Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Arrived at our destination we built a hut and prepared for a stay of some days, I to shoot
and skin 'Maleos,' Mr. Goldmann and the Major to hunt wild pigs, Babirusa, and Sapi-utan.
The place is situated in the large bay between the islands of Limbé and Banca, and consists
of a steep beach more than a mile in length, of deep loose and coarse black volcanic sand or
rather gravel, very fatiguing to walk over. It is bounded at each extremity by a small river,
with hilly ground beyond; while the forest behind the beach itself is tolerably level and its
growth stunted. We have here probably an ancient lava stream from the Klabat volcano,
which has flowed down a valley into the sea, and the decomposition of which has formed
the loose black sand. In confirmation of this view it may be mentioned, that the beaches
beyond the small rivers in both directions are of white sand.
It is in this loose hot black sand, that those singular birds the 'Maleos' deposit their eggs.
In the months of August and September, when there is little or no rain, they come down in
pairs from the interior to this or to one or two other favourite spots, and scratch holes three
or four feet deep, just above high-water mark, where the female deposits a single large egg,
which she covers over with about a foot of sand, and then returns to the forest. At the end of
ten or twelve days she comes again to the same spot to lay another egg, and each female
bird is supposed to lay six or eight eggs during the season. The male assists the female in
making the hole, coming down and returning with her. The appearance of the bird when
walking on the beach is very handsome. The glossy black and rosy white of the plumage,
the helmeted head and elevated tail, like that of the common fowl, give a striking character,
which their stately and somewhat sedate walk renders still more remarkable. There is hardly
any difference between the sexes, except that the casque or bonnet at the back of the head
and the tubercles at the nostrils are a little larger, and the beautiful rosy salmon colour a
little deeper in the male bird, but the difference is so slight that it is not always possible to
tell a male from a female without dissection. They run quickly, but when shot at or suddenly
disturbed take wing with a heavy noisy flight to some neighbouring tree, where they settle
on a low branch; and they probably roost at night in a similar situation. Many birds lay in
the same hole, for a dozen eggs are often found together; and these are so large that it is not
possible for the body of the bird to contain more than one fully-developed egg at the same
time. In all the female birds which I shot, none of the eggs besides the one large one ex-
ceeded the size of peas, and there were only eight or nine of these, which is probably the ex-
treme number a bird can lay in one season.
Every year the natives come for fifty miles round to obtain these eggs, which are es-
teemed a great delicacy, and when quite fresh are indeed delicious. They are richer than
hens' eggs and of a finer flavour, and each one completely fills an ordinary teacup, and
