Marcel Proust - "A L'Ombre Des Jeunes Filles en Fleur, Volume 3"

Henry Beam Piper - "The Cosmic Computer"

Frederick Jackson Turner - "The Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin"

Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller Couch - "The Adventures of Harry Revel"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

The Malay Archipelago

b >> by Alfred Russell Wallace >> The Malay Archipelago




The Golden, or Six-shafted, Paradise Bird, is another rare
species, first figured by Buffon, and never yet obtained in
perfect condition. It was named by Boddaert, Paradisea sexpennis,
and forms the genus Parotia of Viellot. This wonderful bird is
about the size of the female Paradisea rubra. The plumage appear,
at first sight black, but it glows in certain light with bronze
and deep purple. The throat and breast are scaled with broad flat
feathers of an intense golden hue, changing to green and blue
tints in certain lights. On the back of the head is a broad
recurved band of feathers, whose brilliancy is indescribable,
resembling the sheen of emerald and topaz rather than any organic
substance. Over the forehead is a large patch of pure white
feathers, which shine like satin; and from the sides of the head
spring the six wonderful feathers from which the bird receives
its name. These are slender wires, six inches long, with a small
oval web at the extremity. In addition to these ornaments, there
is also an immense tuft of soft feathers on each side of the
breast, which when elevated must entirely hide the wings, and
give the bird au appearance of being double its real bulk. The
bill is black, short, and rather compressed, with the feathers
advancing over the nostrils, as in Cicinnurus regius. This
singular and brilliant bird inhabits the same region as the
Superb Bird of Paradise, and nothing whatever is known about it
but what we can derive from an examination of the skins preserved
by the natives of New Guinea.

The Standard Wing, named Semioptera wallacei by Mr. G. R. Gray,
is an entirely new form of Bird of Paradise, discovered by myself
in the island of Batchian, and especially distinguished by a pair
of long narrow feathers of a white colour, which spring from
among the short plumes which clothe the bend of the wing, and are
capable of being erected at pleasure. The general colour of this
bird is a delicate olive-brown, deepening to a loud of bronzy
olive in the middle of the back, and changing to a delicate ashy
violet with a metallic gloss, on the crown of the head. The
feathers, which cover the nostrils and extend half-way down the
beak, are loose and curved upwards. Beneath, it is much more
beautiful. The scale-like feathers of the breast are margined
with rich metallic blue-green, which colour entirely covers the
throat and sides of the neck, as well as the long pointed plumes
which spring from the sides of the breast, and extend nearly as
far as the end of the wings. The most curious feature of the
bird, however, and one altogether unique in the whole class, is
found in the pair of long narrow delicate feathers which spring
from each wing close to the bend. On lifting the wing-coverts
they are seen to arise from two tubular horny sheaths, which
diverge from near the point of junction of the carpal bones. As
already described at p. 41, they are erectile, and when the bird
is excited are spread out at right angles to the wing and
slightly divergent. They are from six to six and a half inches
long, the upper one slightly exceeding the lower. The total
length of the bird is eleven inches. The bill is horny olive, the
iris deep olive, and the feet bright orange.

The female bird is remarkably plain, being entirely of a dull
pale earthy brown, with only a slight tinge of ashy violet on the
head to relieve its general monotony; and the young males exactly
resemble her. (See figures at p. 41.)

This bird, frequents the lower trees of the forests, and, like
most Paradise Birds, is in constant motion--flying from branch to
branch, clinging to the twigs and even to the smooth and vertical
trunks almost as easily as a woodpecker. It continually utters a
harsh, creaking note, somewhat intermediate between that of
Paradisea apoda, and the more musical cry of Cicinnurus regius.
The males at short intervals open and flutter their wings, erect
the long shoulder feathers, and spread out the elegant green
breast shields.

The Standard Wing is found in Gilolo as well as in Batchian, and
all the specimens from the former island have the green breast
shield rather longer, the crown of the head darker violet, and
the lower parts of the body rather more strongly scaled with
green. This is the only Paradise Bird yet found in the Moluccan
district, all the others being confined to the Papuan Islands and
North Australia.

We now come to the Epimachidae, or Long-billed Birds of Paradise,
which, as before stated, ought not to be separated from the
Paradiseidae by the intervention of any other birds. One of the
most remarkable of these is the Twelve-wired Paradise Bird,
Paradises alba of Blumenbach, but now placed in the genus
Seleucides of Lesson.

