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

350 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.pigeon and several small birds, so that we were all kept hard atwork skinning till sunset. Just as we had cleared away andpacked up for the night, a strange beast was brought, whichhad been shot by the natives. It resembled in size, and in itswhite woolly covering, a small fat lamb, but had short legs,hand-like feet with large claws, and a long prehensile tail. Itwas a Cuscus (C maculatus), one of the curious marsupialanimals of the Papuan region, and I was very desirous toobtain the skin. The owners, howevei", said they wanted toeat it ; and though I offered them a good price, and promisedto give tliem all the meat, there was great hesitation. Suspectingthe reason, I offered, though it was night, to set to workimmediately and get out the body for them, to which theyagreed. The creature was much hacked about, and the twohind feet almost cut off, but it was the largest and finest siDecimenof the kind I had seen ; and after an hour's hard work Ihanded over the body to the owners, who immediately cut it upand roasted it for supper.As this w^as a very good place for birds, I determined toremain a montli longer, and took the opportunity of a nativeboat going to Dobbo to send Ali for a fresh supply of ammunitionand provisions. They started on the 10th of AjDril, and theliouse was crowded with about a hundred men, boys, women, andgirls, bringing their loads of sugar-cane, jDlantains, sirili-leaf,yams, S:c. ; one lad going from eacli house to sell the produceand make purchases. The noise was indescribable. At leastfifty of the hundred were always talking at once, and that notin tlie low, measured tones of the apathetically polite Malay, butwith loud voices, shouts, and screaming laughter, in which thewomen and children were even more conspicuous than the men.It was only while gazing at me that their tongues weremoderately quiet, because their eyes were fully occupied. Theblack vegetable soil here overlying the coral rock is very rich, andthe sugar-cane was finer than any I had ever seen. The canesbrought to the boat were often ten and even twelve feet long,and thick in proportion, with short joints throughout, sw^ellingbetween the knots with the abundance of the rich juice. AtDobbo they get a high price for it, Id. to 3f/. a stick, and there isan insatiable demand among the crews of the praus and the, Baba fishermen. Here they eat it continually. They half liveon it, and sometimes feed their pigs with it. Near every houseare great heaps of the refuse cane ; and large wicker-baskets tocontain this refuse as it is produced form a regular part of thefurniture of a house. Whatever time of the day j'^ou enter, youare sure to find three or four people with a yard of cane in onehand, a knife in the other, and a basket between their legs,hacking, paring, chewing, and Imsket-filling, with a perseveringassiduity which reminds one of a hungry cow grazing, or of acaterpillar eating up a leaf.After five days' absence the boats returned from Dobbo,