II.] MEIMBUN. 25 



and is in keeping with the quaint novehy of the scene around. 

 Were I to land my reader here, with the not unnecessary i^recaution 

 of informing the natives that he is an orang Ingris, and not an 

 orang Castillan, he might wander unharmed about the village. 

 But the river beyond is too tempting to leave unexplored. Once 

 past the huts the vegetation closes in on either side, forming a 

 picture-frame of tropical foliage around the cone-shaped summit of 

 Buat Timantangis. A brilliant flash of blue shoots arrow -like 

 across the stream. It is a kingfisher, whose close resemblance to 

 our own well-known species is the only link in our surroundings 

 connecting us with home. The little white cockatoos, diminutive 

 brethren of the familiar Australian bird, fly in small parties over 

 our heads, and here and there a golden oriole sits like some brilliant 

 yellow blossom amid the mass of foliage. Ere my reader disem- 

 barks with me at the Istana, and walks up to pay a visit to the 

 Sultan, he will — or ought to — allow that as far as regards beauty 

 of scenery, there are few places more favoured than the island 

 of Sulu. 



On the occasion of our first landing we did not go far. Leaving 

 the river we struck off to the right into an open country, where a 

 number of young teak -trees were growing. The ground was 

 covered with small lumps of lava and scoria?, the relics of some 

 former eruption, and luit for the thick growth of grass above it, 

 walking would have been far from pleasant. The views of the 

 country inland were lovely, but the ardour of our chase after the 

 many new objects of natural history around us was a little damped 

 by our Sulu boy, Usman, who, after wandering aljout in a state of 

 perturbation from one to the other of us, finally begged that we 

 would keep together and not go far from him. The Sulus, we 

 learnt, were apt to be unnecessarily hasty in their actions, and 

 might not perhaps allow us sufficient time for explanations were 

 they to meet us. We had every desire to keep our heads upon 

 our shoulders, and it was therefore thought better to pay our 

 respects to the Sultan, and make ourselves generally known in our 



