The Lost Forest

by John Francis Kinsella

  Chapter 14

  A SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION

  ‘Good!’ exclaimed Lundy, ‘We have to figure just how we are going to handle this. I can’t just put a team together like that and disappear off to the jungles of Malaysia or Indonesia. I have a board of directors and trustees with no budget for such an expedition. We’ll have to inform the Ministry of Culture and Science. They will want me to inform Foreign Affairs. We have to fix it up with the governments of both countries.’

  ‘Both countries!’

  ‘I mean France and Indonesia. What about Aris by the way?’

  ‘I’ve spoken with him. Now we’re practically one hundred percent certain that the site is on the Indonesian side of the border he’s willing to back the local part of the expedition in Indonesia and to arrange things with their authorities.’

  ‘Excellent.’

  ‘What about the reaction of the Malaysians.’

  ‘That I don’t know. I have some good contacts in Kuala Lumpur but they’re strange sods, you never know how to take them. They’re not at ease with themselves, you know Mahatir and all that.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well the Indonesians are at ease with themselves, they don’t have any complexes about a large Chinese population as Malaysia does, they’re relaxed about their religion, Islam. What I mean is that they are more mature, colonisation is very far behind them…’

  ‘What about the Chinese in Indonesia?’

  ‘They don’t even represent five percent of the population, though they count from the economical point of view, but otherwise have no weight. Indonesia is a large potentially powerful country in the region with a population of couple of hundred million and they’re practically all Muslims. On the other hand the Malaysians are a tenth of that and the so called Bumiputras are barely a majority in their own country and not all Malaysians are Muslims by a long way. There are Chinese, Indians and all the non-Malay peoples of Malaysian Borneo, who all in all make up not far from fifty percent of the country’s population.’

  ‘How does that affect us?’

  ‘Unfortunately, the Malaysian government and administration are control freaks, they think anything they don’t control is against them, and if they don’t control something then the last thing they want is foreigners doing it for them.’

  ‘I see,’ he said pensively.

  ‘Let’s hope Aris is right and the site is in Indonesia.’

  ‘He said he’s sure about the entrance to the cave.’

  ‘Well we can always dig a hole from the other side.’

  ‘What! And we’ll meet the Malaysian border patrol halfway down the tunnel.’

  ‘Look I think Aris can handle the Indonesian part but we don’t have to get mired down in that now. How will you handle your side?’

  ‘First I will call a meeting of the board and trustees, and I will ask you to make a presentation.’

  That Friday afternoon the board of the Musée de l’Homme was convened in Lundy’s office. It consisted of a small group of venerable scientists, trustees and administrators. They were from the CNRS (The National Centre for Scientific Research), The Institute of Human Palaeontology, The Museum of Natural History and the representative of the Ministry.

  They were seated around the large table whispering and curious to learn the reasons why Lundy had called the meeting and the air of urgent mystery.

  ‘Gentlemen, I have called this board meeting today on a matter of great scientific importance. A discovery has been made that could possibly turn many of our ideas about the evolution of man upside down.’

  There was a moment of barely hidden agitation and excitement as the men seated around the table looked at each other and at Lundy.

  ‘Please,’ he said smiling and lifting his hands for calm.

  ‘The discovery has been made by a certain John Ennis, a renowned Parisian collector of Asian art and artefacts. He is waiting outside and with your permission I will call him in to present his find.’

  They nodded in agreement, eager to get to the essential, although it was not exactly usual to invite a stranger and a foreigner at that to one of their board meetings.

  Ennis took a place at the end of the table and introduced himself and then placed a resin mould of the calvaria before him. There was a silence.

  ‘Gentlemen, this calvarium was found in a cave in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan Barat, near to the border of Sarawak, which is in Borneo for those who are not too familiar with the region.’

  It was true that Borneo was not exactly the centre of human paleoanthropolgy. Traces of Neolithic man had been discovered in the Niah caves in the north of Sarawak but nothing of any really great significance.

  Lundy then took over; ‘You may examine this calvarium in a moment, it is a resin mould of course, the original is locked in our safe,’ he said pointing behind, ‘but first I will give you the results of some tests that I have taken the liberty to have had carried out.’