This bird is about twelve inches long, of which the compressed
and curved beak occupies two inches. The colour of the breast and
upper surface appears at first sight nearly black, but a close
examination shows that no part of it is devoid of colour; and by
holding it in various lights, the most rich and glowing tints
become visible. The head, covered with short velvety feathers,
which advance on the chic much further than on the upper part of
the beak, is of a purplish bronze colour; the whole of the back
and shoulders is rich bronzy green, while the closed wings and
tail are of the most brilliant violet purple, all the plumage
having a delicate silky gloss. The mass of feathers which cover
the breast is really almost black, with faint glosses of green
and purple, but their outer edges are margined with glittering
bands of emerald green. The whole lower part of the body is rich
buffy yellow, including the tuft of plumes which spring from the
sides, and extend an inch and a half beyond the tail. When skins
are exposed to the light the yellow fades into dull white, from
which circumstance it derived its specific name. About six of the
innermost of these plumes on each side have the midrib elongated
into slender black wires, which bend at right angles, and curve
somewhat backwards to a length of about ten inches, forming one
of those extraordinary and fantastic ornaments with which this
group of birds abounds. The bill is jet black, and the feet
bright yellow. (See lower figure on the plate at the beginning of
this chapter).

The female, although not quite so plain a bird as in some other
species, presents none of the gay colours or ornamental plumage
of the male. The top of the head and back of the neck are black,
the rest of the upper parts rich reddish brown; while the under
surface is entirely yellowish ashy, somewhat blackish on the
breast, and crossed throughout with narrow blackish wavy bands.

The Seleucides alba is found in the island of Salwatty, and in
the north-western parts of New Guinea, where it frequents
flowering trees, especially sago-palms and pandani, sucking the
flowers, round and beneath which its unusually large and powerful
feet enable it to cling. Its motions are very rapid. It seldom
rests more than a few moments on one tree, after which it flies
straight off, and with great swiftness, to another. It has a loud
shrill cry, to be heard a long way, consisting of "Cah, cah,"
repeated five or six times in a descending scale, and at the last
note it generally flies away. The males are quite solitary in
their habits, although, perhaps, they assemble at pertain times
like the true Paradise Birds. All the specimens shot and opened
by my assistant Mr. Allen, who obtained this fine bird during his
last voyage to New Guinea, had nothing in their stomachs but a
brown sweet liquid, probably the nectar of the flowers on which
they had been feeding. They certainly, however, eat both fruit
and insects, for a specimen which I saw alive on board a Dutch
steamer ate cockroaches and papaya fruit voraciously. This bird
had the curious habit of resting at noon with the bill pointing
vertically upwards. It died on the passage to Batavia, and I
secured the body and formed a skeleton, which shows indisputably
that it is really a Bird of Paradise. The tongue is very long and
extensible, but flat and little fibrous at the end, exactly like
the true Paradiseas.

In the island of Salwatty, the natives search in the forests till
they find the sleeping place of this bird, which they know by
seeing its dung upon the ground. It is generally in a low bushy
tree. At night they climb up the trap, and either shoot the birds
with blunt arrows, or even catch them alive with a cloth. In New
Guinea they are caught by placing snares on the trees frequented
by them, in the same way as the Red Paradise birds are caught in
Waigiou, and which has already been described at page 362.

The great Epimaque, or Long-tailed Paradise Bird (Epimachus
magnus), is another of these wonderful creatures, only known by
the imperfect skins prepared by the
natives. In its dark velvety plumage, glowed with bronze and
purple, it resembles the Seleucides alba, but it bears a
magnificent tail more than two feet long, glossed on the upper
surface with the most intense opalescent blue. Its chief
ornament, however, consists in the group of broad plumes which
spring from the sides of the breast, and which are dilated at the
extremity, and banded with the most vivid metallic blue and
green. The bill is long and curved, and the feet black, and
similar to those of the allied forms. The total length of this
fine bird is between three and four feet.

This splendid bird inhabits the mountains of New Guinea, in the
same district with the Superb and the Six-shafted Paradise Birds,
and I was informed is sometimes found in the ranges near the
coast. I was several times assured by different natives that this
bird makes its nest in a hole under ground, or under rocks,
always choosing a place with two apertures, so that it may enter
at one and go out at the other. This is very unlike what we
should suppose to be the habits of the bird, but it is not easy
to conceive how the story originated if it is not true; and all
travellers know that native accounts of the habits of animals,
however strange they may seem, almost invariably turn out to be
correct.

