Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
hopeless task, and confined my attention to preserving specimens in as good a condition as
possible.
The Red Birds of Paradise are not shot with blunt arrows, as in the Aru Islands and some
parts of New Guinea, but are snared in a very ingenious manner. A large climbing Arum
bears a red reticulated fruit, of which the birds are very fond. The hunters fasten this fruit on
a stout forked stick, and provide themselves with a fine but strong cord. They then seek out
some tree in the forest on which these birds are accustomed to perch, and climbing up it
fasten the stick to a branch and arrange the cord in a noose so ingeniously, that when the
bird comes to eat the fruit its legs are caught, and by pulling the end of the cord, which
hangs down to the ground, it comes free from the branch and brings down the bird. Some-
times, when food is abundant elsewhere, the hunter sits from morning till night under his
tree with the cord in his hand, and even for two or three whole days in succession, without
even getting a bite; while, on the other hand, if very lucky, he may get two or three birds in a
day. There are only eight or ten men at Bessir who practise this art, which is unknown any-
where else in the island. I determined, therefore, to stay as long as possible, as my only
chance of getting a good series of specimens; and although I was nearly starved, everything
eatable by civilized man being scarce or altogether absent, I finally succeeded.
The vegetables and fruit in the plantations around us did not suffice for the wants of the
inhabitants, and were almost always dug up or gathered before they were ripe. It was very
rarely we could purchase a little fish; fowls there were none; and we were reduced to live
upon tough pigeons and cockatoos, with our rice and sago, and sometimes we could not get
these. Having been already eight months on this voyage, my stock of all condiments, spices
and butter, was exhausted, and I found it impossible to eat sufficient of my tasteless and un-
palatable food to support health. I got very thin and weak, and had a curious disease known
(I have since heard) as brow-ague. Directly after breakfast every morning an intense pain set
in on a small spot on the right temple. It was a severe burning ache, as bad as the worst
toothache, and lasted about two hours, generally going off at noon. When this finally ceased,
I had an attack of fever, which left me so weak and so unable to eat our regular food, that I
feel sure my life was saved by a couple of tins of soup which I had long reserved for some
such extremity. I used often to go out searching after vegetables, and found a great treasure
in a lot of tomato plants run wild, and bearing little fruits about the size of gooseberries. I
also boiled up the tops of pumpkin plants and of ferns, by way of greens, and occasionally
got a few green papaws. The natives, when hard up for food, live upon a fleshy seaweed,
which they boil till it is tender. I tried this also, but found it too salt and bitter to be endured.
