8522 



A Visit to Mew Island. 



A Visit to Mew Island. — Tn June, 1858, I spent a day in exploring Mew Island, 

 a little coral islet near the entrance of the Sunda Strait. It is densely wooded to the 

 water's edge, and is partly encircled by a barrier reef. As I step from the boat upon the 

 reef I am struck at once with the extreme beauty of a species of Amphitrite which lives 

 in holes of the great solid madrepores which compose the reef. The gills of these lovely 

 Annelids are in the form of spiral laminae, of a brilliant orange-green and blue. These 

 resplendent gaudy plumes are alternately extruded and withdrawn, and, seen through 

 the pellucid water, present a very singular and beautiful appearance. On the moist 

 sand within the reef are numbers of pale gray crickets, veritable maritime Orthoptera, 

 which share the strand with horsemen crabs, and perforate the soil in every direction. 

 It was calm as well as hot, and the still water under the dark shadow of the over- 

 hanging trees abounds with long-spined purple sea eggs, and glancing here and there 

 among them are black and yellow Chsetodons, strikingly handsome fishes on account 

 of the contrast of colour. Jumping from stone to stone, like so many tiny seals, are 

 numbers of Periophthalmi, fish as singular in form as the Chaetodons are vivid in 

 colour. Sea slugs or Holothuriae are lying quiescent in the shallow pools or" dragging 

 their slow lengths along" the coral debris. Some crabs with bright scarlet eyes, hiding 

 beneath the madrepores, and Ophiuri, with slender snake-like rays, wriggling their 

 way among the dead shells and seaweed, also struck me as very curious during my 

 sojourn on this tropical barrier reef. On penetrating the jungle I admire the great 

 gutta percha trees firmly anchored in the loose coral, and supported by broad buttresses, 

 which extend beyond the base of the trunks. One giant tree has fallen, and his pros- 

 trate form is already clothed with a drooping pall of Epiphytes, and nearly screened 

 from view by the pinnate fronds of Lomarise, and the cylindiic branches of enormous 

 Lycopodiums. A species of solitary wasp and legions of indefatigable ants are engaged 

 on the work of demolition, which in the Tropics is soon effected, while in the tree-tops 

 overhead the Cicadas are chanting a monotonous dirge over the decaying form of the 

 vegetable giant. This is the first time I have seen the Cycas in fruit, and I obtain 

 some fine specimens of the size and shape of large pine apples. A species of Nepen- 

 thes, with very pretty pitchers, is growing also in great luxuriance in one part of the 

 island. And now I come upon a deserted village which offers a picture of mingled 

 plenty and desolation. The ruined huts are encircled by verdurous broad-leaved 

 bananas and the blackened stems of burnt palms, while some are overgrown with ferns 

 or half buried beneath dense masses of parasitic creepers. The capsicum and cotton 

 plants around are choked by the rank growth of trailing Convolvuli, and the village 

 paths are green with weeds, and obstructed by rotting trees swarming with centipedes 

 and scorpions. Absorbed in the contemplation of this strange scene, I am startled by 

 the sound of heavy flapping wings, and looking up see two large birds with outstretched 

 necks winging their way to a tall bare tree adjacent. They perch side by side, and I 

 recognise the great black and white hornbill. In the perfect solitude of the jungle 

 sudden sounds of mystery, like the vibration of these birds' wings, recal visions of tigers 

 and other jungle horrors, and the hand instinctively moves towards the faithful revolver. 

 The Malays had come over here to avoid the tigers which had devastated their village 

 on the mainland, but these man-slayers, having tasted human blood, swam over to the 

 island, and so molested them that they were forced to quit the neighbourhood alto- 

 gether. — Arthur Adams. 



