I must give a very brief account of our excursion, which we had just
before projected. A native boat carried us across to the mainland, and
landing, we were amused with the number of sea-shells which we found on
the ground away from the beach. They were of a variety of shapes and
kinds, which had been taken possession of by those curious creatures,
the hermit crabs, who wander into the forest in search of food.
Sometimes, however, they become food themselves to huge spiders, and we
saw one monster carry away a fair-sized shell, and devour its unhappy
occupant. We came upon several little parties of hermit crabs, whom,
breaking through their custom, we found assembled round some delicate
morsel; but as soon as they heard us, away they scrambled as fast as
they could crawl. The spiders were huge spotted monsters, with bodies
two inches long, and legs in proportion. They form thick glutinous
threads across the path, which are very unpleasant to meet, and really
cost a great deal of trouble to get rid of. Sometimes, indeed, we ran
our faces directly against one of the monsters, though in most cases the
creature was as glad to get off as we were to get rid of him. We met
also numerous lizards, of various shades of green, grey, and brown,
every rotten trunk being alive with them, as they ran about seeking for
insects. Our native hunters had arrows with heads as large as a small
tea-cup, for the purpose of shooting the birds of paradise.
Among the most beautiful vegetable productions are the tree-ferns. We
were never tired of admiring them, and Mr Hooker said they were
superior in size and beauty to any he had before seen. There were also
beautiful palms with slender smooth stems, perfectly straight, reaching
to the height of a hundred feet, and surmounted by a crown of gracefully
drooping leaves.
Our men carried sleeping mats for us to wrap ourselves in at night, with
a small kettle for boiling our tea, and a pot for cooking our meat or
soup. When resting at night we quickly formed an impromptu hut of
boughs. I could not help wishing that my sister and Grace had been with
us, to admire the beautiful forests and magnificent birds we saw.
Rising in the morning, we witnessed another dance of the birds of
paradise in some trees close to us, and our native hunters shot several
of them.
"It is strange," said Mr Hooker, "that the only inhabitants of this
region, where the most graceful of trees and the most beautiful of birds
in the universe exist, should be inhabited by races utterly incapable of
appreciating them."
"Perhaps, sir, it may be that God has thus arranged it, that civilised
man should be led to the spot to make His name known among those
savages. Had it not been for these birds of paradise, perhaps these
very islands might not have been heard of."
"Ah, Oliver, I like that idea. I think you are right," said Mr Hooker,
and he was silent for some minutes. I too was struck by it.
"Yes, sir," said Oliver, "God has a reason for all His arrangements, and
I think it is allowable for us to conjecture what that reason may be;
but though we cannot find it out, we may be very sure the reason
exists."
We had been walking on through the forest, when one of our hunters made
a sign to us to stop, and he advanced cautiously. We saw him raise his
bow and let fly an arrow. Down fell a small bird rather larger than a
thrush, the plumage as we saw it falling being of the most intense
cinnabar red with the softest and most lovely gloss. Mr Hooker ran
forward in the greatest state of agitation I had ever seen him exhibit,
and kneeling down, gradually lifted up the bird. Had he discovered a
nugget of gold of the same size, he could not have appeared more
delighted. The feathers of the head were short and velvety, and shaded
into a rich orange beneath. From the breast downwards the body was like
the softest white gloss silk, while across the breast a band of deep
metallic-green separated it from the red throat. Above each eye was a
round spot, also of metallic-green. The bill was yellow, and the feet
and legs were of a fine cobalt-blue, forming a striking contrast with
the other parts of the body. On each side of the breast, concealed
under the wings, were tufts of grey feathers, about two inches in
length, terminated by a broad band of deep emerald-green. These plumes
are raised, as in the other species we saw, into a pair of elegant fans
when the wings are elevated. Besides these beautiful ornaments, there
were in the middle of the tail two feathers like slender wires, about
five inches long, diverging into a double curve. The end of these wires
are webbed on the outer side, and covered with a fine metallic-green; so
that the bird appears to have two elegant glittering circles hanging
about five inches from the body, and the same distance apart.
It was some time before our kind friend could recover himself.
"Is it not beautiful? is it not beautiful?" he kept exclaiming as he
held it up, still kneeling on the ground and exhibiting its various
beauties. "Walter, I tell you that this is the most beautiful of the
eight thousand different kinds of birds which our beneficent Creator has
placed on this earth, to adorn it for the sake of us mortals. Not one
of them possesses these spiral-tipped tail wires nor these beautiful
breast fans. Then look at the colours. What art can in any way
approach them! This is the King Bird of Paradise--the _Paradisea
Regia_, we naturalists call it. Well worthy is it of the name." When
we stopped for the night, our attendants quickly built some leafy sheds,
into which we crept, wrapped up in our mats, after we had partaken of
our supper--consisting of a parrot pie, which we had brought with us,
and also of some sago biscuit, washed down with arrack and water. Our
guides would have preferred the spirit undiluted, as they are fond of
potent liquors as well as of strong-tasted food. At early morn, before
the sun rose, we heard the well-known cry of "Wawk--wawk--wawk!--Wok--
wok--wok!" resounding through the forest, and continually changing its
direction. Looking up, we caught sight of nights of the great bird of
paradise, going to seek their breakfasts on the fruit-bearing trees.
