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

Sxxxvi.] WAIGIOU.407severe knocks on the head by suddenly rising from n^yc^^^^^^learnt to accommodate myself to circumstances ^^ ^ P^* ^P ^l^s^^niir&trs^Sii^f^^^^loftthey spread their mats on the floor below, and we none of^^t^^^^s'^S^'^enA for the men who were accus_tomed to catch the Birds of Paradise. Several carae and IsWed them my hatchets, beads, kmves, and handkerchiefsS exJw to them as well as I could by signs, the price IXuld SvXr fresh-killed specimens.to mv fm-everythin- in advance ; but only one man venturedonS occaVon'to take goods to the value o two birds TheIt is the universal customrpst were suspicious, and wanted to see the result ot tne nrstbai Jn witl the strange white man, the only one who had evercoife tS tl^ir island,/fter three days, -Y --.Xin "smallfir^t bird—a very fine specimen, and alive, but tied up m a smaiibLi and consequently its tail and wing feathers very muchSied and iniured. I tried to explain to him, and to theothers that caSe with him, that I wanted them as perfect asSossble and that they should either kill them, or keep them on^^e^^f^^^ goods ;s-e for-^^^^^^^^^^^?s thev cliS any. At intervals of a few days or a week, someriturn, bringing me one or more birds; butthoudi tlTey did not bring any more in bags, there was notSLpro^vement in theii condition. As they caught them aon- w^v Xfn the forest, they would scarcely ever come withone° but^would tie it by the leg to a stick, and put it in theirhouse till tC caught another. The poor creature would make;?oTent eCtI to escape, would get--X^/^^ t-df^^tr^nsnended bv the leg till the limb was swollen and hait-putreneci,3SSimes die of starvation and worry. One had its beau-Si SaU defiled by pitch from a dammar torch ;another hadW so long dead thaVits stomach was turning green. Luckilyhowever the skin and plumage of these birds is so firm andItron- that they bear washing and cleaning better than almostInTothe sortTami I ^^- generally able to clean them so wel?Kt they did not perceptibly differ from those I had shot3 S w?uld""Fome few were brought me the same day they were caught,and I had an opportunity of examining them m all their beautyam vivacity. As soon as I found they were generally broughtaUve i set one of my men to make a large bamboo cage withtJoiShs for food and water, hoping to be able to keep some ofthem I got the natives to bring me branches of a fruit theywSe very fond of, and I was pleased to find they ate it greedily,