Only Two Quadrupeds Are Said By The
Natives To Inhabit The Island - A Wild Pig And A Cuscus, Or
Eastern Opossum, Of Neither Of Which Could I Obtain Specimens.
The insects were more abundant, and very interesting.
Of
butterflies I caught thirty-five species, most of them new to me,
and many quite unknown in European collections. Among them was
the fine yellow and black Papilio euchenor, of which but few
specimens had been previously captured, and several other
handsome butterflies of large size, as well as some beautiful
little "blues," and some brilliant dayflying moths. The beetle
tribe were less abundant, yet I obtained some very fine and rare
species. On the leaves of a slender shrub in an old clearing I
found several fine blue and black beetles of the genus Eupholus,
which almost rival in beauty- the diamond beetles of South
America. Some cocoa-nut palms in blossom on the beach were
frequented by a fine green floral beetle (Lomaptera which, when
the flowers were shaken, flew off like a small swarm of bees. I
got one of our crew to climb up the tree, and he brought me a
good number in his hand; and seeing they were valuable, I sent
him up again with my net to shake the flowers into, and thus
secured a large quantity. My best capture, however, was the
superb insect of the Buprestis family, already mentioned as
having been obtained from the natives, who told me they found it
in rotten trees in the mountains.
In the forest itself the only common and conspicuous coleoptera
were two tiger beetles. One, Therates labiata, was much larger
than our green tiger beetle, of a purple black colour, with green
metallic glosses, and the broad upper lip of a bright yellow. It
was always found upon foliage, generally of broad-leaned
herbaceous plants, and in damp and gloomy situations, taking
frequent short flights from leaf to leaf, and preserving an alert
attitude, as if always looking out for its prey. Its vicinity
could be immediately ascertained, often before it was seen, by a
very pleasant odour, like otto of roses, which it seems to emit
continually, and which may probably be attractive to the small
insects on which it feeds. The other, Tricondyla aptera, is one
of the most curious forms in the family of the Cicindelidae, and
is almost exclusively confined to the Malay islands. In shape it
resembles a very large ant, more than an inch long, and of a
purple black colour. Like an ant also it is wingless, and is
generally found ascending trees, passing around the trunks in a
spiral direction when approached, to avoid capture, so that it
requires a sudden run and active fingers to secure a specimen.
This species emits the usual fetid odour of the ground beetles.
My collections during our four days' stay at Ke were as follow: -
Birds, 13 species; insects, 194 species; and 3 kinds of land-
shells.
There are two kinds of people inhabiting these islands - the
indigenes, who have the Papuan characters strongly marked, and
who are pagans; and a mixed race, who are nominally Mahometans,
and wear cotton clothing, while the former use only a waist cloth
of cotton or bark. These Mahometans are said to have been driven
out of Banda by the early European settlers. They were probably a
brown race, more allied to the Malays, and their mixed
descendants here exhibit great variations of colour, hair, and
features, graduating between the Malay and Papuan types. It is
interesting to observe the influence of the early Portuguese
trade with these countries in the words of their language, which
still remain in use even among these remote and savage islanders.
"Lenco" for handkerchief, and "faca" for knife, are here used to
the exclusion of the proper Malay terms. The Portuguese and
Spaniards were truly wonderful conquerors and colonizers. They
effected more rapid changes in the countries they conquered than
any other nations of modern times, resembling the Romans in their
power of impressing their own language, religion, and manners on
rode and barbarous tribes.
The striking contrast of character between these people and the
Malays is exemplified in many little traits. One day when I was
rambling in the forest, an old man stopped to look at me catching
an insect. He stood very quiet till I had pinned and put it away
in my collecting box, when he could contain himself no longer,
but bent almost double, and enjoyed a hearty roar of laughter.
Every one will recognise this as a true negro trait. A Malay
would have stared, and asked with a tone of bewilderment what I
was doing, for it is but little in his nature to laugh, never
heartily, and still less at or in the presence of a stranger, to
whom, however, his disdainful glances or whispered remarks are
less agreeable than the most boisterous open expression of
merriment. The women here were not so much frightened at
strangers, or made to keep themselves so much secluded as among
the Malay races; the children were more merry and had the "nigger
grin," while the noisy confusion of tongues among the men, and
their excitement on very ordinary occasions, are altogether
removed from the general taciturnity and reserve of the Malay.
The language of the Ke people consists of words of one, two, or
three syllables in about equal proportions, and has many
aspirated and a few guttural sounds. The different villages have
slight differences of dialect, but they are mutually
intelligible, and, except in words that have evidently been
introduced during a long-continued commercial intercourse, seem
to have no affinity whatever with the Malay languages.
Jan. 6th.-The small boats being finished, we sailed for Aru at 4
P.M., and as we left the shores of Ke had a line view of its
rugged and mountainous character; ranges of hills, three or four
thousand feet high, stretching southwards as far as the eye could
reach, everywhere covered with a lofty, dense, and unbroken
forest.
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