Lories and parroquets soon afterwards flew off from their perches,
uttering shrill cries. King hunters croaked and barked; and cockatoos,
black and white, screamed loudly through the woods; while numerous
smaller birds, many also of the most lovely plumage, chirruped and
whistled as they saluted the dawn. Our hunters, one with a gun, the
other with a bow and arrows, started forth while we lighted our fire and
made other preparations for breakfast. One of them soon came back with
a large black bird having an enormous bill. Mr Hooker jumped up,
almost letting drop the saucepan which he held in his hand, in his
eagerness at the sight of the bird.
"A superb black cockatoo!" he exclaimed. "This is indeed a prize."
All thoughts of eating were abandoned, while he expatiated on the beauty
of the bird and its peculiar mode of living. Compared to its largely
developed head, which was ornamented with a superb crest, its body
appeared weak and small. It had long slender legs and large wings, its
head being armed with a sharp-pointed hooked bill of prodigious size and
strength. The plumage was quite black, and had over it the peculiar
powdery white secretion which characterises cockatoos. The cheeks were
bare, and of an intense blood-red colour. We had heard its voice the
evening before, which, unlike the harsh scream of the white cockatoo, is
that of a plaintive whistle. The tongue was a slender fleshy cylinder
of a deep red colour, terminated by a black horny plate, furred across,
and possessing prehensile power. We afterwards saw several of them,
mostly one at a time, though now and then we caught sight of two or
three together. They were flying slowly and noiselessly, and our hunter
told us that a very slight wound would kill them.
"See here, Walter and Oliver; observe its powerful beak. This bird
lives upon the kernel of the kanary-nut. We passed several of those
lofty trees as we came along. This bill is evidently formed for the
purpose of eating this kanary-nut, which no other bird can do.
By-the-by, I picked up one. Here it is. See! it is so hard that a
heavy hammer alone can crack it."
The outside of the nut Mr Hooker showed us was quite smooth, and of a
somewhat triangular shape.
"However, the birds are hungry, and we will try and catch flight of one
of our black friends taking his breakfast, and see how he manages."
We quickly discussed our breakfast, and immediately afterwards set off
in search of a kanary-tree. On one of the lower branches we were
fortunate enough to see a black cockatoo perched. He had just taken one
of the nuts end-ways into his bill, where he kept it firm by the
pressure of the tongue. He then cut a transverse notch, so Mr Hooker
declared, by the lateral sawing motion of the lower mandible. He next
took hold of the nut by his foot, and biting off a piece of a
neighbouring leaf, retained it in the deep notch of the upper mandible.
Again seizing the nut, which was prevented from slipping by the elastic
tissue of the leaf, he fixed the edge of the lower mandible in the
notch, and by a powerful nip broke off a piece of the shell. Once more
taking it in his claws, he inserted the very long and sharp point of his
bill and picked out the kernel, which he seized hold of, morsel by
morsel, with his curiously formed, extensible tongue. As no other bird
in existence can compete with him in eating these nuts, he has always an
abundance of food. Mr Hooker called this species the _Microglossum
aterrimum_.
Soon afterwards, a native brought us a king-fisher with an enormously
long tail, such as no other king-fisher possesses. It was the
racket-tailed king-fisher. It had been caught sleeping in the hollow of
the rocky banks of a neighbouring stream. It had a red bill, and Mr
Hooker observed that he doubted whether it lived upon fish, for, from
the earth clinging to its beak, he suspected rather that it preys on
insects and minute shells which it picks up in the forests. Its shape
was very graceful, the plumage being of a brilliant blue and white.
We caught also another cuscus, which Mr Hooker showed us was of the
marsupial order; that is, having a pouch in which it carries its young,
as does the kangaroo. There are several other marsupial animals in
these islands, such as are found also in Australia and New Guinea, where
alone they exist, some as small as mice. Though no mice exist in those
regions, these little animals are about as mischievous--entering into
houses, and eating their way through all sorts of materials, just in the
manner that mice do. I cannot attempt to describe the numerous other
birds which we shot or caught. Among them were many of brilliant
plumage--pigeons, little parroquets, and numerous other small birds,
similar to those found in Australia and New Guinea.
We spent three or four days in a native house, at which, at a rental of
a few yards of cloth, some tobacco, and one or two other articles, we
engaged rooms. It was raised on a platform seven feet high on posts;
the walls were about four feet more, with a high pitched roof. The
floor was composed of split bamboo, and a part of the sloping roof could
be lifted and propped up, so as to admit light and air. Our
apartments--for I have dignified them by that name--were divided from
the rest of the house by a thatched partition. At one end of it was a
cooking-place, with a clay floor, and shells for crockery. Several
families occupied the other parts of the house, which was very
extensive. There were generally half-a-dozen or more visitors in
addition to the families. They led very easy idle lives, only working
when it was absolutely necessary for the sake of obtaining food; and
from morning till night the people were laughing, shouting, and talking
without cessation. Such screams of laughter, such loud shouts--the
women and children vying with the men--I have never elsewhere heard.
They seemed to live very well, as the men and boys are capital archers,
and never went out without their bows and arrows. With these they shot
all sorts of birds, and sometimes kangaroos and pigs. Besides this,
they had a variety of vegetables, although they grew no rice nor the
cocoa-nut tree. They had plantains, yams, and, above all, the
sugar-cane. They were continually eating it. It grows on the black
vegetable soil to a great height and thickness. At all times of the day
we found the people eating it, generally four or five together, each one
with a yard of cane in one hand, and a knife in the other, and a basket
between their legs. There they sat paring away at it, chewing, and
throwing the refuse into the basket.
Mr Hooker was highly pleased with the collection of birds and insects
which he had made. Engaging the services of two more natives to carry
them, we returned to the boat, in which, in the course of a day's sail,
we reached the _Dugong_.