448 



THE ARU ISLANDS. 



[chap. ISIt 



(Canarium commune), abundaot m ttie islands where tliia 

 bird is fouad ; and the manner in which it i^ets at these 

 seeds shows a correlatioii of stiiicture and habits, which 

 would point out the "kanary" as its special food. The 

 shell of this nut is so excessively hard that only a heavy 

 hamtuer will crack it ; it is somewhat triangular, and the 

 outside is quite smootli. The manner in wliicli the bird 

 opens these nuts is very curious. Taking one endways in 

 its bill and keepmg it tirm by a pressure of the tongue, it 

 cuts a transverse noteh by a lateral sawing motion of the 

 sharp-edged lower mandible. This done, it takes hold of 

 the luit with its foot, and Ijiting off a piece of leaf retains 

 it in the deep notch of the upper mandible, and again 

 seizing the nut, which is prevented from sliisping by tlie 

 elastic tissue of the leaf, fixes the edge of the lower 

 mandible in the notch, and by a powerful nip breaks off 

 a piece of the shell Again taking the nut in its claws, 

 it inserts the very long and sharp point of the bill and 

 picks out the kernel, which is seized hold of, morsel by 

 morsel, by the extensible tongue. Thus every detail of 

 form and structure in the extraordinan,' bill of this bird 

 seems Ui have its use, and we may easUy conceive that 

 the black cockatoos have maintained themselves in com- 

 petition with their more active and more numerous white 

 allies, by their power of existing on a kind of food which 

 no other bird is able to extract from its stony shell Tlie 

 species is the Microgloasum aterrimum of naturalists. 



During the two weeks winch I spent in this little settle- 

 ment, I had good opportunities of observing the natives at 

 their own home, and living in their usual manner. There 

 is a great monotony and uniformity in every-day savage 

 life, and it seemed to me a more miserable existence 

 than w^hen it had the charm of novelt}^ To begin with 

 the most important fact in the existence of uncivdiijed 

 peoples — their food— the Aru men have no regular supply, 

 no staff of life, such as bread, rice, mandiocca, maize, or 

 sago, which arc the daily food of a large proportion of 

 mankind. They have, however, many sorts of vegetables, 

 plantains, yams, sweet potatoes, and raw sago ; and they 

 chew up vast quantities of sugar-cane, as well as betel- 

 nuts, gambir, and tobacco. Those who live on the coast 



