The Malay Archipelago Volume 1

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The place where we had first encamped at the foot of the mountain
being very gloomy, we chose another in a kind of swamp near a
stream overgrown with Zingiberaceous plants, in which a clearing
was easily made. Here our men built two little huts without
sides that would just shelter us from the rain; we lived in
them for a week, shooting and insect-hunting, and roaming about
the forests at the foot of the mountain. This was the country of
the great Argus pheasant, and we continually heard its cry. On
asking the old Malay to try and shoot one for me, he told me that
although he had been for twenty years shooting birds in these
forests he had never yet shot one, and had never even seen one
except after it had been caught. The bird is so exceedingly shy
and wary, and runs along the ground in the densest parts of the
forest so quickly, that it is impossible to get near it; and its
sober colours and rich eye-like spots, which are so ornamental
when seen in a museum, must harmonize well with the dead leaves
among which it dwells, and render it very inconspicuous. All the
specimens sold in Malacca are caught in snares, and my informant,
though he had shot none, had snared plenty.

The tiger and rhinoceros are still found here, and a few years
ago elephants abounded, but they have lately all disappeared. We
found some heaps of dung, which seemed to be that of elephants,
and some tracks of the rhinoceros, but saw none of the animals.
However, we kept a fire up all night in case any of these
creatures should visit us, and two of our men declared that they
did one day see a rhinoceros. When our rice was finished, and our
boxes full of specimens, we returned to Ayer-Panas, and a few
days afterwards went on to Malacca, and thence to Singapore.
Mount Ophir has quite a reputation for fever, and all our friends
were astonished at our recklessness in staying so long at its
foot; but none of us suffered in the least, and I shall ever
look back with pleasure to my trip as being my first
introduction to mountain scenery in the Eastern tropics.

The meagreness and brevity of the sketch I have here given of my
visit to Singapore and the Malay Peninsula is due to my having
trusted chiefly to some private letters and a notebook, which
were lost; and to a paper on Malacca and Mount Ophir which was
sent to the Royal Geographical Society, but which was neither
read nor printed owing to press of matter at the end of a
session, and the MSS. of which cannot now be found. I the less
regret this, however, as so many works have been written on these
parts; and I always intended to pass lightly over my travels in
the western and better known portions of the Archipelago, in
order to devote more space to the remoter districts, about which
hardly anything has been written in the English language.

CHAPTER IV.

BORNEO--THE ORANGUTAN.

I ARRIVED at Sarawak on November 1st, 1854, and left it on
January 25th, 1856. In the interval I resided at many different
localities, and saw a good deal of the Dyak tribes as well as of
the Bornean Malays. I was hospitably entertained by Sir James
Brooke, and lived in his house whenever I was at the town of
Sarawak in the intervals of my journeys. But so many books have
been written about this part of Borneo since I was there, that I
shall avoid going into details of what I saw and heard and
thought of Sarawak and its ruler, confining myself chiefly to my
experiences as a naturalist in search of shells, insects, birds
and the Orangutan, and to an account of a journey through a part
of the interior seldom visited by Europeans.

The first four months of my visit were spent in various parts of
the Sarawak River, from Santubong at its mouth up to the
picturesque limestone mountains and Chinese gold-fields of Bow
and Bede. This part of the country has been so frequently
described that I shall pass it over, especially as, owing to its
being the height of the wet season, my collections were
comparatively poor and insignificant.

In March 1865 I determined to go to the coalworks which were
being opened near the Simunjon River, a small branch of the
Sadong, a river east of Sarawak and between it and the Batang-
Lupar. The Simunjon enters the Sadong River about twenty miles
up. It is very narrow and very winding, and much overshadowed by
the lofty forest, which sometimes almost meets over it. The whole
country between it and the sea is a perfectly level forest-
covered swamp, out of which rise a few isolated hills, at the
foot of one of which the works are situated. From the landing-
place to the hill a Dyak road had been formed, which consisted
solely of tree-trunks laid end to end. Along these the barefooted
natives walk and carry heavy burdens with the greatest ease, but
to a booted European it is very slippery work, and when one's
attention is constantly attracted by the various objects of
interest around, a few tumbles into the bog are almost
inevitable. During my first walk along this road I saw few
insects or birds, but noticed some very handsome orchids in
flower, of the genus Coelogyne, a group which I afterwards found
to be very abundant, and characteristic of the district. On the
slope of the hill near its foot a patch of forest had been
cleared away, and several rule houses erected, in which were
residing Mr. Coulson the engineer, and a number of Chinese
workmen. I was at first kindly accommodated in Mr. Coulson's
house, but finding the spot very suitable for me and offering
great facilities for collecting, I had a small house of two rooms
and a verandah built for myself. Here I remained nearly nine
months, and made an immense collection of insects, to which class
of animals I devoted my chief attention, owing to the
circumstances being especially favourable.

