Viewing page 74 of 185

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

57

April 26-27-28 P iroe

Our days are running pretty much on schedule now.  We get up at six, or shortly after, have coffee, look over the menagerie, feed and water the animals, and buy any new ones that come in.  Every morning there is a line of natives offering us all sorts of things.  Bill has been anxious to get some Maleos, a curious megapode that looks like an undernourished, long-legged black chicken.  Several of the natives said they could trap them in the jungle, and sure, enough, Maleos begin coming in.  At first we paid Fl. 1.25 for them; when we had several cages full, and the annoying birds wouldn't eat, we sent out word that we had enough, and wanted no more.  Still they come in, and we dropped the price to FL. 1.00, 50 cents, finally 25 cents.  The local policeman told us that the arket price on Maleos, which are considered good eating, was ten to 20 cents, so we are still paying too fair a price to discourage the hunters.  We offer them rice, cooked and raw, brown and white; maize, banana, grasshoppers, chopped pig's liver, chopped chicken, sago pith, papaya, but the birds are shy, easily frightened, and afraid to eat.  One or two have died - either from self starvation or from injuries received when they were captured.  Bill dissected one, to find out what was in the crop.  It appeared to be vegetables with a great deal of gravel, so we start sanding the cages liberally.

Every morning we take a walk out into the country.  One day we spent up a small mountain stream, an idyllic spot, and we followed the stream by walking up the iddle of it for a long way.  Bill found new specimens of Polyrachus, new types of nests, new habits.  One ant, Echinpola, a hairy ant, was nesting in a hollow twig.  This is a genus he has never caught before, hinself, and he is delighted with it.  Buitenbos is getting very good at finding Polyrachus, though occasionally he dashes into the bushes and comes back reporting on a "left nest - not a single guest."  He found one enormous Polyrachus nest high in a tree and brought it down.  It was made of hard carton, instead of bark and silk, and Bill spent half an hour standing in the middle of the stream so the ants couldn't climb up his legs while he took the nest apart and collected vials full of the occupants.

Another morning we walked along a new road that is being built into the interior.  Collecting was not much good, but we saw several interesting things.  In one place a man and a woman were clearing the jungle preparatory to planting cassava.  Bending to the back-breaking work, cutting trees, and thorny scrub with inadequate-looking knives, they reminded us that life here is not so easy after all.  Once a plantation is started, it will support its owners with a minimum of effort on their part, but the beginning is very hard work indeed.

Farther along on this same road we passed what looked like a cypress swamp, with cypress knees sticking up everywhere through the stagnant water.  Crabs, prawns, hermit crabs, small fish were to be seen all through it.

Another day we followed a road that paralleled the beach road we took the first day, but we did not go all the way to Eti.  In one place Bill turned off into a garden, and found two new species of Polyrachus, before he was informed that the place was baited for wild pigs, and there was danger of getting an arrow through one's leg if one walked into the trap.  We left hastily, but not before we had a good look at two wild white cockatoos eating durian in the top of a tree.

Transcription Notes:
Typographical errors in original document remain uncorrected per transcription instructions.