The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither | Page 8

of five polished
black claws, with which the bat hangs on, head downward, to the forest
trees. His body is about twice the size of that of a very large rat, black
and furry underneath, and with red foxy fur on the head and neck. He
has a pointed face, a very black nose, and prominent black eyes, with a

remorseless expression in them. An edible bat of vagrant habits is also
found.
Ponies are imported from Sumatra, and a few horses from Australia,
but the latter do not thrive.
The domestic cat always looks as if half his tail had been taken off in a
trap. The domestic dog is the Asiatic, not the European dog, a leggy,
ugly, vagrant, uncared-for fellow, furnishing a useful simile and little
more.
Weasels, squirrels, polecats, porcupines, and other small animals exist
in numbers, and the mermaid, of the genus Halicore, connects the
inhabitants of the land and water. This Duyong, described as a creature
seven or eight feet long, with a head like that of an elephant deprived of
its proboscis, and the body and tail of a fish, frequents the Sumatran
and Malayan shores, and its flesh is held in great estimation at the
tables of sultans and rajahs. Besides these (and the list is long enough)
there are many small beasts.
The reptiles are unhappily very numerous. Crawfurd mentions forty
species of snakes, including the python and the cobra. Alligators in
great numbers infest the tidal waters of the rivers. Iguanas and lizards
of several species, marsh-frogs, and green tree-frogs abound. The
land-leeches are a great pest. Scorpions and centipedes are abundant.
There are many varieties of ants, among them a formidable- looking
black creature nearly two inches long, a large red ant, whose bite is like
a bad pinch from forceps, and which is the chief source of formic acid,
and the termes, or white ant, most destructive to timber.
The carpenter beetle is also found, an industrious insect, which riddles
the timber of any building in which he effects a lodgment, and is as
destructive as dry rot. There are bees and wasps, and hornets of large
size, and a much-dreaded insect, possibly not yet classified, said to be
peculiar to the Peninsula, which inflicts so severe a wound as to make a
strong man utter a cry of agony. But of all the pests the mosquitoes are
the worst. A resident may spend some time in the country and know
nothing from experience of scorpions, centipedes, land-leeches, and

soldier ants, but he cannot escape from the mosquito, the curse of these
well-watered tropic regions. In addition to the night mosquito, there is a
striped variety of large size, known as the "tiger mosquito," much to be
feared, for it pursues its bloodthirsty work in the daytime.
Among the harmless insects may be mentioned the cicada, which fills
the forest with its cheery din, the green grasshopper, spiders, and flies
of several species, dragon-flies of large size and brilliant coloring, and
butterflies and moths of surpassing beauty, which delight in the hot,
moist, jungle openings, and even surpass the flowers in the glory and
variety of their hues. Among them the atlas moth is found, measuring
from eight to ten inches across its wings. The leaf insects are also
fascinating, and the fire-flies in a mangrove swamp on a dark, still
night, moving in gentle undulations, or flashing into coruscations after
brief intervals of quiescence, are inconceivably beautiful.
The birds of the Peninsula are many and beautiful. Sun-birds rival the
flashing colors of the humming-birds in the jungle openings;
king-fishers of large size and brilliant blue plumage make the river
banks gay; shrieking paroquets with coral-colored beaks and tender
green feathers, abound in the forests; great, heavy-billed hornbills hop
cumbrously from branch to branch, rivaling in their awkward gait the
rhinoceros hornbills; the Javanese peacock, with its gorgeous tail and
neck covered with iridescent green feathers instead of blue ones, moves
majestically along the jungle tracks, together with the ocellated
pheasant, the handsome and high-couraged jungle cock, and the
glorious Argus pheasant, a bird of twilight and night, with "a hundred
eyes" on each feather of its stately tail.
According to Mr. Newbold, two birds of paradise (Paradisea regia and
Paradisea gularis) are natives of the Peninsula,* and among other
bright-winged creatures are the glorious crimson-feathered pergam, the
penciled pheasant, the peacock pheasant, the blue pheasant partridge,
the mina, and the dial bird, with an endless variety of parrots, lories,
green-feathered pigeons of various sizes, and wood-peckers. Besides
these there are falcons, owls, or "spectre birds," sweet-voiced butcher
birds, storks, fly-catchers, and doves, and the swallow which builds the

gelatinous edible nest, which is the foundation of the expensive luxury
"Bird's Nest Soup," frequents the verdant islands on the coast. [*Mr.