m SUMATRA. 



247 



words addressed to the Commandant were very appropriate to 

 the commission he held in the district Altogether it wiis a 

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

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

 gauce, the politeness and dignity, which are characteristic of 

 their race. 



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

 those in other districts \ tliey 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 tajicrs, reminding one of the German Hngel- 

 hnpftanz. 



Fig. 1. FiQ. 2. 



rLO^TBS or CL'BCCMA SKBrMHfiT. — A, PROCESS OF TBE AJfTHEB ; B, TCTJEBCLE OF THB 

 ANTHER ; C. A\*THEH; D, TUB STlGatA, TlU. I, THE FLOWEft SaoWIXO ITg OBlASfl 



IN TUEiii NORMAL coiitimosr ; net, 2, wkkn beiso tistted by a bombck 



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

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

 Eedjangand Djambi, Among the birds found here I obtained 

 the Fidmomw lomjimuda^ with its metallic-green crown, pink 

 head ami bkck-ringed neck, one of the most chastely-coloured 

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

 neighbourhood, ami were exceedingly dilhcnlt to shoot. In a 

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

 {MeropB Bumairanus) 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 along way off. By 

 the roa<ls here were some magnificent fig-trees and Dlftero- 

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



