62 THE SULU ISLANDS. [chap. 



to have found a thoroughly congenial soil, and I have seldom 

 tasted more delicious chocolate than that we drank in Sulu. 

 Usually the trees do not begin to bear until they are four years 

 old, but Captam Schiick informed us that at Lukut Lapas they had 

 borne well on the third year. The young cacao always requu'ing 

 shade, the plantations are generally made beneath the Artocarpus 

 or other thick-foliaged trees, large clumps of wliich are so plentiful 

 throughout the island that there should be no difficulty in getting 

 suitable ground for planting. 



Wandermg about in the pleasant fruit -groves and open 

 clearings, we were able to add considerably to our collections. In 

 the long lalang gi'ass the large ground Cuckoo {Centrococcyx) rose 

 before one's feet with a flapping, laboured flight. The tiny Button- 

 quail (^irm(/'actoHa. cAmewsis) haunted the same ground in abundance, 

 lying in twos and threes. The natives net them in great numbers, 

 and used often to bring them to us for sale. They live well in 

 captivity in spite of theu' pugnacity, but the top of the cage must 

 be made of a piece of loosely-stretched linen or sacking, or the 

 birds' constant habit of springing upwards soon causes their death. 

 The common Jungle-fowl of the Indo- Malayan region {Gallus 

 hankiva), identical in appearance with our " black-breasted red " 

 game fowl, is very numerous throughout the island, but, owing to 

 its haunting the thicker jungle and being very shy, it is rarely 

 seen. The Sulus have a plan of catching it which seems to be 

 very successful. They tie up a captive in the most frequented 

 haunts of the species, and surround liim with springes. The wild 

 bu'ds, attracted by his crowing, come down to fight, and are 

 quickly caught. In tliis manner it is only the cock bird that is 

 ever secured, and thus, although at one time we had as many as 

 ten cocks tied up to the posts of the verandah, we never even saw 

 the hen. After a few days' captivity they readily permit them- 

 selves to be caught and carried about, and become far tamer even 

 than domestic fowls, with which they are freely crossed by the 

 natives. The cock bird has sickle feathers of extraordinary length. 



