Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
One day Mr. Mesman told me of a larger piece of forest where he sometimes went to
shoot deer, but he assured me it was much further off, and that there were no birds.
However, I resolved to explore it, and the next morning at five o'clock we started, carrying
our breakfast and some other provisions with us, and intending to stay the night at a house
on the borders of the wood. To my surprise two hours' hard walking brought us to this
house, where we obtained permission to pass the night. We then walked on, Ali and Ba-
deroon with a gun each, Baso carrying our provisions and my insect-box, while I took only
my net and collecting-bottle and determined to devote myself wholly to the insects. Scarcely
had I entered the forest when I found some beautiful little green and gold speckled weevils
allied to the genus Pachyrhynchus, a group which is almost confined to the Philippine Is-
lands, and is quite unknown in Borneo, Java, or Malacca. The road was shady and appar-
ently much trodden by horses and cattle, and I quickly obtained some butterflies I had not
before met with. Soon a couple of reports were heard, and coming up to my boys I found
they had shot two specimens of one of the finest of known cuckoos, Phœnicophaus calli-
rhynchus. This bird derives its name from its large bill being coloured of a brilliant yellow,
red, and black, in about equal proportions. The tail is exceedingly long, and of a fine metal-
lic purple, while the plumage of the body is light coffee brown. It is one of the characteristic
birds of the island of Celebes, to which it is confined.
After sauntering along for a couple of hours we reached a small river, so deep that horses
could only cross it by swimming, so we had to turn back; but as we were getting hungry,
and the water of the almost stagnant river was too muddy to drink, we went towards a house
a few hundred yards off. In the plantation we saw a small raised hut, which we thought
would do well for us to breakfast in, so I entered, and found inside a young woman with an
infant. She handed me a jug of water, but looked very much frightened. However, I sat down
on the door-step, and asked for the provisions. In handing them up, Baderoon saw the infant,
and started back as if he had seen a serpent. It then immediately struck me that this was a
hut in which, as among the Dyaks of Borneo and many other savage tribes, the women are
secluded for some time after the birth of their child, and that we did very wrong to enter it;
so we walked off and asked permission to eat our breakfast in the family mansion close at
hand, which was of course granted. While I ate, three men, two women, and four children
watched every motion, and never took eyes off me till I had finished.
On our way back in the heat of the day I had the good fortune to capture three specimens
of a fine Ornithoptera, the largest, the most perfect, and the most beautiful of butterflies. I
trembled with excitement as I took the first out of my net and found it to be in perfect condi-
tion. The ground colour of this superb insect was a rich shining bronzy black, the lower