The Scale-breasted Paradise Bird (Epimachus magnificus of Cuvier)
is now generally placed with the Australian Rifle birds in the
genus Ptiloris. Though very beautiful, these birds are less
strikingly decorated with accessory plumage than the other
species we have been describing, their chief ornament being a
more or less developed breastplate of stiff metallic green
feathers, and a small tuft of somewhat hairy plumes on the sides
of the breast. The back and wings of this species are of an
intense velvety black, faintly glossed in certain lights with
rich purple. The two broad middle tail feathers are opalescent
green-blue with a velvety surface, and the top of the head is
covered with feathers resembling scales of burnished steel. A
large triangular space covering the chin, throat, and breast, is
densely scaled with feathers, having a steel-blue or green
lustre, and a silky feel. This is edged below with a narrow band
of black, followed by shiny bronzy green, below which the body is
covered with hairy feathers of a rich claret colour, deepening to
black at the tail. The tufts of side plumes somewhat resemble
those of the true Birds of Paradise, but are scanty, about as
long as the tail, and of a black colour. The sides of the head
are rich violet, and velvety feathers extend on each side of the
beak over the nostrils.

I obtained at Dorey a young male of this bird, in a state of
plumage which is no doubt that of the adult female, as is the
case in all the allied species. The upper surface, wings, and
tail are rich reddish brown, while the under surface is of a pale
ashy colour, closely barred throughout with narrow wavy black
bands. There is also a pale banded stripe over the eye, and a
long dusky stripe from the gape down each side of the neck. This
bird is fourteen inches long, whereas the native skins of the
adult male are only about ten inches, owing to the way in which
the tail is pushed in, so as to give as much prominence as
possible to the ornamental plumage of the breast.

At Cape York, in North Australia, there is a closely allied
species, Ptiloris alberti, the female of which is very similar to
the young male bird here described. The beautiful Rifle Birds of
Australia, which much resemble those Paradise Birds, are named
Ptiloris paradiseus and Ptiloris victories, The Scale-breasted
Paradise Bird seems to be confined to the mainland of New Guinea,
and is less rare than several of the other species.

There are three other New Guinea birds which are by some authors
classed with the Birds of Paradise, and which, being almost
equally remarkable for splendid plumage, deserve to be noticed
here. The first is the Paradise pie (Astrapia nigra of Lesson), a
bird of the size of Paradises rubra, but with a very long tail,
glossed above with intense violet. The back is bronzy black, the
lower parts green, the throat and neck bordered with loose broad
feathers of an intense coppery hue, while on the top of the head
and neck they are glittering emerald green, All the plumage round
the head is lengthened and erectile, and when spread out by the
living bird must lave an effect hardly surpassed by any of the
true Paradise birds. The bill is black and the feet yellow. The
Astrapia seems to me to be somewhat intermediate between the
Paradiseidae and Epimachidae.

There is an allied species, having a bare carunculated head,
which has been called Paradigalla carunculata. It is believed to
inhabit, with the preceding, the mountainous, interior of New
Guinea, but is exceedingly rare, the only known specimen being in
the Philadelphia Museum.

The Paradise Oriole is another beautiful bird, which is now
sometimes classed with the Birds of Paradise. It has been named
Paradises aurea and Oriolus aureus by the old naturalists, and is
now generally placed in the same genus as the Regent Bird of
Australia (Sericulus chrysocephalus). But the form of the bill
and the character of the plumage seem to me to be so different
that it will have to form a distinct genus. This bird is almost
entirely yellow, with the exception of the throat, the tail, and
part of the wings and back, which are black; but it is chiefly
characterised by a quantity of long feathers of an intense glossy
orange colour, which cover its neck down to the middle of the
back, almost like the hackles of a game-cock.

This beautiful bird inhabits the mainland of New Guinea, and is
also found in Salwatty, but is so rare that I was only able to
obtain one imperfect native skin, and nothing whatever is known
of its habits.

I will now give a list of all the Birds of Paradise yet known,
with the places they are believed to inhabit.

