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

330 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.have any charms for me, and that I even decline to speculate intortoiseshell, but tliat anything eatable I will buy—fish, orturtle, or vegetables of any sort. Almost the only food, however,that we can obtain with any regularity, are fish andcockles of very good quality, and to supply our daily wants itis absolutely necessary to be always provided with four articles—tobacco, knives, sago-cakes, and Dutcli copper doits—becausewhen the particular thing asked for is not forthcoming, the fishpass on to the next house, and we may go tliat day without adinner. It is curious to see the baskets and buckets used here.The cockles are brought in large volute shells, probably theCymbium ducale, while gigantic helmet-shells, a species ofCassis, suspended by a rattan handle, form the vessels in whichfresh water is daily carried past ray door. It is painful to anaturalist to see these splendid shells witli their inner wliorlsruthlessly broken away to fit them for their ignoble use.My collections, however, got on but slowly, owing to the unexpectedlybad weather, violent winds with lieavy showershaving been so continuous as only to give me four good collectingdays out of the first sixteen I silent here. Yet enoughhad been collected to show me that witli time and fine weatherI might expect to do sometliing good. From the natives Iobtained some very fine insects and a few pretty land-shells ;and of the small number of birds yet shot more tlian half wereknown New Guinea species, and therefore certainly rare inEuropean collections, while the remainder were probably new.In one respect my hopes seemed doomed to be disappointed. Ihad anticipated the pleasure of myself preparing fine specimensof the Birds of Paradise, but I now learnt that they are all atthis season out of plumage, and that it is in September andOctober that they have the long plumes of yellow silky feathersin full perfection. As all the praus return in July, I should notbe able to spend that season in Aru without remaining anotherwliole year, which was out of the question. I was informed,however, that tlie small red species, the " King Bird of Paradise,"retains its plumage at aU seasons, and this I might thereforehope to get.As I became familiar with the forest scenery of the island, Ipei'ceived it to possess some characteristic features tliat distinguishedit from that of Borneo and Malacca, while, wliat isrecalled to my mind the half-Forexample, tlie palms were much more abundant than I hadgenerally found them in the East, more generally mingled withthe other vegetation, more varied in form and aspect, andpresenting some of those lofty and majestic smooth-stemmed,pinnate-leaved species which I'ecallthe Uauassii (Attalea speciosa)of the Amazon, but which I had hitherto rarely met witli in theMalayan islands.In animal life the immense number and variety of spidersvery singular and interesting, itforgotten impressions of the forests of Equatorial America.