xi] THE "IKAN SUMPIT" 



tumultuously. At 4 p.m. I reached Fort Simanggan without 

 notable incidents. 



The next day, about four o'clock in the afternoon, having ascer- 

 tained that the tidal current had reached the fort, we continued 

 our ascent of the river with its aid. Soon afterwards we passed 

 the Undup, an affluent on the right bank, and later on the Sakar- 

 rang, on the left. Higher up, the main stream, which still retains 

 the name of Batang Lupar, grows much narrower. Up to this point 

 the country could hardly be less attractive, with its low banks, 

 bare and monotonous, or with at the most a few scattered trees. 

 But these are the signs of a densely populous region, and of soil 

 adapted to the cultivation of rice. The shrubs scattered over the 

 country are the remains of forest species not entirely destroyed by 

 fire during the clearings, and appear as strangers amidst the 

 vegetation of the plains. We passed the night at Balassan, a 

 Dyak village of nine families. 



Early on the 21st we started paddling, aided by a slight tide 

 for a short distance, but this was very soon overcome by the current 

 of the river. I shot here a burong bubut (Centrococcyx eurycercus, 

 Cab. and Hein.), a large species of cuckoo, which keeps to open 

 plains and abandoned rice fields, flying from bush to bush. Its 

 loud and oft repeated cry — " bubu-bubu " — is heard for hours in 

 monotonous regularity on these plains, and its native Malay name 

 is derived from this peculiarity. 



I saw here for the first time that singular fish (Toxodes jaculator) 

 which has received from the natives the name of " Ikan sutnpit," 

 literally " blowpipe-fish." It is neither remarkable in shape nor 

 coloration, but it has the strange power, on coming to the surface, 

 of being able to squirt a jet of water from its mouth. This it uses 

 with unerring aim against insects, such' as grasshoppers, flies, and 

 even spiders, resting on plants near the water's edge, causing them 

 to fall into the water, where they become an easy prey to the clever 

 marksman. The ikan sumpit has thus a special advantage over 

 other fishes also preying on insects. The annexed vignette (Fig. 29) 

 shows a scene on a Bornean river, and an ikan sumpit squirting 

 water at a larval Orthoptera ; but the artist has drawn the fish 

 with colossal proportions, whilst in reality it scarcely attains the 

 size of one of our common domestic goldfish. 



Primitive Man managed to obtain possession of living animals 

 in motion by virtue of the admirable structure of his hand, which 

 enabled him to grasp a stone or other missile, and to hurl it at the 

 animal he wished to capture. Such must have been the origin of 

 the first suggestion of implements of the chase. In Man's case the 

 sentiment which caused the action was desire, followed by an act of 

 volition. But it is indeed singular that a fish, intellectually so 

 greatly man's inferior, should exhibit reasoning capacity similar 



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