50 
NORTH BORNEO. 
in the meanwhile is doing his best to slice up the population; it seems to me that the only 
thing to be done is to ask the cause of so much trouble to surrender or to shoot him. If I 
had been able to leave the river at the time I should have told Bandeira to behave himself 
until the officer from Kudat arrived, when perhaps before such a commanding presence he 
would have put his head into a noose and quietly submitted to be strung up ; but from 
what I know of “ amoking ” and the regard for natives’ lives displayed by the officers of the 
British North Borneo Company in their police expeditions, I have no doubt Bandeira would 
have been shot down at first sight. Later on the authorities returned with Situron to the 
Benkoker. After holding an inquiry this man was freed from all blame ; he afterwards 
informed me that the officer who held this court told him that he acted rightly, and if 
another amok took place he hoped he would do the same again. Situron agreed with me 
that he should do nothing of the sort, but rather paddle over to Kudat and let the officials 
know, so that they might be able to carry out the arrest a day or two later on. 
I have perhaps gone more fully into this affair than I should have done, but as certain 
officials in the Company’s service passed disparaging remarks regarding my conduct in this 
business, I feel it is only justice to myself to do so, and, at the same time, a warning to 
travellers not to interfere with native peculiarities, but rather to send for the police what¬ 
ever distance they may be off. 
Some two years later when in Palawan, and Nyhan still in my employ, we met the 
relations of Bendeira, and no doubt had they known we had had any participation in his 
death they would have assassinated us; but we kept our own counsel during our sojourn in 
that island of lawlessness. 
In our wanderings we found the nest of one of the Hornbills (Anorrhinus galeritus), 
and before being aware of its proximity we shot three of the birds which were visiting 
the tree. When I discovered the nest by the heap of guano at the foot of the tree I was 
sorry that we had done so, and sent one of my boys to see if he could climb to the 
imprisoned female and let her loose. On the following day he returned with the hen bird 
and a nearly full-fledged young one, and to my surprise he told me that there were two or 
three old birds busy attending on the imprisoned ones. Hornbills, as most ornithologists 
are well aware, have the peculiar habit of firmly fastening up the nesting female in a hole 
in a tree, leaving only an aperture large enough for her to get her beak out of and receive 
the food brought by some six or seven other birds. The hole is firmly fastened up with 
gutta, dirt, and various gums, and the same one is evidently frequently used, judging by the 
heap of excrement at the foot of the tree. The hen remains incarcerated until the young 
bird is able to fly, when I have seen four or five birds attending on one young one in the 
tops of the forest trees. It is perhaps fortunate that coupled with this peculiar nidificatory 
habit the birds do not pair, as any accident to the attendant male would mean death by 
slow starvation to the imprisoned hen, she being weak and useless for some time after 
her long incarceration; and, judging by the insatiable appetite of the youthful Hornbill, 
the old bird is to be pitied who has to keep the infant supplied Avith food. The object 
of firmly fastening in the hen bird is doubtless as a protection against the bands of 
monkeys Avhich roam through the forests, and perhaps are the worst enemies to the increase 
of tropical birds. Huge tree-climbing Monitor Lizards also cause immense destruction 
amongst the feathered population of the forests. 
