A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES 



reefs at Talisse I have avoided as far as possible 

 technical details of form and structure. The animals 

 I call attention to are those I came across in my daily 

 excursions in the forests and on the reefs. I have 

 not attempted to give a complete list of species known 

 to occur in Celebes of any order of the animal king- 

 dom. Such hsts may be found in the works of some 

 of the eminent naturalists mentioned in the biblio- 

 graphy at the end of the book. 



During the few months I was resident in any 

 particular district, it was impossible for me to acquire 

 more than a few words of the local dialects, and 1 

 could consequently learn but little of the various 

 prevalent myths, songs, and customs directly from the 

 natives. I am indebted to the kindness of many of 

 the missionaries, officials, and Malay-speaking natives 

 for the few scraps of information I am able to record 

 as new. The greater part of the ethnological portion 

 of the book is borrowed from the valuable writings 

 to be found in many of the reports of missionary and 

 other societies, and in Dutch periodicals. 



Although many of the stories and poems have 

 undoubtedly suffered considerably in the double 

 translation from the local dialect into Dutch and 

 from Dutch into English, I hope they remain suffi- 

 ciently true to the originals to indicate to the reader 

 their general characteristics. 



For the convenience of students I have given a 

 classification of all the animals and plants I have re- 

 ferred to in these pages, and a list of the more im- 



