I Also Found A Single Specimen
Of A Most Curious Species With Very Long Antennae.
But my finest
discovery here was the Cicindela gloriosa, which I found on mossy
stones just rising above the water.
After obtaining my first
specimen of this elegant insect, I used to walk up the stream,
watching carefully every moss-covered rock and stone. It was
rather shy, and would often lead me on a long chase from stone to
stone, becoming invisible every time it settled on the damp moss,
owing to its rich velvety green colour. On some days I could
only catch a few glimpses of it; on others I got a single
specimen; and on a few occasions two, but never without a more or
less active pursuit. This and several other species I never saw
but in this one ravine.
Among the people here I saw specimens of several types, which,
with the peculiarities of the languages, gives me some notion of
their probable origin. A striking illustration of the low state
of civilization of these people, until quite recently, is to be
found in the great diversity of their languages. Villages three
or four miles apart have separate dialects, and each group of
three or four such villages has a distinct language quite
unintelligible to all the rest; so that, until the recent
introduction of Malay by the Missionaries, there must have been a
bar to all free communication. These languages offer many
peculiarities. They contain a Celebes-Malay element and a Papuan
element, along with some radical peculiarities found also in the
languages of the Siau and Sanguir islands further north, and
therefore, probably derived from the Philippine Islands. Physical
characteristics correspond. There are some of the less civilized
tribes which have semi-Papuan features and hair, while in some
villages the true Celebes or Bugis physiognomy prevails. The
plateau of Tondano is chiefly inhabited by people nearly as white
as the Chinese, and with very pleasing semi-European features.
The people of Siau and Sanguir much resemble these, and I believe
them to be perhaps immigrants from some of the islands of North
Polynesia. The Papuan type will represent the remnant of the
aborigines, while those of the Bugis character show the extension
northward of the superior Malay races.
As I was wasting valuable time at Panghu, owing to the bad weather
and the illness of my hunters, I returned to Menado after a stay
of three weeks. Here I had a little touch of fever, and what with
drying and packing all of my collections and getting fresh
servants, it was a fortnight before I was again ready to start. I
now went eastward over an undulating country skirting the great
volcano of Klabat, to a village called Lempias, situated close to
the extensive forest that covers the lower slopes of that
mountain. My baggage was carried from village to village by
relays of men; and as each change involved some delay, I did not
reach my destination (a distance of eighteen miles) until sunset.
I was wet through, and had to wait for an hour in an uncomfortable
state until the first installment of my baggage arrived, which
luckily contained my clothes, while the rest did not come in until
midnight.
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