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

XXXI.] ARU ISLANDS.—RESIDENCE IN THE INTERIOR. 357uncovered. Four or five different kinds of ants attack everythingnot isolated by water, and one kind even swims acrossthat ;great spiders lur-k in baskets and boxes, or liide in thefokis of my mosquito curtain ; centipedes and millepedes arefound everywhere. I have caught them under my pillow andon my head ; while in every box, and under every board whichhas lain for some days undisturbed, little scorpions are sure tobe found snugly ensconced, with their formidable tails quicklyturned up ready for attack or defence. Such companions seemvery alarming and dangerous, but all combined are not so badas the irritation of mosquitoes, or of the insect pests often foundat home. These latter are a constant and unceasing source oftorment and disgust, whereas you may live a long time amongscorpions, spiders, and centipedes, ugly and venomous thoughthey are, and get no harm from them. After living twelveyears in the trojDics, I have never yet been bitten or stung byeither.The lean and hungry dogs before mentioned were my greatestenemies, and kept me constantly on the watch. If my boysleft the bird they were skinning for an instant, it was sure tobe carried off. Everything eatable had to be hung up to theroof, to be out of their reach. Ali had just finished skinning afine King Bird of Paradise one day, when he dropped the skin.Before he could stoop to jiick it up, one of this famished racehad seized upon it, and he only succeeded in rescuing it from itsfangs after it was torn to tatters. Two skins of the largeParadisea, which were quite dry and ready to pack away, wereincautiously left on my table for the night, wrapped up inpaper. The next morning they were gone, and only a fewscattered feathers indicated their fate. My hanging shelf wasout of their reach ; but having stupidly left a box which servedas a step, a fuU-plumaged Paradise Bird was next morningmissing ; and a dog below the house was to be seen stillmumbling over the fragments, with the fine golden plumes alltrampled in the mud. Every night, as soon as I was in bed, Icould hear them searching about for what they could devour,under my table, and all about my boxes and baskets, keepingme in a state of suspense till morning, lest something of valuemight incautiously have been left within their reach. Theywould drink the oil of my floating lamp and eat the wick, andupset or break my crockery if my lazy boys had neglected towash away even the smell of anything eatable. Bad, however,as they are here, they were worse in a Dyak's house in Borneowhere I was once staying, for there they gnawed off the tops ofmy waterproof boots, ate a large piece out of an old leathergame-bag, besides devouring a portion of my mosquito curtain !AjJril 28