  The members of the board looked with strained curiosity, trying to get a better view of the skull fragment. It was not evident from a distance of one or two metres, depending on where the observer was seated, to see the details.

  ‘Don’t keep us in suspense,’ smiled Corbet, one of the scientific administrators of the museum. ‘What is it then? A cousin of Java man, a two million year old ancestor?’

  ‘Well you’re wrong on two points, both of which I am certain. One it’s not Java man’s cousin...’

  They all laughed.

  ‘…and second it’s not two million years old…it’s two thousand years old.’

  ‘Two thousand….’ came a puzzled echo.

  ‘Yes, two to three thousand years old to be precise…and it’s of the species Homo erectus.’

  An undignified bedlam broke out as the men rose to their feet in a single movement, leaning over the table towards the resin mould.

  ‘Gentlemen please, please, in a moment we’ll pass it around but let us behave like scientists.’

  There were astonished and disbelieving remarks as questions flew in all directions.

  ‘What do these tests show?” asked the head of the Palaeontological Laboratory at the CNRS.

  ‘Radiocarbon tests shows a date of between two and three thousand years, and the DNA we have been able to extract indicates that it’s no known living man or ape.’

  They sat down, the shock was clear, putting into question whole lifetimes of research and scientific theory.’

  ‘How could this happen?’ an elderly scientist asked.

  ‘That we don’t know.’

  Ennis described the circumstances of the find and how they had returned to the site. The man from the ministry, Philippe Poiget, an overly self important man in his early forties, gave a slight frown of disapproval, Lundy ignored him and went on to the main questions of how they would proceed; how to handle the news and most important how to put together a budget for an extensive expedition.

  ‘Professor,’ said the Poiget putting on his authoritative voice. ‘If this bone was found in Indonesian aren’t we in the obligation to hand it over to the Indonesians.’

  ‘That’s a possibility,’ Lundy said softly with a slight smile, ‘but let us remember that this ‘bone’ here is on loan to us from Mr Ennis. Who I would remind you is a British citizen.’

  There was a moment of silence.

  ‘This is probably one of the most startling discoveries of the century and I think it is in the interest of French science and anthropological research to back this opportunity,’ continued Lundy, ‘we wouldn’t like to see it go across the Channel, would we.’

  Lundy looked at the Poiget, who was thinking of his own career and the consequences of handing an important discovery over to the British Natural History Museum.

  ‘No of course not,’ he sniffed.

  The other board members smiled at the discomfort of Poiget, pleased that they had won a skirmish for once.

  ‘I propose that we name this
specimen Homo borneensis,’ said Lundy changing the subject. ‘For our non-specialists members,’ he said smiling in the direction of Poiget, who gave an embarrassed sniff, ‘that means Homo borneensis is a member of the family Hominidae, the genus Homo and the species borneensis.’

  As Ennis looked a little puzzled, then Lundy stood up and walked to the wall board behind him and quickly wrote:

  Kingdom: Animalia

  Phylum: Chordata

  Subphylum: Vertebrata

  Class: Mammalia

  Order: Primates

  Family: Hominidae

  Genus: Homo

  Species: Homo borneensis

  ‘There we are John, according to the system developed by Carl Linnaeus, the Father of Taxonomy, for naming, ranking, and classifying all plants and creatures,’ he said smiling. ‘The exact criterion for membership in the Homininae is not clear, but usually includes the species who share more than 97% of their DNA with the modern human genome, and requires the capacity for language, and having a simple culture beyond the family or group.’

  ‘So it’s a primate like a chimpanzee.’

  ‘No, not exactly, it’s a question of the our minds, the theory of minds, the capacity to lie convincingly, and language’ he said smiling, ‘these controversial criteria distinguish the adult human alone amongst the hominids. We acquire that capacity at about four and a half years of age in our cultures, whereas the bonobo, gorilla and chimpanzee never seem to do so. However, without the possibility of knowing whether early members of the Homininae such as australopithecines, Homo erectus, or Homo neanderthalensis had a theory of mind, it is irrational to ignore similarities seen in their living cousins. Despite an apparent lack of real culture and significant physiological differences, some say that the orang-utan may also satisfy these criteria.’

