I However Deferred Inquiry Till I Had Seen The
Neighbouring Forest, And Immediately Started Off With Two Men,
Net, And Guns, Along A Path At The Back Of The House.
In an
hour's walk I saw enough to make me determine to give the place a
trial, and on
My return, finding the "Orang-kaya" was in a strong
fever-fit and unable to do anything, I entered into negotiations
with the owner of the house for the use of a slip at one end of
it about five feet wide, for a week, and agreed to pay as rent
one "parang," or chopping-knife. I then immediately got my boxes
and bedding out of the boat, hung up a shelf for my bird-skins
and insects, and got all ready for work next morning. My own boys
slept in the boat to guard the remainder of my property; a
cooking place sheltered by a few mats was arranged under a tree
close by, and I felt that degree of satisfaction and enjoyment
which I always experience when, after much trouble and delay, I
am on the point of beginning work in a new locality.
One of my first objects was to inquire for the people who are
accustomed to shoot the Paradise birds. They lived at some
distance in the jungle, and a man was sent to call them. When
they arrived, we had a talk by means of the "Orang-kaya "as
interpreter, and they said they thought they could get some. They
explained that they shoot the birds with a bow and arrow, the
arrow having a conical wooden cap fitted to the end as large as a
teacup, so as to kill the bird by the violence of the blow
without making any wound or shedding any blood. The trees
frequented by the birds are very lofty; it is therefore necessary
to erect a small leafy covering or hut among the branches, to
which the hunter mounts before daylight in the morning and
remains the whole day, and whenever a bird alights they are
almost sure of securing it. (See Frontispiece.) They returned to
their homes the same evening, and I never saw anything more of
them, owing, as I afterwards found, to its being too early to
obtain birds in good plumage.
The first two or three days of our stay here were very wet, and I
obtained but few insects or birds, but at length, when I was
beginning to despair, my boy Baderoon returned one day with a
specimen which repaid me for months of delay and expectation. It
was a small bird a little less than a thrush. The greater part of
its plumage was of an intense cinnabar red, with a gloss as of
spun glass. On the head the feathers became short and velvety,
and shaded into rich orange. Beneath, from the breast downwards,
was pure white, with the softness and gloss of silk, and across
the breast a band of deep metallic green separated this colour
from the red of the throat.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 102 of 213
Words from 52789 to 53301
of 111511