In the tropics a large proportion of the insects of all orders,
and especially of the large and favourite group of beetles, are
more or less dependent on vegetation, and particularly on timber,
bark, and leaves in various stages of decay. In the untouched
virgin forest, the insects which frequent such situations are
scattered over an immense extent of country, at spots where trees
have fallen through decay and old age, or have succumbed to the
fury of the tempest; and twenty square miles of country may not
contain so many fallen and decayed trees as are to be found in
any small clearing. The quantity and the variety of beetles and
of many other insects that can be collected at a given time in
any tropical locality, will depend, first upon the immediate
vicinity of a great extent of virgin forest, and secondly upon
the quantity of trees that for some months past have been, and
which are still being cut down, and left to dry and decay upon
the ground.

Now, during my whole twelve years' collecting in the western and
eastern tropics, I never enjoyed such advantages in this respect
as at the Simunjon coalworks. For several months from twenty to
fifty Chinamen and Dyaks were employed almost exclusively in
clearing a large space in the forest, and in making a wide
opening for a railroad to the Sadong River, two miles distant.
Besides this, sawpits were established at various points in the
jungle, and large trees were felled to be cut up into beams and
planks. For hundreds of miles in every direction a magnificent
forest extended over plain and mountain, rock and morass, and I
arrived at the spot just as the rains began to diminish and the
daily sunshine to increase; a time which I have always found the
most favourable season for collecting. The number of openings,
sunny places, and pathways were also an attraction to wasps and
butterflies; and by paying a cent each for all insects that were
brought me, I obtained from the Dyaks and the Chinamen many fine
locusts and Phasmidae, as well as numbers of handsome beetles.

When I arrived at the mines, on the 14th of March, I had
collected in the four preceding months, 320 different kinds of
beetles. In less than a fortnight I had doubled this number, an
average of about 24 new species every day. On one day I collected
76 different kinds, of which 34 were new to me. By the end of
April I had more than a thousand species, and they then went on
increasing at a slower rate, so that I obtained altogether in
Borneo about two thousand distinct kinds, of which all but about
a hundred were collected at this place, and on scarcely more than
a square mile of ground. The most numerous and most interesting
groups of beetles were the Longicorns and Rhynchophora, both pre-
eminently wood-feeders. The former, characterised by their
graceful forms and long antenna, were especially numerous,
amounting to nearly three hundred species, nine-tenths of which
were entirely new, and many of them remarkable for their large
size, strange forms, and beautiful colouring. The latter
correspond to our weevils and allied groups, and in the tropics
are exceedingly numerous and varied, often swarming upon dead
timber, so that I sometimes obtained fifty or sixty different
kinds in a day. My Bornean collections of this group exceeded
five hundred species.

My collection of butterflies was not large; but I obtained some
rare and very handsome insects, the most remarkable being the
Ornithoptera Brookeana, one of the most elegant species known.
This beautiful creature has very long and pointed wings, almost
resembling a sphinx moth in shape. It is deep velvety black, with
a curved band of spots of a brilliant metallic-green colour
extending across the wings from tip to tip, each spot being
shaped exactly like a small triangular feather, and having very
much the effect of a row of the wing coverts of the Mexican
trogon, laid upon black velvet. The only other marks are a broad
neck-collar of vivid crimson, and a few delicate white touches on
the outer margins of the hind wings. This species, which was then
quite new and which I named after Sir James Brooke, was very
rare. It was seen occasionally flying swiftly in the clearings,
and now and then settling for an instant at puddles and muddy
places, so that I only succeeded in capturing two or three
specimens. In some other parts of the country I was assured it
was abundant, and a good many specimens have been sent to
England; but as yet all have been males, and we are quite unable
to conjecture what the female may be like, owing to the extreme
isolation of the species, and its want of close affinity to any
other known insect.

