Four Young Explorers; Or, Sight-Seeing in the Tropics by Oliver Optic (best romantic novels to read .TXT) 📗

promised to visit him on their return from up the river. Louis stated that they wanted to kill one full-sized orang-outang, for the one killed by the Malays was so cut up and chopped in the fight that she was not in condition to be stuffed and kept as a good specimen.

"You will find them on the Simujan, but hardly anywhere else in the island except in this vicinity, on the Sadong, Batang Lupar, and their branches," replied the agent. "The orangs have been hunted so much, especially by naturalists, that they are becoming scarce; and they are likely to become extinct, for the scientists are looking for the 'missing link,' as they call it."

The speaker laughed as he made the last remark; and it was evident that he was not a Darwinian, or at least that he had not followed out the theory of evolution. Taking their places in the yacht, the captain gave the order to cast off the fasts, the boat stood up the river, and soon passed the scene of the morning's conflict.

"Gibbons!" exclaimed Achang, pointing to a por[69]tion of the forest where the trees were sparsely scattered.

There were half a dozen of them, and they seemed to be engaged in a frolic. This ape has been described in a former volume, for it is abundant in Sumatra. Louis wished to observe the movements of the animal, which has very long arms, is wonderfully agile, and a gymnast of the first order. It could travel all over Borneo where forests exist without touching the ground, passing from tree to tree in long leaps. The boat was stopped in the river, in order to permit the party to witness the exhibition which was in process, without the payment of any admission fee.

Every branch was a trapeze, and no troupe of artists could compare with them in the agility of their movements. Their long arms appeared to be the key to their marvellous feats, for their legs were comparatively short, and for the size of their bodies the animals possessed immense strength.

"If some enterprising manager of a theatre devoting himself to athletic exhibitions could secure the services of the half dozen gibbons which are giving us a free show, he would make his fortune in our country," said Louis. "Don't try to see them all at once, but watch that fellow on the right."

The one indicated grasped a horizontal branch with his hands, his arms looking like the ropes of a swing. He was swaying to and fro with great rapidity, apparently trying to see how fast he could[70] go, for he put a tremendous amount of vigor into his efforts. In an exhibition hall he would have "brought down the house," and would certainly have received an "encore."

Suddenly, while he was swinging at a dizzy speed, he let go his hold upon the branch, and seemed to be flying through the air; but with his fingered feet he seized another branch, not less than forty feet from the first, and, with his long arms extended to the utmost, continued to swing in this inverted position. The observers were so delighted with this skilful performance that they applauded lustily by clapping their hands. The noise did not disturb the performers, and the actor that had so distinguished himself appeared to put even greater vigor into his movements.

Possibly he was getting up a momentum; for he soon released the hold of his feet on the branch, went flying through the air with his long arms extended ahead of him in the direction of another favorable limb of a tree, and grasped it with his hands. After swinging for a moment, he drew himself up on the branch, and proceeded to walk up to a greater height, using his hands to assist in keeping his equilibrium. This was a fair specimen of the performance of every member of the troupe.

One of the company appeared to see something on the ground that attracted his attention; and he made a flying leap to a lower branch, and then dropped himself upon the soil. Looking about him for a[71] moment, he apparently discovered a bush with some sort of fruit on it, for he immediately began to walk towards it. As a walkist he was far from being a success, and his awkward movements excited the laughter of the interested spectators. In his present rôle he would have made an excellent clown in a circus ring.

His short legs seemed to be incapable of fully supporting his body, and he behaved like an inexperienced athlete walking on a tight rope without a balancing-pole. His long arms served as this implement, and with a bend at the elbows and the hands dropped down, he waddled along very slowly.

"It's heavy sea for that fellow, and he looks like a landlubber trying to walk the deck in a rough sea," said Captain Scott. "But I fancy the performance is over, and it is time to shoot some of the actors if that is what you intend to do."

"For one, I don't intend to do anything of the sort," replied Louis, with considerable energy in his tones. "I don't believe in killing for the sake of killing, or for the fun of it. My admiration of the skilful performance we have just witnessed will not allow me to kill the actors or any of them."

"What did we come to Borneo for, Louis?" asked the captain.

"To see the country, and explore some of its rivers."

"I thought we came here to hunt and fish," added Scott.

"I did not come here to kill harmless creatures[72] for the fun of it. We want a full-grown orang, and I am ready to hunt for him," replied Louis. "We want him for the purpose of study, and to show to our friends on board of the ship. I don't object to shooting any bird or animal to extend our information."

Louis had his double-barrelled fowling-piece in his hand. Suddenly he brought it to his shoulder and fired. All eyes were directed to the shore, and a large bird was seen to drop upon the ground. The captain started the boat, and ran her up to the bank. Clinch leaped ashore, and soon brought the bird on board. Its plumage was highly colored and very beautiful.

"What do you call that bird, Louis?" asked Morris.

"Chambers calls it simply the argus, but the more common name is the argus-pheasant," replied Louis.

