70 A NATURALIST IN CELEBES ch. iv 



and the young one was killed like the others. If I had 

 been able to obtain a good supply of fresh cow's milk, I 

 would haye tried to feed it with an artificial nipple, but 

 that was just what I could not get, and so I was obliged to 

 try again the affections of the parent, with the painful 

 result just mentioned. 



Besides the companionship of one of my boys, Manuel 

 or Marcus, Mr. Cursham, the half-caste opzichter of the 

 plantations, often accompanied me on my expeditions, 

 and I learned a good deal from his wide and varied know- 

 ledge about some of the details of animal and plant life 

 in these forests. His experience in these matters often left 

 me in the lurch, however, for in swarming up the hill- 

 sides, or in breaking through a bush tangle, he and Manuel 

 could get along so much faster than I could, that I was 

 left a long way in the rear, while they were potting merrily 

 at the birds, baboons, or kusis far ahead. The chief 

 difficulty I experienced in getting along was that the 

 leather soles of my boots became so slippery by walking on 

 the dry leaves that I was obliged to plant my feet with the 

 greatest deliberation and caution to avoid falling down. 

 On some occasions I took off my boots, and went with 

 naked feet, like Cursham and the boys, and then I found I 

 could keep up pretty well ; but this is not a plan I should 

 advise a European to adopt too readily, for our feet perspire 

 much more than native feet, and consequently our skin is 

 much more liable to abrasions, and to suffer from the attacks 

 of flies and mosquitoes, than is the hard, dry skin of the 

 feet of coloured men. India-rubber canvas shoes are ex- 

 tremely valuable when climbing up the slopes of a forest- 

 clad mountain ; they give almost as much grip as the naked 

 feet, and are for a time cool and comfortable. When I 

 became more experienced in forest work, I always carried a 

 pair of these with me, and put them on in place of my 



