588 



NATURE 



S^April 24, 1890 



widely-spread and efficiently organized service of meteoro- 

 logical observations ; even in the less important stations 

 these are regularly recorded, and this has been the case 

 for a long series of years at Gunong Sitoli. This is at 

 present the residence of the Dutch civil and military 

 authorities in Nias ; the principal magistrate is a Con- 

 troleur, who, with the officer in command of the native 

 garrison, the medical officer, and the missionaries and 

 their wives, form the sum-tolal of the European residents 

 at Nias. Gunong Sitoli is mostly peopled with Malays, 

 Klings, and Chinamen, the trade of the island being 

 chiefly in the hands of the latter. Here, overcoming not 

 a few serious difficulties, Modigliani made his prepara- 

 tions for visiting the southern parts of Nias, freer from 

 external contact, and therefore more interesting ; and 

 for this purpose, a Malay boat — pe?icialcmg — was char- 

 tered. Whilst these preparations were being completed. 

 Dr. Modigliani visited a large cave near Hili Sabegno, 

 and, besides other interesting animals, collected speci- 

 mens of a bat {Eniballonura semicaudatd) previously 

 known only from Polynesia. Meanwhile, his hunters were 

 not inactive, and, amongst other interesting specimens, 

 four new species of birds, a singular new earthworm, and 

 several new insects were collected in the neighbourhood 

 of Sitoli ; the birds have been recently described by 

 Salvadori as Gracula robusta, Calornis aliirostris, Mig- 

 lyptes infiiscatus, and Syrnitim niasensc. 



Tobacco is the principal article for barter with the 

 wilder inhabitants of Nias, therefore Modigliani provided 

 himself with a large stock, mostly Sumatra grown, and 

 called wz/i-^-zy Javanese tobacco, called ^^zVi'w, has a greater 

 value. He provided himself, besides, with cotton cloth 

 of different colours, and brass wire, also much sought by 

 the Nias people. 



At last the jzJ^;/r/«/W«^ was ready, and Modigliani sailed 

 in her to the south end of the island, and anchored in the 

 Luaha Vd.ra Bay. His first sight of the Nias Southerners 

 was rather forbidding, and seemed to confirm de- 

 cidedly the many stories he had heard of their in- 

 domitable hostility and ferocity. A large number of 

 warriors, armed with lances and rattling their big shields 

 with a peculiar movement of the hand on the forearm, 

 crowded on the beach at his landing, to the no small alarm. 

 of his followers. With much pluck and presence of 

 mind, Modigliani overcame the momentary anxious 

 suspense, and in a few minutes he was on his way to the 

 village of Bawo Lowalani, surrounded and followed by 

 the excited warriors. Here he soon made friends with 

 Faosi Aro, the chief, the tallest and most crafty of 

 Southern Niassers, who appeared with two immense ear- 

 rings resting on his right shoulder. A liberal distribution 

 of tobacco soon made Modigliani popular all round. 

 Bkwo Lowaldni is a good type of a South Nias village, 

 placed on a height and defended by a stout stockade ; the 

 incessant wars between village and village render such 

 precautions necessary. Our traveller passed several days 

 here, having taken up his quarters in the house of Faosi 

 Aro, built as usual on stout piles ; he was thus able to 

 gather much information on the ways and manners of the 

 Niassers. His Javanese collectors, although much afraid 

 of the natives, who were constantly armed and on the 

 alert, being then at war with two neighbouring villages, 

 did some good work, and some new and rare insects and 

 a new species of bird {jOittocincla ?nelanura, Salvad.) were 

 added to the collections. 



At Bkwo Lowalani, Dr. Modigliani received a special 

 invitation to visit Hili Dgiono, a village further inland to 

 the west. A deputation awaited him outside Bawo 

 Lowalini, not trusting themselves inside ; a live fowl 

 packed in a singularly neat manner (see Fig. i) was 

 presented to him, and the knife of the chief of Hili 

 Dgiono — the latter to be returned. Faosi Aro did all in 

 his power to dissuade Modigliani from going, telling him 

 he would certainly be killed, as the Hili Dgionans were 



a bad lot ; but our traveller decided to keep his promise, 

 and the evening of the next day saw him at Hili Dgiono, 

 where he met with a most cordial reception, especially 

 from the old chief, Sidiiho Gheo. At this place Modigli- 

 ani passed pleasant days, was able to take a fine series of 

 photographs, and saw more of the natives and learnt 

 more of their customs than anywhere else. The women 

 alone, as in most parts of Nias, kept aloof, and would not 

 be photographed. Here Modigliani saw palpable proofs 

 of the well-known head-hunting propensities of the 

 Niassers. The big council house, or osale, was adorned 



Fig. i.^ — How a foul travels. 



with numerous skull trophies, hanging under the low roof. 

 Heads are taken not only in war, but on many other 

 occasions, for reasons amply given in Modigliani's book, 

 most of which are similar to those which send the Dayaks 

 of Borneo on their head-himting expeditions ; neither age 

 nor sex are spared. No youngster in Nias is proclaimed a 

 man and a warrior until he has cut off a head ; he then 

 assumes the ^nztdcnlabi'ibo (Fig. 2), a beautiful collar made 

 ot thin circular sections cut out of the double nut of the 

 Lodoicea scychellaruin (which is often cast by the sea on 

 the island), neatly strung on a brass wire with a circular 



Fig. 2. — A calabiibo. 



brass disk at the junction. The sections of the nut 

 diminish gradually from about an inch in diameter to less 

 than half at both ends, where the circular collar is closed 

 with the disk ; they are polished so as to present a uni- 

 form surface. None of the trophy skulls seen by Dr. 

 Modigliani were in any way ornamented, but in his book 

 he gives the drawing of a very singular one with artificial 

 hair, beard, and ears, communicated by the late Baron 

 von Rosenberg, who saw it in a house in Nias ; I should 

 fancy that it represents a European (Dutchman), for the 

 beard hardly grows on a Niasser's chin in such luxuriance 



