Kudat, received a present in the shape of a live animal from an English-speaking Malay in the service of the British North Borneo Company, with the following note announcing his arrival:

My bast Compliments to yau. I was sent yau 27 faowels and one Plice Recived By the Bearar and Plice Ped the Bord Hayar and I was sick.-A. C. PITCHY.'

while man.

The while man' was an orang-utan, which Mr. Gueritz presented to the Marchesa.' He was called 'Bongon' from the small village at the head of Marudu Bay, which the Marchesa' visited. Bongon' was a formidable-looking beast, and was enclosed in a large wooden cage, and at first he was fed through the bars with all possible precaution.

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'One day, however, he managed to escape, and we suddenly discovered that he was of the most harmless and tractable disposition. From that moment "Bongon" became the pet of the ship, and was spoilt alike by the crew and ourselves. Indirectly this was, no doubt, the cause of his death, a much-deplored event that took place some months later on the coast of Celebes.'

There is an admirable engraving of 'Bongon' on page 105 of our author's book. No doubt it is a very striking likeness; philosophic inquiry and good-humoured sociability are stamped on the pet's countenance.

The Marchesa' visited Sumbawa and the neighbouring islands of Flores and Samba, which lie east of Java. Sumbawa is about 170 miles long, and is tolerably thickly populated, chiefly with people of Malay race. These islands are but little known to Europeans. They are Dutch possessions. There are two sultanates, Sumbawa and Bima, over which the Dutch exercise a certain amount of authority. A Kontroleur resident at Bima is the sole European upon the island. A marked difference between the island of Sumbawa and the islands of the Sulu group at once struck the travellers: the surrounding country was parched greatly, and the trees were nearly as leafless as our own in winter. From April to July little or no rain falls, and the buffaloes move along in clouds of dust. This is due to the south-east winds, which sweep over the dry desert lands of Australia and parch up the countries that lie in their path as far as Java. It was the intention of the travellers to visit and, if possible, ascend Tambora, which was once the scene of one of the most appalling volcanic eruptions ever known. Owing to the dense and thorny jungle that clothed the

sides of the mountain, and to the absence of the slightest track, the idea of an ascent was deemed nearly impracticable, or at least attended with too many difficulties, and was abandoned. The great eruption, of which Mr. Wallace has given an account, began on April 5, 1815, was most violent on the 11th and 12th, and did not entirely cease. until the following July. The sound of the explosions was heard over 1,100 miles in one direction, and over 900 in a nearly opposite one. Whirlwinds carried up men, horses, cattle, and whatever else came within their influence, into the air; large trees were torn up by the roots and covered the sea with floating timber; streams of lava flowed to the sea, destroying everything in their course. Ashes fell in thick quantities and rendered houses at Bima, more than sixty miles away, uninhabitable. Along the sea coast of Sumbawa and neighbouring islands the sea suddenly rose to the height of from two to twelve feet, and vessels were forced from anchorage and driven ashore. The town of Tambora sank beneath the sea, and remained permanently eighteen feet deep where there had been dry land before. Out of a population of 12,000 persons inhabiting the province of Tambora, it is said only twenty-six survived. There is an enormous gap on the northern side of the lip of the crater, through which a stream of lava has burst and torn its way through the forest to the sea; but the scars which in Europe would remain for centuries to witness to the phenomenon of a mighty eruption are soon hidden by the rank vegetation of the tropics. Thus has it been with Tambora.

The avi-fauna of Sumbawa exhibits a mingling of the Indian and Australian forms, Sumbawa being on the outskirts of the Austro-Malayan sub-region. Indian forms occur with genera of Australian origin. Birds were numerous in the fruit gardens in and around Bima; the bag at the end of a long day contained over sixty specimens: among them was a Zosterops (Z. sumbavensis)—a genus of insessorial birds-new to science, with a brownish head and the rest of the body a pretty golden-yellow. Nightjars (Caprimulgus) hawk over the dried-up padi fields in hundreds. In no other part of the world had Dr. Guillemard ever seen birds of this genus in such extraordinary abundance. The marketables are chiefly dried fish, bananas, and excellent tobacco, the greater part of which latter commodity comes from Lombok, a small island to the west of Sumbawa. The tobacco grown on this island would probably be equally good, but the natives do not know how to prepare it. With the exception

of a single ship which annually comes to Bima from Mauritius to buy ponies, perhaps not another vessel worthy of the name ever visits the island. Ponies are also exported from Timor and Sandalwood. The Sumbawan animals are described as being admirable little beasts, about twelve hands high, of good shape, and up to almost any weight in spite of their small size; in colour generally brown or skewbald; their price ranges from twelve to fifty dollars. Dr. Guillemard did not add any of these equine specimens to his menagerie on board the Marchesa.'

