CH. II ON BOARD H.M.8. 'FLYING FISH' 21 



could always rely upon a brace of them to help me through 

 with my meal of rice and curry. They should have had 

 a more sentimental claim upon my attention than this, for 

 they are also inhabitants of the British Isles. 



Two Celebean birds — and I believe I am right in saying 

 only two — can hardly be distinguished by ornithologists 

 from British species. One is the common sandpiper 

 {Tringoides hypoleucus), and the other the cuckoo {Cuculus 

 canorus) . 



Of the cuckoo, Guillemard says (24) : ' Its skin cannot 

 be distinguished from European skins in plumage.' No- 

 thing is at present known of the nesting habits of the 

 bird in Celebes, so that we cannot yet assert that it lays 

 its eggs in the nests of other birds. Although it was 

 abundant in Talisse, I never heard the familiar cry of 

 ' cuckoo,' which is so welcome to us in spring in England. 

 It is possible that it utters this cry in the breeding season 

 and is silent for the rest of the year. 



On our way back to the ship we were participators in 

 an exciting and interesting race. The lunch, provided for 

 us by the agent of the company, had arrived from Talisse 

 in one of the Malay double-outrigged canoes called by the 

 natives ' londi.' This canoe and the two whalers of the 

 ' Elying Fish ' crossed the reefs and hoisted sails almost 

 simultaneously. The Malay sail is oblong in shape, 

 stretched by two yards and hoisted by means of a halyard 

 attached towards the foremost end of the upper yard. 

 Two ropes attached to the port and starboard ends of the 

 upper yard are made fast to branched wooden belaying 

 pins fixed to the outriggers. In sailing, the rope on the 

 windward side is used as a main sheet and hauled fast, so 

 that the sail comes to stand nearly upright almost parallel 

 with the mast, while the other rope is used as a tack to 

 keep the sail steady. 



