590 



NATURE 



[April 24, 1890 



man," of the Niassers possesses a special talismanic sword 

 with special idols and charms attached to the scabbard. 

 Quite a number of old flint-lock muskets have found their 

 way to Nias, but are fortunately often rendered useless 

 from want of ammunition. The Niassers are able smiths, 

 but they receive the iron and brass they use from Chinese 

 and Malay traders. 



On his way back, at Bawo Lowalani, Modigliani was 

 able to buy from Faosi Aro eleven human skulls. He 

 next sailed to Luaha Giindre Bay, wishing to visit the 

 important village of Hili Sendreche.isi, and possibly to 

 proceed thence inland. He was well received by the 

 chief and notabihties, who, however, promised much and 

 did little. Another new bird was obtained here — Terpsi- 

 fhone insularis, Salvad. Meanwhile, the head-man of 

 another neighbouring village, Hili Simaetano, sent mes- 

 sengers to invite him to go there, promising that he might 

 stay and collect as much he liked. The death of a warrior 

 at Sendrechedsi gave Modigliani an opportunity of wit- 

 nessing the funereal ceremonies of the Niassers, on which 

 subject he gives much important information. He was 

 not able, however, to confirm Piepers's assertion {Bat. 

 Genoot- v. Kuns. en IVettensch., 1887) regarding the 

 horrid and singular custom of putting the body upright 

 in a hollow tree, tapping this below, inserting a bamboo 

 tube, and forcing a slave to drink the putrid liquid which 

 flowed. The unfortunate man's head was afterwards cut 

 off, and hung to the tree as an offering to him whose body 

 was inclosed therein. I may mention that a similar cus- 

 tom is attributed to certain Dayak tribes of Borneo by 

 Perelaer, and that it recalls the ancient Javanese s^tra. 

 It appears, however, that human lives are still sacrificed 

 at the death of a chief. The author has also brought 

 together highly interesting information as to "animism,' 

 belief in a future state, and ancestor -worship amongst the 

 Niassers. 



Although lamed, and suffering from a bad foot, he 

 left Luaha Gundre for Hili Simaetdno on June I. 