One of the most curious and interesting reptiles which I met with
in Borneo was a large tree-frog, which was brought me by one of
the Chinese workmen. He assured me that he had seen it come down
in a slanting direction from a high tree, as if it flew. On
examining it, I found the toes very long and fully webbed to
their very extremity, so that when expanded they offered a
surface much larger than the body. The forelegs were also
bordered by a membrane, and the body was capable of considerable
inflation. The back and limbs were of a very deep shining green
colour, the undersurface and the inner toes yellow, while the
webs were black, rayed with yellow. The body was about four
inches long, while the webs of each hind foot, when fully
expanded, covered a surface of four square inches, and the webs
of all the feet together about twelve square inches. As the
extremities of the toes have dilated discs for adhesion, showing
the creature to be a true tree frog, it is difficult to imagine
that this immense membrane of the toes can be for the purpose of
swimming only, and the account of the Chinaman, that it flew down
from the tree, becomes more credible. This is, I believe, the
first instance known of a "flying frog," and it is very
interesting to Darwinians as showing that the variability of the
toes which have been already modified for purposes of swimming
and adhesive climbing, have been taken advantage of to enable an
allied species to pass through the air like the flying lizard. It
would appear to be a new species of the genus Rhacophorus, which
consists of several frogs of a much smaller size than this, and
having the webs of the toes less developed.

During my stay in Borneo I had no hunter to shoot for me
regularly, and, being myself fully occupied with insects, I did
not succeed in obtaining a very good collection of the birds or
Mammalia, many of which, however, are well known, being identical
with species found in Malacca. Among the Mammalia were five
squirrels,and two tigercats--the Gymnurus Rafesii, which looks
like a cross between a pig and a polecat, and the Cynogale
Bennetti--a rare, otter-like animal, with very broad muzzle
clothed with long bristles.

One of my chief objects in coming to stay at Simunjon was to see
the Orangutan (or great man-like ape of Borneo) in his native
haunts, to study his habits, and obtain good specimens of the
different varieties and species of both sexes, and of the adult
and young animals. In all these objects I succeeded beyond my
expectations, and will now give some account of my experience in
hunting the Orangutan, or "Mias," as it is called by the natives;
and as this name is short, and easily pronounced, I shall
generally use it in preference to Simia satyrus, or Orangutan.

Just a week after my arrival at the mines, I first saw a Mias. I
was out collecting insects, not more than a quarter of a mile
from the house, when I heard a rustling in a tree near, and,
looking up, saw a large red-haired animal moving slowly along,
hanging from the branches by its arms. It passed on from tree to
tree until it was lost in the jungle, which was so swampy that I
could not follow it. This mode of progression was, however, very
unusual, and is more characteristic of the Hylobates than of the
Orang. I suppose there was some individual peculiarity in this
animal, or the nature of the trees just in this place rendered it
the most easy mode of progression.

About a fortnight afterwards I heard that one was feeding in a
tree in the swamp just below the house, and, taking my gun, was
fortunate enough to find it in the same place. As soon as I
approached, it tried to conceal itself among the foliage; but, I
got a shot at it, and the second barrel caused it to fall down
almost dead, the two balls having entered the body. This was a
male, about half-grown, being scarcely three feet high. On April
26th, I was out shooting with two Dyaks, when we found another
about the same size. It fell at the first shot, but did not seem
much hurt, and immediately climbed up the nearest tree, when I
fired, and it again fell, with a broken arm and a wound in the
body. The two Dyaks now ran up to it, and each seized hold of a
hand, telling me to cut a pole, and they would secure it. But
although one arm was broken and it was only a half-grown animal,
it was too strong for these young savages, drawing them up
towards its mouth notwithstanding all their efforts, so that they
were again obliged to leave go, or they would have been seriously
bitten. It now began climbing up the tree again; and, to avoid
trouble, I shot it through the heart.

