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

320 THE IIALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.were in danger of plunging thi'ougli at every step. Native boxesof paudan US-leaves and slabs of palm pith, very neatly constructed,mats of the same, jars and cooking pots of nativepottexy, and a few EuroiDean plates and basins, were the wholefurniture, and the interior was througliout dark and smokeblackened,and dismal in the extreme.Accompanied by Ali and Baderoon, I now attempted to makesome explorations, and we were followed by a train of boyseager to see what we were going to do. Tlie most trodden pathfrom the beach led us into a shady hollow, where the trees wereof immense lieight and the undergrowth scanty. From thesummits of these trees came at intervals a deep booming sound,Avhich at first puzzled us, but which we soon found to proceedfrom some large pigeons. My boys shot at them, and after oneor two misses, brought one down. It was a magnificent birdtwenty inches long, of a bluish white colour, with the backwings and tail intense metallic green, with golden, blue, andviolet reflexions, the feet coral red, and the eyes golden yellow.It is a rare species, wliich I have named Carpoi^haga concinna,and is found only in a few small islands, where, however, itabounds. It is the same si^ecies which in the island of Banda iscalled the nutmeg-pigeon, from its habit of devouring the fruits,the seed or nutmeg being thrown up entire and uninjured.Though these pigeons have a narrow beak, yet 'their jaws andthroat are so extensible that they can swallow fruits of verylarge size. I had before shot a species much smaller than thisone, which had a number of hard gobular palm-fruits in its crop,each moi'e than an inch in diameter.A little further the path divided into two, one leading alongthe beach, and across mangrove and sago swamps, the otherrising to cultivated grounds. We therefore returned and takinga fresh departure from the village, endeavoured to ascend thehills and penetrate into the interior. The path, however, was amost trying one. Where there was earth, it was a deposit ofreddish clay overlying the rock, and was worn so smooth by theattrition of naked feet that my shoes could obtain no hold onthe sloping surface. A little farther we came to the bare rock,and this was worse, for it was so rugged and broken, and sohoneycombed and weatherworn into sharp points and angles,that my boys, who had gone barefooted all their lives, could notstand it. Their feet began to bleed, and I saw that if I did notwant them completely lamed it would be wise to turn back.My own shoes, which were rather thin, were but a poor pi'otection,and would soon have been cut to pieces ;yet our littlenaked guides tripped along with the greatest ease and unconcern,and seemed much astonished at our effeminacy in not beingable to take a walk which to them was a perfectly agreeable one.During the rest of our stay in the island we were obliged toconfine ourselves to the vicinity of the shore and the cultivatedgrounds, and those more level portions of the forest where a