 His reception there was, however, the reverse of what 

 he expected : the people were not only diffident, but 

 evidently hostile, notwithstanding the invitation sent by 

 their chief. Amongst the interesting things seen were 

 two elaborately carved stone thrones of honour, used 

 by the chief on solemn occasions ; opposite one, on a 

 pole, was a human skull. These two differed widely, the 

 smaller one in the centre of the village being a sort of 

 arm-chair, the back of which represented the bust of a 

 warrior with a crocodile climbing up behind him. These 

 singular stone seats of honour recall those found in faroff 

 Ecuador. After a couple of days' stay, the hostility of 

 the villagers was so evident that Modigliani decided to 

 leave; and if he was not actually attacked, he owed it not 

 only to his firmness and forbearance, but probably to the 

 fear caused by his repeating-rifle, and to the villagers 

 being short of ammunition. Anyway, he was able to get 

 safely back to his pencialang. Wishing, however, to 

 penetrate into the interior of the island, he sailed to the 

 Nacco Islands off the opposite coast of Nias, where he 

 hoped to get guides and information. Mdra Ali, chief of 

 Ndcco, received him well, and after much palavering 

 and a liberal distribution of presents, he was able to 

 obtain a guide in the person of Sanabahili, brother of the 

 local ere, and bearers. His intention was to land on the 

 opposite coast of Nias, and penetrate inland to one of 

 the higher mountains, known as Matgiiia, where he hoped 

 to make interesting collections. Having landed, after a 

 narrow escape from shipwreck, at Cape Serombu, he 

 proceeded boldly inland. There were no roads, and 

 his progress was not easy or pleasant ; moreover, his 

 guide was hardly up to the office he had undertaken, 

 and conducted him by mistake to the village of Iddno 

 Dowu. Thence he marched to Mount Burudssi, before 

 reaching which most of his bearers had deserted ; small 

 villages were passed, and the sites of bigger ones which 



had been destroyed during the incessant wars. Halam- 

 bava, a strongly fortified village, was next visited ; here 

 he found a singular and grotesque idol, Adu Fangiiru, 

 carved in a cocoa-palm trunk on the occasion of an epi- 

 demic which had decimated the village. Crossing next 

 the nearly unknown district of Iraono-Una, peopled by 

 ferocious head-hunters, he continued on to Hili Lowa- 

 lani ; here he came to the conclusion that Mount Mat- 

 giiia had been purposely missed, or more probably was 

 sadly out of place even in the best maps of Nias, and 

 decided to return to the north. Travelling on by Hili 

 Horo, he came again to Hili Simaetdno, where he was 

 well received this time, and able to buy some skulls. At 

 the Luaha Gundre he was rG]o\r\&dhyh.is pencialang — not 

 until after long waiting, anxious moments, and the risk 

 of starvation, having finished his provisions— and sailed 

 back to Gunong Sitoli. This voyage across the south- 

 west end of Nias was an adventurous one, but hardly 

 equal in results to the trouble it had cost. 



After his return to Sitoli, Modigliani decided to spend 

 what time he had left to remain in Nias in some favour- 

 able locality in the north, where, amongst quieter people, 

 he might better complete his observations and collec- 

 tions. He selected the village Ombaldta, or rather the 

 neighbouring hill called Hili Zabobo ; here he passed 

 pleasant days and was able to do much. Amongst the 

 interesting species collected I may mention : Pteropus 

 nicobaricus, Chiropodoniys gliroides, a. rare and singular 

 rodent lately collected by Fea in Burma ; Macropygia 

 modiglianii, SaXvdid. , drnd Carpophaga consobrina Salvad., 

 new pigeons ; a rare and beautiful lizard, Gonyocephalus 

 grandts, and the hitherto unknown Aphaniotis acuti- 

 rostris, Modigl. ; and several new species of Coleoptera 

 and ants. It is worth notice that in more than 4000 

 specimens of Lepidoptera collected by Dr. Modigliani no 

 novelties were found, but he secured some fine specimens 

 of the rare and peculiar Hebomoia vossi, Maitl. Dr. 

 Modigliani purposes publishing complete lists of the 

 animals of Nias ; meanwhile he has given in an appendix 

 listsof the specieshecollected,havingdetermined somehim- 

 self, whilst others have been studied by several specialists. 

 He obtained 15 species of mammals, 62 of birds, 39 of 

 reptiles, 8 of batrachians, 71 of fishes, and lists of over 

 400 species of insects have already been published. The 

 bulk of these zoological collections are in the Civic 

 Museum of Genoa. Modigliani was not able to do as 

 much in botany as he wished, but he was able to gratify 

 Beccari with some choice specimens of his favourite 

 Myrmecodia and Hydnophytum, those strange epiphytal 

 ant-harbouring plants first noticed by Jack at Nias. 



The last chapters of Dr. Modigliani' s book are entirely 

 devoted to the ethnology of Nias, and great and important 

 is the amount of information which he has gathered 

 on this interesting subject. I will merely mention one 

 or two of the principal items. Discussing the origin 

 and affinities of the Niassers, he finds them not only 

 different from the ordinary Malay, but partaking of the 

 characters of the Mongoloids (in a restricted sense) and 

 even of the Arianoid races ; and at the same time he notes 

 physical differences between the natives of Northern and 

 Southern Nias. I confess that I cannot quite follow our 

 author in this : the Niassers most evidently belong to the 

 great Malayan family, and perhaps resemble some of the 

 Dayak tribes more than any others. The ancient and con- 

 stant contact with Chinese may have slightly mongolized 

 them, always in the more restricted sense of that term 

 (some of Modigliani's photographs recalled to my mind 

 portraits of Kwei-yings of North Formosa shown to me 

 years ago by my lamented friend Robert Swinhoe). But 

 I fail to see traces of Arianoid features in any of 

 the Niassers photographed by Dr. Modigliani. At the 

 same time, I can quite understand how he found points 

 of resemblance between them and natives of Southern 

 India, who evidently have Malayan blood in their veins. 