On May 2nd, I again found one on a very high tree, when I had
only a small 80-bore gun with me. However, I fired at it, and on
seeing me it began howling in a strange voice like a cough, and
seemed in a great rage, breaking off branches with its hands and
throwing them down, and then soon made off over the tree-tops. I
did not care to follow it, as it was swampy, and in parts
dangerous, and I might easily have lost myself in the eagerness
of pursuit.

On the 12th of May I found another, which behaved in a very
similar manner, howling and hooting with rage, and throwing down
branches. I shot at it five times, and it remained dead on the
top of the tree, supported in a fork in such a manner that it
would evidently not fall. I therefore returned home, and luckily
found some Dyaks, who came back with me, and climbed up the tree
for the animal. This was the first full-grown specimen I had
obtained; but it was a female, and not nearly so large or
remarkable as the full-grown males. It was, however, 3 ft. 6 in.
high, and its arms stretched out to a width of 6 ft. 6 in. I
preserved the skin of this specimen in a cask of arrack,
andprepared a perfect skeleton, which was afterwards purchased
for the Derby Museum.

Only four days afterwards some Dyaks saw another Mias near the
same place, and came to tell me. We found it to be a rather large
one, very high up on a tall tree. At the second shot it fell
rolling over, but almost immediately got up again and began to
climb. At a third shot it fell dead. This was also a full-grown
female, and while preparing to carry it home, we found a young
one face downwards in the bog. This little creature was only
about a foot long, and had evidently been hanging to its mother
when she first fell. Luckily it did not appear to have been
wounded, and after we had cleaned the mud out of its mouth it
began to cry out, and seemed quite strong and active. While
carrying it home it got its hands in my beard, and grasped so
tightly that I had great difficulty in getting free, for the
fingers are habitually bent inwards at the last joint so as to
form complete hooks. At this time it had not a single tooth, but
a few days afterwards it cut its two lower front teeth.
Unfortunately, I had no milk to give it, as neither Malays-
Chinese nor Dyaks ever use the article, and I in vain inquired
for any female animal that could suckle my little infant. I was
therefore obliged to give it rice-water from a bottle with a
quill in the cork, which after a few trials it learned to suck
very well. This was very meagre diet, and the little creature did
not thrive well on it, although I added sugar and cocoa-nut milk
occasionally, to make it more nourishing. WhenI put my finger in
its mouth it sucked with great vigour, drawing in its cheeks with
all its might in the vain effort to extract some milk, and only
after persevering a long time would it give up in disgust, and
set up a scream very like that of a baby in similar
circumstances.

When handled or nursed, it was very quiet and contented, but when
laid down by itself would invariably cry; and for the first few
nights was very restless and noisy. I fitted up a little box for
a cradle, with a soft mat for it to lie upon, which was changed
and washed everyday; and I soon found it necessary to wash the
little Mias as well. After I had done so a few times, it came to
like the operation, and as soon as it was dirty would begin
crying and not leave off until I took it out and carried it to
the spout, when it immediately became quiet, although it would
wince a little at the first rush of the cold water and make
ridiculously wry faces while the stream was running over its
head. It enjoyed the wiping and rubbing dry amazingly, and when I
brushed its hair seemed to be perfectly happy, lying quite still
with its arms and legs stretched out while I thoroughly brushed
the long hair of its back and arms. For the first few days it
clung desperately with all four hands to whatever it could lay
hold of, and I had to be careful to keep my beard out of its way,
as its fingers clutched hold of hair more tenaciously than
anything else, and it was impossible to free myself without
assistance. When restless, it would struggle about with its hands
up in the air trying to find something to take hold of, and, when
it had got a bit of stick or rag in two or three of its hands,
seemed quite happy. For want of something else, it would often
seize its own feet, and after a time it would constantly cross
its arms and grasp with each hand the long hair that grew just
below the opposite shoulder. The great tenacity of its grasp soon
diminished, and I was obliged to invent some means to give it
exercise and strengthen its limbs. For this purpose I made a
short ladder of three or four rounds, on which I put it to hang
for a quarter of an hour at a time. At first it seemed much
pleased, but it could not get all four hands in a comfortable
position, and, after changing about several times, would leave
hold of one hand after the other, and drop onto the floor.
Sometimes when hanging only by two hands, it would loose one, and
cross it to the opposite shoulder, grasping its own hair; and, as
this seemed much more agreeable than the stick, it would then
loose the other and tumble down, when it would cross both and lie
on its back quite contentedly, never seeming to be hurt by its
numerous tumbles. Finding it so fond of hair, I endeavoured to
make an artificial mother, by wrapping up a piece of buffalo-skin
into a bundle, and suspending it about a foot from the floor. At
first this seemed to suit it admirably, as it could sprawl its
legs about and always find some hair, which it grasped with the
greatest tenacity. I was now in hopes that I had made the little
orphan quite happy; and so it seemed for some time, until it
began to remember its lost parent, and try to suck. It would pull
itself up close to the skin, and try about everywhere for a
likely place; but, as it only succeeded in getting mouthfuls of
hair and wool, it would be greatly disgusted, and scream
violently, and, after two or three attempts, let go altogether.
One day it got some wool into its throat, and I thought it would
have choked, but after much gasping it recovered, and I was
obliged to take the imitation mother to pieces again, and give up
this last attempt to exercise the little creature.

