tree flowers, which it does only once in its life in a huge terminal
spike, upon which are produced masses of a smooth round fruit of a green
colour and about an inch in diameter. When these ripen and fall the tree
dies, and remains standing a year or two before it falls. Trees in leaf
only are by far the most numerous, then those in flower and fruit, while
dead trees are scattered here and there among them. The trees in fruit
are the resort of the great green fruit pigeons, which have been already
mentioned. Troops of monkeys (Macacus cynomolgus) may often be
seen occupying a tree, showering down the fruit in great profusion,
chattering when disturbed and making an enormous rustling as they
scamper off among the dead palm leaves; while the pigeons have a loud
booming voice more like the roar of a wild beast than the note of a
bird.
My collecting operations here were carried on under more than usual
difficulties. One small room had to serve for eating, sleeping and
working, and one for storehouse and dissecting-room; in it were no
shelves, cupboards, chairs or tables; ants swarmed in every part of it,
and dogs, cats and fowls entered it at pleasure. Besides this it was the
parlour and reception-room of my host, and I was obliged to consult his
convenience and that of the numerous guests who visited us. My principal
piece of furniture was a box, which served me as a dining table, a seat
while skinning birds, and as the receptacle of the birds when
skinned and dried. To keep them free from ants we borrowed, with
some difficulty, an old bench, the four legs of which being placed in
cocoa-nut shells filled with water kept us tolerably free from these
pests. The box and the bench were, however, literally the only places
where anything could be put away, and they were generally well occupied
by two insect boxes and about a hundred birds' skins in process of
drying. It may therefore be easily conceived that when anything bulky
or out of the common way was collected, the question "Where is it to
be put?" was rather a difficult one to answer. All animal substances
moreover require some time to dry thoroughly, emit a very disagreeable
odour while doing so, and are particularly attractive to ants, flies,
dogs, rats, cats, and other vermin, calling for special cautions and
constant supervision, which under the circumstances above described were
impossible.
My readers may now partially understand why a travelling naturalist of
limited means, like myself, does so much less than is expected or
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