CHAP. XXIV.] EATABLE BATS. 49 



hunters ; and two or three times a week, deer or wild pigs 

 are brought to the village, which, with fish and fowls, 

 enables them to live well. They are almost the only 

 people in the Archipelago who eat the great fruit-eating 

 bats called by us " flying foxes." These ugly creatures are 

 considered a great delicacy, and are much sought after. 

 At about the beginning of the year they come in large 

 flocks to eat fruit, and congregate during the day on some 

 small islands in the bay, hanging by thousands on the 

 trees, especially on dead ones. They can then be easily 

 caught or knocked down with sticks, and are brought 

 home by baskets-full. They require to be carefully pre- 

 pared, as the skin and fur has a rank and powerful foxy 

 odour ; but they are generally cooked with abundance of 

 spices and condiments, and are really very good eating, 

 something like hare. The Orang Sirani are good cooks, 

 having a much greater variety of savoury dishes than the 

 Malays. Here, they live chiefly on sago as bread, with 

 a little rice occasionally, and abundance of vegetables and 

 fruit. 



It is a curious fact that everywhere in the East where 

 the Portuguese have mixed with the native races they 

 have become darker in colour than either of the parent 

 stocks. This is the case almost always with these " Orang 

 Sirani" in the Moluccas, and with the Portuguese of 

 Malacca. Tlie reverse is the case in South America, where 



VOL. II. E 



