156 A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES ch. vir 



for produce. At one spot near the coast we were shown 

 the tomb of an ancient chief, half hidden by shrubs and 

 creepers. It was a massive structure, composed of the 

 usual concrete of sand and burnt corals ; at one end of it 

 was a rudely carved crocodile, and at the other a model of 

 an old-fashioneql European sailing ship. 



I could obtain no details of the life of this worthy chief, 

 whose deeds were so remarkable as to merit this unusual 

 and extraordinary monument, nor could I obtain any trust- 

 worthy information as to the date of his decease. The 

 savage hero went down to his grave mourned by a race who 

 speedily forgot him, and the people he sought to save from 

 wild beasts or the freebooters of a barbarous civilisation are 

 reminded only by this tomb of the enemies he encountered 

 for their sake. 



The silent tomb of this unknown hero recalled to my 

 mind the words of Sir Thomas Browne : ' To subsist in bones 

 and be but pyramidally extant is a fallacy of duration.' 



On the following day I received permission to land on 

 one of the Saha islands. These are two small islands lying 

 off Lirung in the Karkelang Straits, the larger of which is 

 about three-quarters of a mile in diameter, and the other 

 about half as large. My attention was called to these 

 islands by a flock of lories, consisting of many hundred 

 individuals, which flew from the main island to the larger 

 of them as the sun was setting on the previous evening. 

 I was in hopes that I might discover the nests of the Eos 

 or of some other birds on these small islands, although my 

 experience on Taliss'e had taught me that very few birds 

 were nesting at that time of the year. Anyone who has 

 looked through the ornithological papers dealing with the 

 birds of these regions must have been struck with the 

 small amount of information contained in them concern- 

 ing birds' nests and birds' eggs, and I was surprised to find 