After the first week I found I could feed it better with a spoon,
and give it a little more varied and more solid food. Well-soaked
biscuit mixed with a little egg and sugar, and sometimes sweet
potatoes, were readily eaten; and it was a never-failing
amusement to observe the curious changes of countenance by which
it would express its approval or dislike of what was given to it.
The poor little thing would lick its lips, draw in its cheeks,
and turn up its eyes with an expression of the most supreme
satisfaction when it had a mouthful particularly to its taste. On
the other hand, when its food was not sufficiently sweet or
palatable, it would turn the mouthful about with its tongue for a
moment as if trying to extract what flavour there was, and then
push it all out between its lips. If the same food was continued,
it would set up a scream and kick about violently, exactly like a
baby in a passion.

After I had had the little Mias about three weeks, I fortunately
obtained a young hare-lip monkey (Macacus cynomolgus), which,
though small, was very active, and could feed itself. I placed it
in the same box with the Mias, and they immediately became
excellent friends, neither exhibiting the least fear of the
other. The little monkey would sit upon the other's stomach, or
even on its face, without the least regard to its feelings. While
I was feeding the Mias, the monkey would sit by, picking up all
that was spilt, and occasionally putting out its hands to
intercept the spoon; and as soon as I had finished would pick off
what was left sticking to the Mias' lips, and then pull open its
mouth and see if any still remained inside; afterwards lying down
on the poor creature's stomach as on a comfortable cushion. The
little helpless Mias would submit to all these insults with the
most exemplary patience, only too glad to have something warm
near it, which it could clasp affectionately in its arms. It
sometimes, however, had its revenge; for when the monkey wanted
to go away, the Mias would hold on as long as it could by the
loose skin of its back or head, or by its tail, and it was only
after many vigorous jumps that the monkey could make his escape.

It was curious to observe the different actions of these two
animals, which could not have differed much in age. The Mias,
like a very young baby, lying on its back quite helpless, rolling
lazily from side to side, stretching out all four hands into the
air, wishing to grasp something, but hardly able to guide its
fingers to any definite object; and when dissatisfied, opening
wide its almost toothless mouth, and expressing its wants by a
most infantine scream. The little monkey, on the other hand, in
constant motion, running and jumping about wherever it pleased,
examining everything around it, seizing hold of the smallest
object with the greatest precision, balancing itself on the edge
of the box or running up a post, and helping itself to anything
eatable that came in its way. There could hardly be a greater
contrast, and the baby Mias looked more baby-like by the
comparison.

When I had had it about a month, it began to exhibit some signs
of learning to run alone. When laid upon the floor it would push
itself along by its legs, or roll itself over, and thus make an
unwieldy progression. When lying in the box it would lift itself
up to the edge into almost an erect position, and once or twice
succeeded in tumbling out. When left dirty, or hungry, or
otherwise neglected, it would scream violently until attended to,
varied by a kind of coughing or pumping noise very similar to
that which is made by the adult animal. If no one was in the
house, or its cries were not attended to, it would be quiet after
a little while, but the moment it heard a footstep would begin
again harder than ever.

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