"Faix, he's a magnificent crayter; and what a long tail our cat has got," added Felix, as he spread the bird out on the gunwale.

The last remark referred to the long tail of the bird, which made the entire length from the bill to the end of it about five feet. Only two of the feathers were thus prolonged, adding about three feet to the dimension. The variety of colors were jet black, deep brown, fawn, white, and a number of secondary hues. The bird, deprived of his feathers, is about the size of an ordinary hen.[73]

"But you can't see him at his best now that he is dead," continued Louis, who had read up the animal life he expected to find in Borneo. "Like a peacock, though to a less extent, he can spread out his pretty feathers, but not in the same manner; for they open out in the form of a circle, making a sort of round disk on his back and concealing his head. If you could see the bird alive with his wings spread out you would find every feather had a number of marks that look like eyes, and seventeen have been counted on one of them. Each of these marks consists in part of a jet-black ring, with other different colored rings inside of it, which make the whole figure like an eye.

"You remember a fellow who was called Argus in mythology, who had a hundred eyes, of which only two were ever asleep at the same time. This bird gets his name from him; though the story is that Mercury killed him, and Venus transferred his eyes to the tail of the peacock."

"Thanks for the lecture, Louis," said Scott when he had finished his description. "It was certainly a part of our plan in coming to Borneo to study natural history; and we are doing so instead of shooting all the time."

Just at this moment Felix, who had wandered from the fore cabin to the waist, discharged his fowling-piece. The Milesian was as good a shot as Louis, for both of them had been trained in the same shooting-gallery in New York. All hands rushed to the[74] rail to ascertain what the hunter had brought down. On the bank of the river they discovered a creature about two feet long, lying on its back, and struggling in its death-throes.

Lane leaped ashore, and soon laid the animal on the gunwale of the boat by the side of the argus. It was a queer-looking creature about the head, and no one on board except Achang had ever seen one like it. For the length of the head, the muzzle was very broad, hardly less than three inches. It was covered with a soft and rather long fur on its body, dark brown in color.

"What do you call my game, Mr. Naturalist?" demanded Felix, addressing Louis, who was looking the animal over.

"Cynogale Bennetti," replied the young naturalist very gravely.

"Faix, that's jist what I thought he was whin Oi foired at him," added Felix. "Sin O, gal! But what had Ben Netty to do wid it? Or was Netty the name of the gal?"

"I gave you the scientific name because this creature has no plain English name, though the natives here call it the mampalon," added Louis.

"That's what we call it; but I forgot the name," said Achang.

"He is one of the otter family; and Mr. Hornaday, whose book I hope you will all read when you return to the ship, thought it might be called the otter-cat. I wish we could have taken him alive, for it would[75] have made a very nice specimen to set up in the cabin of the Guardian-Mother."

"I should like to knock over the big orang-outang you want, Louis, my darling," continued Felix. "There comes a covered sampan up the river," he added, pointing down the stream.

Many such covered boats are used on the rivers. On a frame of bamboo or other wood was a covering of leaves, each of which is six to seven feet long, and two inches wide. They are sewed together with a thread of rattan, overlaying each other, like tiles or shingles, thus shedding the rain. They were in strips or squares, so that they could be readily removed. The sides were sometimes curtained with the same material. The long leaves are taken from the nipa palm, which grows abundantly in the island, and serves a great many useful purposes.

The boat waited to see the covered sampan, and later there appeared to be two of them. As they approached, the familiar voice of the Chinese agent was heard hailing the party. It appeared that this gentleman was bound up the river to a Dyak village, a few miles farther up.

"You had better go with us," said the agent, as his sampan stopped abreast of the steamer. "I spoke to you about a Dyak long-house; and you will have an opportunity to examine one, and to sleep in it if you are disposed to do so. You will be received very kindly, and have a chance to see the people as well as the houses."[76]

"Thank you, Mr. Eng Quee; we will certainly go with you," replied Captain Scott, prompted by Louis. "We will heave you a line, and tow you up."

In a few minutes more the steamer moved up the river with the two sampans in tow.[77]

CHAPTER IX A VISIT TO A DYAK LONG-HOUSE

As the Blanchita approached her destination many Dyaks appeared on the shores. They were Sea Dyaks in this region; and the name seems to have come down from a former era in the history of the island, for at the present time they have little or no connection with a sea-faring life, and their sampans are mainly if not entirely used on the rivers. But formerly they built large war-boats, or bankongs, some of which were seventy feet long.

These craft did not go to sea. The naval battles were fought on rivers and lakes; for the boats were not adapted to heavy weather, and could not have lived even in a moderate gale. They were propelled entirely by oars, single banked, and twenty-four rowers were all that could work. The largest of them had a platform or elevated deck, under which the oarsmen sat, and on which the warriors engaged the enemy.

Some sort of strategy was used; for the small boats were sent ahead sometimes to skirmish with the foe, and lure their canoes to a point where the larger craft were concealed, which then came out and fell upon the enemy. If the craft were used for purposes[78] of piracy, as they were in the