  ‘I see,’ said Ennis, not sure that he really did. ‘Does that mean that you are announcing a new species?’ asked Corbet raising a hand and showing a wrist gold bracelet.

  ‘Not for the moment, this is strictly between ourselves to avoid confusion. Of course if there are any other suggestions….’

  The members of the board gave nods of approval and Lundy started describe the organisation for the expedition and costs.

  ‘We have an influential Indonesian industrialist, a close friend of Mr Ennis, who has already been of considerable assistance, and who is prepared to cover all local costs. What we need now is that a team for the expedition be put together, with a budget and under the utmost secrecy. However, I regret to say that whilst it is desirable that secrecy should be maintained as long as possible, it will not last long. The more people involved, the greater the risk of a premature leak.’

  ‘How do you propose to handle the questions of relations with the Indonesian authorities Professor? It’s a matter of scientific and cultural relations if I’m not mistaken,’ asked Poiget.

  ‘You are quite right Philippe. Monsieur Aris has close contacts with the Indonesian Minister of Science and Culture and is handling the question of an official invitation for our team under our ongoing scientific cooperation program.’

  ‘Good, and the budget? Do you have any suggestions?’

  Lundy looked at Corbet who managed field work and expeditions.

  ‘It will be quite an expedition, at least three months, depending on what we discover. We could cover part of it from our primate research project, we still have a budget for Asian primate research not been attributed to a specific project for the moment,’ Corbet replied.

  ‘That’s fine with me,” said Poiget pleased that he would not have to approve a budget extension.

  ‘Good, we’ll do that. Now I think we can get down to some serious questions now,’ Lundy said passing the skullcap to Corbet.

  Ennis left felt elated but started to worry as he returned to his offices over the Gallery. He had been neglecting his business and now his absence in Borneo would complicate his schedule for the coming autumn antiques fairs and auctions. His gallery was to be present at events in several European capitals where he was counting on new business. Things were looking up in the market for fine art, prices had started to rise with the wealth that was flowing into the market from the New Economy and even traditional buyers were starting to show signs of renewed interest.

  Whilst Marie-Helene Springer, his general manager, handled the day to day business at the gallery in Paris, the head office of Asia Galerie SA, of which Ennis was the owner-founder and President. There were also three subsidiary galleries in Biarritz, London and Düsseldorf, the latter were independent firms, wholly owned by Ennis, with a local manager answerable to Marie-Helene Springer. However, he always made sure of his personal presence when dealing with certain of the more important, wealthy and established buyers, especially long standing customers who appreciated his knowledge and personal touch, who whilst respecting Marie-Helene’s experience, preferred to deal directly with John Ennis, whom they considered as a friend.

  Marie-Helene had graduated with honours after studying South East Asian History and Civilisation at the Sorbonne, she was a chic, serious, blonde just turned forty, who Ennis had engaged when she had decided to quit the Musée Guimet in Paris, where having spent several years in research, realised she would end up a dull and dusty specialist. She never regretted her decision to embrace the business side of the world of art. She was single, in fact she preferred female company, which did prevent her from having a good professional relationship with Ennis. She together with the younger members of the team communicated with the new generation of collectors, those who were making big money in banking and the new economy, they had money to burn and the enthusiasm of a new generation of young collectors.

  Ennis could little afford to risk his personal reputation but on the other hand if his discovery was what Lundy promised it would be, it would propel his already well-known name in the narrow world of fine Asian antiques to the world’s headlines.

  Once back in his the office he decided to call Jakarta, where it was ten in the evening, perhaps too late to disturb Aris. He tried and was lucky getting through on his mobile in a Jakarta restaurant. Ennis quickly briefed him and set up a tentative date, two weeks hence, for the arrival of the advance team. Aris had spoken with the Minister of Science and Culture who had nominated the country’s leading anthropologist, Professor Murtopo to participate as joint leader with Lundy, a question of protocol and good diplomacy.

  They would also set up the arrangements with the Governor of Kalimantan Barat for an army unit to take charge of security, as the frontier area was under military control, in spite of both Malaysia and Indonesia being members of ASEAN, the Alliance of South East Asian Nations.