the supply of theTernate market. About a hundi'ed yards back rises a rathersteep hill, and a short walk having shown me that there was atolerable path up it, I determined to stay here for a few days.Opposite us, and all along this coast of Batchian, stretches arow of fine islands completely uninhabited. Whenever I askedthe reason why no one goes to live in them, the answer alwayswas, " For fear of the Slagindano pirates." Every year thesescourges of the Archipelago wander in one direction or another,making their rendezvous on some uninhabited island, and carryingdevastation to all the small settlements around ; robbing,destroying, killing, or taking captive all they meet with. Theirlong well-manned praus escape from the pursuit of any sailingvessel by pulling away right in the wind's eye, and the warningsmoke of a steamer generally enables them to hide in someshallow bay, or narrow river, or forest-covered inlet, till thedanger is passed. The only eftectual way to put a stop to theirdepredations would be to attack them in their strongholds andvillages, and compel them to give up piracy, and submit tostrict surveillance. Sir James Brooke did this with the piratesof the north-west coast of Borneo, and deserves the tiiauks ofthe whole population of the Archipelago for having rid them ofhalf their enemies.All along the beach here, and in the adjacent strip of sandylowland, is a remarkable display of Pandanacete or Screw-pines.Some are like huge branching candelabra, forty or fifty feet high,and bearing at the end of each branch a tuft of immense swordshapedleaves, six or eight inches wide, and as many feet long.