VII.] ZOOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE SUNDA ISLANDS. 137 



pistol-shaped or right-angled handles ; none the beautifully-shaped 

 grips of the Sulu parangs, which are in reality far more effective 

 weapons, though less murderous-look- 

 ing. The spears, even of those of the 

 lowest rank, had hilts of worked silver 

 reaching down the shaft for eight or 

 ten inches from the insertion of the 

 blade. 



A mile or two after leaving the sea 

 we again struck the Sumbawa Eiver, 

 which, in spite of the long-continued 

 drought, was still running as a stream 

 of clear water about a foot in depth. 

 Many of the Sumbawan rivers, we were 

 told, fail altogether in the dry season. 

 Leaving the more cultivated land be- 

 hind us, we came to a wilder part, with 

 occasional patches of thorny thicket, 

 and it was here that I was able to 

 realise for the first time that we were 

 in a totally different zoograpliical 

 region from Java and the other great 

 Malay Islands. How^ever well one 

 may be acquainted with the facts 



of regional division, and with the zoological and other charac- 

 teristics of the various parts of the Malay Archipelago which 

 have been so admirably described by Mr. Wallace, the personal 

 realisation of them gives an amount of pleasure to a naturalist 

 which few people can imagine. Java was the last country we had 

 visited, but here the vegetation was of quite a different type. 

 Euphorbias of two or three species were abundant, and it was 

 scarcely possible to enter the dry and scrubby jimgle without 

 being brought constantly to a standstill by the thorns. In the 

 Malayan jungle the rattan is almost the sole impediment of this 



SUMBAWAN KRIS. 



