by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER VIII
A PERFORMANCE OF VERY AGILE GIBBONS
The cabin party went on shore and breakfasted with their Chinese friend,who had invited them to the meal the evening before. It was a verypleasant occasion, and it occupied half the forenoon. The host gave themuseful information, and listened with interest to their account of thebattle with the orang-outangs. When they left the house they found thetwo Malays who had been their companions in the morning waiting forthem.
One of them presented a tarsier to Scott. It was a very pretty andcurious little creature, belonging to the monkey tribe. It had verylarge eyes, and was certainly very cunning. It appeared to be playful,but his new owner got a nip from its teeth which warned him to becareful. The most curious part of the animal was its legs, the hind onesbeing much the longer.
Its five slender toes ended in what looked like balls, which proved tobe flat, and acted like the foot of a fly, retaining by suction its holdupon the tree where it lived. The spine of its neck was so constructedthat it could describe a circle with its head. Its long hind legsenabled it to leap like a kangaroo.
The other Malay brought with him a flying dragon, a king of lizards,said to be the reptile from which the fables of the original dragonsoriginated. It has a pair of membranes with the semblance of wings, withwhich it sustains itself in the air in its leaps from one tree or branchto another, as the flying-fish does in its flights over the water.
The party took leave with many thanks of the Chinese agent, and promisedto visit him on their return from up the river. Louis stated that theywanted to kill one full-sized orang-outang, for the one killed by theMalays was so cut up and chopped in the fight that she was not incondition to be stuffed and kept as a good specimen.
"You will find them on the Simujan, but hardly anywhere else in theisland except in this vicinity, on the Sadong, Batang Lupar, and theirbranches," replied the agent. "The orangs have been hunted so much,especially by naturalists, that they are becoming scarce; and they arelikely 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 thathe was not a Darwinian, or at least that he had not followed out thetheory of evolution. Taking their places in the yacht, the captain gavethe order to cast off the fasts, the boat stood up the river, and soonpassed the scene of the morning's conflict.
"Gibbons!" exclaimed Achang, pointing to a portion of the forest wherethe trees were sparsely scattered.
There were half a dozen of them, and they seemed to be engaged in afrolic. This ape has been described in a former volume, for it isabundant in Sumatra. Louis wished to observe the movements of theanimal, which has very long arms, is wonderfully agile, and a gymnast ofthe first order. It could travel all over Borneo where forests existwithout touching the ground, passing from tree to tree in long leaps.The boat was stopped in the river, in order to permit the party towitness the exhibition which was in process, without the payment of anyadmission fee.
Every branch was a trapeze, and no troupe of artists could compare withthem in the agility of their movements. Their long arms appeared to bethe key to their marvellous feats, for their legs were comparativelyshort, and for the size of their bodies the animals possessed immensestrength.
"If some enterprising manager of a theatre devoting himself to athleticexhibitions could secure the services of the half dozen gibbons whichare 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 onthe right."
The one indicated grasped a horizontal branch with his hands, his armslooking like the ropes of a swing. He was swaying to and fro with greatrapidity, apparently trying to see how fast he could go, for he put atremendous amount of vigor into his efforts. In an exhibition hall hewould have "brought down the house," and would certainly have receivedan "_encore_."
Suddenly, while he was swinging at a dizzy speed, he let go his holdupon the branch, and seemed to be flying through the air; but with hisfingered feet he seized another branch, not less than forty feet fromthe first, and, with his long arms extended to the utmost, continued toswing in this inverted position. The observers were so delighted withthis skilful performance that they applauded lustily by clapping theirhands. The noise did not disturb the performers, and the actor that hadso distinguished himself appeared to put even greater vigor into hismovements.
Possibly he was getting up a momentum; for he soon released the hold ofhis feet on the branch, went flying through the air with his long armsextended ahead of him in the direction of another favorable limb of atree, and grasped it with his hands. After swinging for a moment, hedrew himself up on the branch, and proceeded to walk up to a greaterheight, using his hands to assist in keeping his equilibrium. This was afair specimen of the performance of every member of the troupe.
One of the company appeared to see something on the ground thatattracted his attention; and he made a flying leap to a lower branch,and then dropped himself upon the soil. Looking about him for a moment,he apparently discovered a bush with some sort of fruit on it, for heimmediately began to walk towards it. As a walkist he was far from beinga success, and his awkward movements excited the laughter of theinterested spectators. In his present _role_ he would have made anexcellent clown in a circus ring.
