IN SUMATRA 



'247 



words addressed to the Commandant were very appropriate to 

 the commission he held in the district. Altogether it was a 

 specimen of the Malay at his best^ as a courtier and a gentle- 

 man ; and (to me) a most interesting exhibition of the ele- 

 gance, the politeness and dignity, which are characteristic of 

 their race. 



. The dances in vogue are, like themselves, quite different from 



tliose in other districts ; tliey are of several form*?, are more 



lively and are danced with much spirit, some of thcji) havliiga 



likeness to European performances, especially one where the 



dancer in her evolutions bahmces on her head, sliouldcrs and 



hands lighted tapers, reminding one of the German Ilugcl- 

 hupftanz. 



Fig. L 



Fig. 2. 



A 



FLO"^\-ER OF CrUCOIA ZEUL'MBET. — A, TROCE-S OF THE ASTHKB ; B» TCBERCLE OF THE 

 AXTHEIi ; C, AXTHEU; I>, THE STIGMA. FIG. 1, THE FLOWER 8H0WIXG ITiJ ORGAN'B 

 IN" THEIR XOnSIAL CONlJlTION" ; YIG, 2, IVHEV BEIXG VISITED BY A BOMBCS. 



p 



The region about Surulangun is one of great interest, as it 

 lies uii the borders of that little-known forest stretching towards 

 Redjang and Djambi. Among the birds found here I obtained 

 the FalsBornis longicauda^ with its niotallic-green crown, pink 

 head and black-ringed neck, one of the most chasttly-culoured 

 of the parrots. They used to collect in tlio highest trees in the 

 neighbourhood, and were exceedingly diffit'ult to sluKit. In a 

 tree near to that occupied by the parrots a species of bcc-eatcr 

 {Merops siimatranus) flocked in such thousands that as thc*y 

 congregated in the evenings they seemed like s warms of bees, 

 and the hum of their wings could be heard a long way off. By 

 the roads here were some magnificent fig-trees and Dqjiero- 

 carpese. In the low forest a common species of the Ginger 