1. Paradisea apoda (The Great Paradise Bird). Aru Islands.

2. Paradisea papuana (The Lesser Paradise Bird). New Guinea,
Mysol, Jobie.

3. Paradisea rubra (The Red Paradise Bird). Waigiou,

4. Cicinnurus regius (The King Paradise Bird). New Guinea, Aru
Islands, Mysol, Salwatty.

5. Diphyllodes speciosa (The Magnificent). New Guinea, Mysol,
Salwatty.

6. Diphyllodes wilsoni (The Red Magnificent). Waigiou.

7. Lophorina atra (The Superb). New Guinea.

8. Parotia sexpennis (The Golden Paradise Bird). New Guinea.

9. Semioptera wallacei (The Standard Wing). Batchian, Gilolo.

10. Epimachus magnus (The Long-tailed Paradise Bird). New Guinea

11. Seleucides albs (The Twelve-wired Paradise Bird).New Guinea,
Salwatty.

12. Ptiloris magnifica (The Scale-breasted Paradise Bird). New
Guinea.

13. Ptiloris alberti (Prince Albert's Paradise Bird). North
Australia.

14. Ptiloris Paradisea (The Rifle Bird). East Australia.

15. Ptiloris victoriae (The Victorian Rifle Bird). North-East
Australia.

16. Astrapia nigra (The Paradise Pie). New Guinea.

17. Paradigalla carunculata (The Carunculated Paradise Pie). New
Guinea.

I8. (?) Sericulus aureus (The Paradise Oriole). New Guinea,
Salwatty.

We see, therefore, that of the eighteen species which seem to
deserve a place among the Birds of Paradise, eleven are known to
inhabit the great island of New Guinea, eight of which are
entirely confined to it and the hardly separated island of
Salwatty. But if we consider those islands which are now united
to New Guinea by a shallow sea to really form a part of it, we
shall find that fourteen of the Paradise Birds belong to that
country, while three inhabit the northern and eastern parts of
Australia, and one the Moluccas. All the more extraordinary and
magnificent species are, however, entirely confined to the Papuan
region.

Although I devoted so much time to a search after these wonderful
birds, I only succeeded myself in obtaining five species during a
residence of many months in the Aru Islands, New Guinea, and
Waigiou. Mr. Allen's voyage to Mysol did not procure a single
additional species, but we both heard of a place called Sorong,
on the mainland of New Guinea, near Salwatty, where we were told
that all the kinds we desired could be obtained. We therefore
determined that he should visit this place, and endeavour to
penetrate into the interior among the natives, who actually shoot
and skin the Birds of Paradise. He went in the small prau I had
fitted up at Goram, and through the kind assistance of the Dutch
Resident at Ternate, a lieutenant and two soldiers were sent by
the Sultan of Tidore to accompany and protect him, and to assist
him in getting men and in visiting the interior.

Notwithstanding these precautions, Mr. Allen met with
difficulties in this voyage which we had neither of us
encountered before. To understand these, it is necessary to
consider that the Birds of Paradise are an article of commerce,
and are the monopoly of the chiefs of the coast villages, who
obtain them at a low rate from the mountaineers, and sell them to
the Bugis traders. A portion is also paid every year as tribute
to the Sultan of Tidore. The natives are therefore very jealous
of a stranger, especially a European, interfering in their trade,
and above all of going into the interior to deal with the
mountaineers themselves. They of course think he will raise the
prices in the interior, and lessen the supply on the coast,
greatly to their disadvantage; they also think their tribute will
be raised if a European takes back a quantity of the rare sorts;
and they have besides a vague and very natural dread of some
ulterior object in a white man's coming at so much trouble and
expense to their country only to get Birds of Paradise, of which
they know he can buy plenty (of the common yellow ones which
alone they value) at Ternate, Macassar, or Singapore.

It thus happened that when Mr. Allen arrived at Sorong, and
explained his intention of going to seek Birds of Paradise in the
interior, innumerable objections were raised. He was told it was
three or four days' journey over swamps and mountains; that the
mountaineers were savages and cannibals, who would certainly kill
him; and, lastly, that not a man in the village could be found
who dare go with him. After some days spent in these discussions,
as he still persisted in making the attempt, and showed them his
authority from the Sultan of Tidore to go where be pleased and
receive every assistance, they at length provided him with a boat
to go the first part of the journey up a river; at the same time,
however, they sent private orders to the interior villages to
refuse to sell any provisions, so as to compel him to return. On
arriving at the village where they were to leave the river and
strike inland, the coast people returned, leaving Mr. Allen to
get on as he could. Here he called on the Tidore lieutenant to
assist him, and procure men as guides and to carry his baggage to
the villages of the mountaineers. This, however, was not so
easily done. A quarrel took place, and the natives, refusing to
obey the imperious orders of the lieutenant, got out their knives
and spears to attack him and his soldiers; and Mr. Allen himself
was obliged to interfere to protect those who had come to guard
him. The respect due to a white man and the timely distribution
of a few presents prevailed; and, on showing the knives,
hatchets, and beads he was willing to give to those who
accompanied him, peace was restored, and the next day, travelling
over a frightfully rugged country, they reached the villages of
the mountaineers. Here Mr. Allen remained a month without any
interpreter through whom he could understand a word or
communicate a want. However, by signs and presents and a pretty
liberal barter, he got on very well, some of them accompanying
him every day in the forest to shoot, and receiving a small
present when he was successful.