His short legs seemed to be incapable of fully supporting his body, andhe behaved like an inexperienced athlete walking on a tight rope withouta balancing-pole. His long arms served as this implement, and with abend at the elbows and the hands dropped down, he waddled along veryslowly.
"It's heavy sea for that fellow, and he looks like a landlubber tryingto walk the deck in a rough sea," said Captain Scott. "But I fancy theperformance is over, and it is time to shoot some of the actors if thatis 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 forthe sake of killing, or for the fun of it. My admiration of the skilfulperformance we have just witnessed will not allow me to kill the actorsor 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 for the fun of it. Wewant 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 onboard of the ship. I don't object to shooting any bird or animal toextend our information."
Louis had his double-barrelled fowling-piece in his hand. Suddenly hebrought it to his shoulder and fired. All eyes were directed to theshore, and a large bird was seen to drop upon the ground. The captainstarted the boat, and ran her up to the bank. Clinch leaped ashore, andsoon brought the bird on board. Its plumage was highly colored and verybeautiful.
"What do you call that bird, Louis?" asked Morris.
"Chambers calls it simply the argus, but the more common name is theargus-pheasant," replied Louis.
"Faix, he's a magnificent crayter; and what a long tail our cat hasgot," added Felix, as he spread the bird out on the gunwale.
The last remark referred to the long tail of the bird, which made theentire length from the bill to the end of it about five feet. Only twoof the feathers were thus prolonged, adding about three feet to thedimension. The variety of colors were jet black, deep brown, fawn,white, and a number of secondary hues. The bird, deprived of hisfeathers, is about the size of an ordinary hen.
"But you can't see him at his best now that he is dead," continuedLouis, 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 prettyfeathers, but not in the same manner; for they open out in the form of acircle, 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 findevery fea
ther had a number of marks that look like eyes, and seventeenhave been counted on one of them. Each of these marks consists in partof 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 ahundred eyes, of which only two were ever asleep at the same time. Thisbird gets his name from him; though the story is that Mercury killedhim, and Venus transferred his eyes to the tail of the peacock."
"Thanks for the lecture, Louis," said Scott when he had finished hisdescription. "It was certainly a part of our plan in coming to Borneo tostudy natural history; and we are doing so instead of shooting all thetime."
Just at this moment Felix, who had wandered from the fore cabin to thewaist, discharged his fowling-piece. The Milesian was as good a shot asLouis, for both of them had been trained in the same shooting-gallery inNew York. All hands rushed to the rail to ascertain what the hunter hadbrought down. On the bank of the river they discovered a creature abouttwo 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 boatby the side of the argus. It was a queer-looking creature about thehead, and no one on board except Achang had ever seen one like it. Forthe length of the head, the muzzle was very broad, hardly less thanthree inches. It was covered with a soft and rather long fur on itsbody, dark brown in color.
"What do you call my game, Mr. Naturalist?" demanded Felix, addressingLouis, 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," addedFelix. "Sin O, gal! But what had Ben Netty to do wid it? Or was Nettythe name of the gal?"
"I gave you the scientific name because this creature has no plainEnglish name, though the natives here call it the _mampalon_," addedLouis.
"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 youwill all read when you return to the ship, thought it might be calledthe otter-cat. I wish we could have taken him alive, for it would havemade a very nice specimen to set up in the cabin of theGuardian-Mother."
"I should like to knock over the big orang-outang you want, Louis, mydarling," 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 orother wood was a covering of leaves, each of which is six to seven feetlong, and two inches wide. They are sewed together with a thread ofrattan, overlaying each other, like tiles or shingles, thus shedding therain. They were in strips or squares, so that they could be readilyremoved. The sides were sometimes curtained with the same material. Thelong leaves are taken from the nipa palm, which grows abundantly in theisland, and serves a great many useful purposes.
The boat waited to see the covered sampan, and later there appeared tobe two of them. As they approached, the familiar voice of the Chineseagent was heard hailing the party. It appeared that this gentleman wasbound up the river to a Dyak village, a few miles farther up.
"You had better go with us," said the agent, as his sampan stoppedabreast of the steamer. "I spoke to you about a Dyak long-house; and youwill have an opportunity to examine one, and to sleep in it if you aredisposed to do so. You will be received very kindly, and have a chanceto see the people as well as the houses."
"Thank you, Mr. Eng Quee; we will certainly go with you," repliedCaptain Scott, prompted by Louis. "We will heave you a line, and tow youup."
In a few minutes more the steamer moved up the river with the twosampans in tow.