From Sumbawa the Marchesa' proceeded to Macassar on the south coast of Celebes. The town is not attractive from the sea, the land being flat and low; the place fairly grilled ' in the heat.' Putting Java aside, Macassar is the most important town in the whole of the Dutch East Indies, and the centre of trade of a vast extent of country. Batavia is the Singapore of the Dutch; Macassar their Hongkong.' An Englishman is seldom found in these regions, and our ships rarely cruise in their waters. Of the dress and Dutch customs in Macassar our author gives a full account. A ceremonial call is generally at 7 P.M.; dinner at a quarter or half past eight; a frock coat with tails is a sine quá non; a dress coat and waistcoat are considered de rigueur; but a frock coat, or even a cutaway,' may be worn, we are told, without a breach of decorum. The trousers should be white, and a hat, if only carried, is indispensable; though in the Dutch East Indies head coverings are not worn by either sex after sunset. The guests are seated, generally in the verandah, round a table, and Port, Madeira, and Hollands and bitters are, in defiance of the climate, placed before them; Manila cheroots are handed, for smoking is universal. The ladies in way of dress are far in advance of their AngloIndian sisters, and suit their attire to the climate. In the morning they appear in native costume- a short lace-edged 'kibaya of thin white linen buttons up to the throat, and a 'silk sarong reaches to the feet, which are without stockings and clad only in a pair of gold-embroidered Turkish slippers.' The effect, especially in young and pretty women, is said to be decidedly good. The society in Macassar was found very pleasant; almost everyone spoke English or French, as well as his own language. An entertainment, to which the travellers were invited, was a private theatrical performance followed by a ball given in a public hall, which on Sundays served the purposes of a church! A large number of people were present, and an astonishing propor

tion of the fair sex of the 'chocolate ladies,' as they are here termed, may be included in that category. The Dutch official in these regions must serve for a number of years, perhaps fifteen, before he can obtain furlough, so he forgets his Fatherland and the ladies thereof and marries not perhaps a half-caste, but one whose dark hair and rich warm colouring betray the presence of other than European blood. Should his constitution survive the ante-prandial port and bitters, he retires to Batavia or Buitenzorg on the comple'tion of his term of service, and spends the remainder of his life in the society of his fellows.'

At the theatrical entertainment the acting was good, but the blijspel (comedy) rather heavy. At the ball the supply of champagne-a favourite wine with the Dutch-was inexhaustible. It is supposed to have a prophylactic power against cholera, whose advent was expected, and the guests were instructed how to avoid the dreadful scourge. Float 'the liver, my dear sir, keep your liver constantly floating in champagne, and you will never catch the cholera,' was the advice given; and 'everyone certainly seemed to act up 'to it to the best of his ability.' While at Macassar the King of Goa gave a housewarming, to which most of the Dutch and German residents were invited. Though on friendly terms with the Dutch, he gives a considerable amount of trouble from the proximity of his dominions to the town, for robberies are not unfrequent. The entertainment ended with cockfighting, a favourite sport of all Malays.

• The spurs used were about three inches long, and made of the blades of razors ground down to excessive thinness. With such weapons there is but little cruelty in the affair. We waited to see a main fought before we left. The king and other royal personages made their bets; the combatants were placed opposite to one another; they made two feints, and in less than half a dozen seconds the vanquished bird lay motionless on the ground. Had he met his fate legitimately at the hands of the poulterer, his death could not have been more rapidly effected.'

At Menado, in North Celebes, the travellers made their first acquaintance with the kanari nut, said by Dr. Guillemard to be incomparably superior, when eaten fresh, to any nut he ever tasted. The tree grows to a great height; a shell of extreme hardness-so hard as to require a hammer to break it-encloses a fleshy fruit of one to three kernels covered with a thin skin; and this being removed, the nut falls into a number of irregular flakes, snowy white, and of

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delicious flavour.' The black cockatoo of New Guinea (Microglossus aterrimus) has an enormously powerful beak, and is able to open the nut therewith. The labour is con'siderable, but the bird may be considered to be amply ' rewarded.' Mr. Wallace found the kanari tree in the dense forests of Batchian, an island of the Moluccas. A much-prized addition to the collection was made in this part of Celebes (Menado) in the shape of a young bull Sapi-utan (Anoa depressicornis), which a native brought alive. This animal, one of the many peculiar Celebesian forms, has a small but powerful body, and clean limbs; it is a species of buffalo, with short, rather slender, depressed horns, which are ringed at the base and point nearly straight backwards. The specimen, about two years old, was tame and tractable, and was destined for the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens; but unfortunately it never reached England, having died on the homeward passage from the effects of a gale of wind in the Bay of Biscay. The collection of live birds and other living things, which at a later period of her cruise almost turned the "Marchesa" into a floating zoological garden, made its first real commencement in Northern Celebes.' Among other curiosities, the most interesting of all the additions to the menagerie was a tiny Lemuroid animal (Tarsius spectrum, Geoffroy), which a native brought. This small, active creature about the size of a rat-is arboreal and nocturnal in its habits; it is covered with a very thick, soft, woolly fur; the tail is long, the root and tip are covered with hair, the middle portion being nearly bare. The eyes and ears are enormous, and seem to make up the greater part of the face, the jaw and nose being small. The hind limb at once attracts attention, for the tarsal bones are of great length. This peculiarity has given the animal its scientific (generic) name. The hand is equally noticeable for its length, the curious claws with which it is provided, and the extraordinary disc-shaped pulps on the palmar surface of the fingers, which probably enable the animal to retain its hold in 'almost any position.' The specific name of spectrum alludes to the terror which the animal, with its curious-shaped face and sudden appearance at dusk, excites in the minds of the natives of the East Indian Archipelago. The little captive would remain still in its darkened cage by day, but at night, ' especially if disturbed, it would spring vertically upwards ' in an odd mechanical manner, not unlike the hopping of a flea.' As it would not eat the cockroaches, the only food obtainable, it only lived till the third day, when it found a