In the grand matter of the Paradise Birds, however, little was
done. Only one additional species was found, the Seleucides alba,
of which be had already obtained a specimen in Salwatty; but he
learnt that the other kinds' of which be showed them drawings,
were found two or three days' journey farther in the interior.
When I sent my men from Dorey to Amberbaki, they heard exactly
the same story--that the rarer sorts were only found several
days' journey in the interior, among rugged mountains, and that
the skins were prepared by savage tribes who had never even been
seen by any of the coast people.

It seems as if Nature had taken precautions that these her
choicest treasures should not be made too common, and thus be
undervalued. This northern coast of New Guinea is exposed to the
full swell of the Pacific Ocean, and is rugged and harbourless.
The country is all rocky and mountainous, covered everywhere with
dense forests, offering in its swamps and precipices and serrated
ridges an almost impassable barrier to the unknown interior; and
the people are dangerous savages, in the very lowest stage of
barbarism. In such a country, and among such a people, are found
these wonderful productions of Nature, the Birds of Paradise,
whose exquisite beauty of form and colour and strange
developments of plumage are calculated to excite the wonder and
admiration of the most civilized and the most intellectual of
mankind, and to furnish inexhaustible materials for study to the
naturalist, and for speculation to the philosopher.

Thus ended my search after these beautiful birds. Five voyages to
different parts of the district they inhabit, each occupying in
its preparation and execution the larger part of a year, produced
me only five species out of the fourteen known to exist in the
New Guinea district. The kinds obtained are those that inhabit
the coasts of New Guinea and its islands, the remainder seeming
to be strictly confined to the central mountain-ranges of the
northern peninsula; and our researches at Dorey and Amberbaki,
near one end of this peninsula, and at Salwatty and Sorong, near
the other, enable me to decide with some certainty on the native
country of these rare and lovely birds, good specimens of which
have never yet been seen in Europe.

It must be considered as somewhat extraordinary that, during five
years' residence and travel in Celebes, the Moluccas, and New
Guinea, I should never have been able to purchase skins of half
the species which Lesson, forty years ago, obtained during a few
weeks in the same countries. I believe that all, except the
common species of commerce, are now much more difficult to obtain
than they were even twenty years ago; and I impute it principally
to their having been sought after by the Dutch officials through
the Sultan of Tidore. The chiefs of the annual expeditions to
collect tribute have had orders to get all the rare sorts of
Paradise Birds; and as they pay little or nothing for them (it
being sufficient to say they are for the Sultan), the head men of
the coast villages would for the future refuse to purchase them
from the mountaineers, and confine themselves instead to the
commoner species, which are less sought after by amateurs, but
are a more profitable merchandise. The same causes frequently
lead the inhabitants of uncivilized countries to conceal minerals
or other natural products with which they may become acquainted,
from the fear of being obliged to pay increased tribute, or of
bringing upon themselves a new and oppressive labour.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PAPUAN ISLANDS.

NEW GUINEA, with the islands joined to it by a shallow sea,
constitute the Papuan group, characterised by a very close
resemblance in their peculiar forms of life. Having already, in
my chapters on the Aru Islands and on the Birds of Paradise,
given some details of the natural history of this district, I
shall here confine myself to a general sketch of its animal
productions, and of their relations to those of the rest of the
world.

New Guinea is perhaps the largest island on the globe, being a
little larger than Borneo. It is nearly fourteen hundred miles
long, and in the widest part four hundred broad, and seems to be
everywhere covered with luxuriant forests. Almost everything that
is yet known of its natural productions comes from the north-
western peninsula, and a few islands grouped around it. These do
not constitute a tenth part of the area of the whole island, and
are so cut off from it, that their fauna may well he somewhat
different; yet they have produced us (with a very partial
exploration) no less than two hundred and fifty species of land
birds, almost all unknown elsewhere, and comprising some of the
most curious and most beautiful of the feathered tribes. It is
needless to say how much interest attaches to the far larger
unknown portion of this great island, the greatest terra
incognita that still remains for the naturalist to explore, and
the only region where altogether new and unimagined forms of life
may perhaps be found. There is now, I am happy to say, some
chance that this great country will no longer remain absolutely
unknown to us. The Dutch Government have granted well-equipped
steamer to carry a naturalist (Mr. Rosenberg, already mentioned
in this work) and assistants to New Guinea, where they are to
spend some years in circumnavigating the island, ascending its
large rivers a< far as possible into the interior, and making
extensive collections of its natural productions.

Copyright (c) 2007. topboookz.com. All rights reserved.