Malacca, while, what is very singular and interesting, it recalled to my mind the
half-forgotten impressions of the forests of Equatorial America. For example, the
palms were much more abundant than I had generally found them in the East,
more generally mingled with the other vegetation, more varied in form and
aspect, and presenting some of those lofty and majestic smooth-stemmed,
pinnate-leaved species which recall the Uauassu (Attalea speciosa) of the
Amazon, but which I had hitherto rarely met with in the Malayan islands.
In animal life the immense number and variety of spiders and of lizards were
circumstances that recalled the prolific regions of south America, more
especially the abundance and varied colours of the little jumping spiders which
abound on flowers and foliage, and are often perfect gems of beauty. The web-
spinning species were also more numerous than I had ever seen them, and were a
great annoyance, stretching their nets across the footpaths just about the height
of my face; and the threads composing these are so strong and glutinous as to
require much trouble to free oneself from them. Then their inhabitants, great
yellow-spotted monsters with bodies two inches long, and legs in proportion, are
not pleasant to o run one's nose against while pursuing some gorgeous butterfly,
or gazing aloft in search of some strange-voiced bird. I soon found it necessary
not only to brush away the web, but also to destroy the spinner; for at first,
having cleared the path one day, I found the next morning that the industrious
insects had spread their nets again in the very same places.
The lizards were equally striking by their numbers, variety, and the situations
in which they were found. The beautiful blue-tailed species so abundant in Ke
was not seen here. The Aru lizards are more varied but more sombre in their
colours—shades of green, grey, brown, and even black, being very frequently
seen. Every shrub and herbaceous plant was alive with them, every rotten trunk
or dead branch served as a station for some of these active little insect-hunters,
who, I fear, to satisfy their gross appetites, destroy many gems of the insect
world, which would feast the eyes and delight the heart of our more
discriminating entomologists. Another curious feature of the jungle here was the
multitude of sea-shells everywhere met with on the ground and high up on the
branches and foliage, all inhabited by hermit-crabs, who forsake the beach to
wander in the forest. I lave actually seen a spider carrying away a good-sized
shell and devouring its (probably juvenile) tenant. On the beach, which I had to
walls along every morning to reach the forest, these creatures swarmed by
thousands. Every dead shell, from the largest to the most minute, was
appropriated by them. They formed small social parties of ten or twenty around
bits of stick or seaweed, but dispersed hurriedly at the sound of approaching