m SUMATRA. 247 



words addressed to the Commandant were very appropriate to 

 the commission he held in the district. Altogether it was a 

 specimen of the Malay at his best, as a courtier and a gentle- 

 man ; and (to me) a most interesting exhibition of the ele- 

 gance, the politeness and dignity, which are characteristic of 

 their race. 



The dances in vogue are, like themselves, quite different from 

 those in other districts ; they are of several forms, are more 

 lively and are danced with much spirit, some of them having a 

 likeness to European performances, especially one where the 

 dancer in her evolutions balances on her head, shoulders and 

 hands lighted tapers, reminding one of the German Hugel- 

 hupftanz. 



Fig. 1. Fia. 2. - 



C #a 



FLOWER OF (JOltCUMA ZEliUMBET. A, PEOOE-S OF THE AKTHEB ; B, TL'EBBCLB OP THE 



ANTHEK ; C, ANTHEK; D, the stigma. fig. ], THE FLOWER SHOWING ITS OROANS 

 IN THEIR NORMAL CONDITION ; FIG. 2, WHEN BEING VISITED BY A BOMBtJS. 



The region about Surulangun is one of great interest, as it 

 lies on the borders of that little-known forest stretching towards 

 Kedjang and Djambi. Among the birds found here I obtained 

 the Fcdxornis longicauda, with its metallic-green crown, pink 

 head and black-ringed neck, one of the most chastely-coloured 

 of the parrots. They used to collect in the highest trees in the 

 neighbourhood, and were exceedingly difficult to shoot. In a 

 tree near to that occupied by the parrots a species of bee-eater 

 (Merops sumatranus) flocked in such thousands that as they 

 congregated in the evenings they seemed like swarms of bees, 

 and the hum of their wings could be heard a long way off. By 

 the roads here were some magnificent fig-trees and Diptero- 

 carpese. In the low forest a common species of the Ginger 



