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

408 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. tcHAP.and would also take any number of live grasshoppers I gavethem, strii^ping off the legs and wings, and then swallowingthem. They drank plenty of water, and were in constantmotion, jumping about the cage from perch to perch, clinging onthe top and sides, and rarely resting a moment the first day tillnightfall. The second day they were always less active, althoughthey would eat as freely as before ; and on the morning of thethird day they wei'e almost always found dead at the bottom ofthe cage, without any aj^iDarent cause. Some of them ate boiledrice as well as fruit and insects ; but after trying many in succession,not one out of ten lived more than three days. Thesecond or third day they would be dull, and in several casesthey were seized with convulsions, and fell off the perch, dyinga few hours afterwards. I tried immature as well as fullplumagedbirds, but with no better success, and at length gaveit up as a hopeless task, and confined my attention to preservingspecimens in as good a condition as possible.The Red Birds of Paradise are not shot with blunt arrows, asin the Aru Islands and some parts of New Guinea, but aresnared in a very ingenious manner. A large climbing Arumbears a red reticulated fruit, of which the birds are very fond.The hunters fasten this fruit on a stout forked stick, andprovide themselves with a fine but strong coi'd. Tliey thenseek out some tree in the forest on which these birds ai'e accustomedto perch, and climbing up it fasten the stick to a branchand arrange the coi'd in a noose so ingeniously, that when thebird comes to eat the fruit its legs are caught, and by pullingthe end of the cord, winch hangs down to the ground, it comesfree from the branch and brings down the bird. Sometimes,when food is abundant elsewhere, the hunter sits from morningtill night under his tree with the cord in his hand, andeven for two or thi'ee whole days in succession, without evengetting a bite ; while, on the other hand, if very lucky, he mayget two or three birds in a day. There are only eight or tenmen at Bessir who practise this art, whicli is unknown anywhereelse in the island. I determined, therefore, to stay aslong as possible, as my only chance of getting a good series ofspecimens ; and although I was nearly starved, everythingeatable by civilized man being scarce or altogether absent, Ifinally succeeded.The vegetables and fruit in the plantations around us did notsuflice for the wants of tiie inhabitants, and were almost alwaysdug up or gathered before they were ripe. It was very rarelywe could purchase a little fish ; fowls there were none ; and wewere reduced to live upon tough pigeons and cockatoos, withour rice and sago, and sometimes we could not get these.Having been already eight months on this voyage, my stock ofall condiments, spices and butter, was exhausted, and I foundit impossible to eat sufiicient of my tasteless and unpalatablefood to support health. I got very thin and weak, and had a