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

356 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.scarcely differed from the people I was living with. Theybrought me a couple of birds, some shells and insects, showingtliat the report of the white man and his doings had reachedtheir country. There was probably hardly a man in Aru whohad not by this time heard of me.Besides the domestic utensils already mentioned, the moveableproperty of a native is very scanty. He has a good supply ofspears and bows and arrows for hunting, a parang, or choppingknife,and an axe—for the stone age lias passed away here,owing to the commercial enterprise of the Bugis and otherMalay races. Attaclied to a belt, or hung across his shoulder,he carries a little skin pouch and an ornamented bamboo, containingbetel-nut, tobacco, and lime, and a small Germanwooden-handled knife is generally stuck between his waist-clothof bark and his bare skin. Each man also possesses a "cadjan,"or sleei)ing-mat, made of the broad leaves of a i^andanus neatlysewn together in three layers. This mat is about four feetsquare, and when folded has one end sewn up, so that it formsa kind of sack open at one side. In the closed corner the heador feet can be placed, or by carrying it on the head in a showerit forms both coat and umbrella. It doubles up in a smallcompass for convenient carriage, and then forms a light andelastic cushion, so that on a journey it becomes clothing, house,bedding, and furnitui'e, all in one.The oidy ornaments in an Aru house are trophies of the chase—jaws of wild pigs, the heads and backbones of cassowaries,and plumes made from the feathers of the Bii'd of Paradise,cassowarj^, and domestic fowl. The spears, shields, knife-handles,and other utensils are more or less carved in fanciful designs,and the mats and leaf boxes are painted or plaited in neatpatterns of red, black, and yellow colours. I must not forgettliese boxes, whicli are most ingeniously made of the pith of apalm leaf pegged together, lined inside with i:)andanus leaves,and outside with the same, or with plaited grass. All the jointsand angles are covered witli strips of split rattan seAvn neatlyon. The lid is covered with the brown leathery sj^athe of theAreca palm, which is imi^ervious to water, and the whole box isneat, strong, and well finished. They are made from a fewinches to two or three feet long, and being much esteemed bythe Malays as clothes-boxes, are a regular article of export fromAru. Tlie natives use the smaller ones for tobacco or betel-nut,but seldom have clothes enough to require the larger ones,which are only made for sale.Among the domestic animals which may generally be seen innative houses are gaudy parrots, green, red, and blue, a fewdomestic fowls, which liave baskets hung for tliem to lay inunder tlie eaves, and who sleep on tlie ridge, and several lialfstarved,wolfisli-looking dogs. Instead of rats and mice thereare curious little inarsupial animals about tlie same size, whichrun about at night and nibble anything eatable that may he left