Our road lay over a mountain ridge about 4,000 feet above the sea, and then
descended about 500 feet to the little village of Rurúkan, the highest in the
district of Minahasa, and probably in all Celebes. Here I had determined to stay
for some time to see whether this elevation would produce any change in the
zoology. The village had only been formed about ten years, and was quite as
neat as those I had passed through, and much more picturesque. It is placed on a
small level spot, from which there is an abrupt wooded descent down to the
beautiful lake of Tondano, with volcanic mountains beyond. On one side is a
ravine, and beyond it a fine mountainous and wooded country.
Near the village are the coffee plantations. The trees are planted in rows, and
are kept topped to about seven feet high. This causes the lateral branches to grow
very strong, so that some of the trees become perfect hemispheres, loaded with
fruit from top to bottom, and producing from ten to twenty pounds each of
cleaned coffee annually. These plantations were all formed by the Government,
and are cultivated by the villagers under the direction of their chief. Certain days
are appointed for weeding or gathering, and the whole working population are
summoned by the sound of a gong. An account is kept of the number of hours'
work done by each family, and at the year's end, the produce of the sale is
divided among them proportionately. The coffee is taken to Government stores
established at central places over the whole country, and is paid for at a low
fixed price. Out of this a certain percentage goes to the chiefs and majors, and
the remainder is divided among the inhabitants. This system works very well,
and I believe is at present far better for the people than free-trade would be.
There are also large rice-fields, and in this little village of seventy houses, I was
informed that a hundred pounds' worth of rice was sold annually.
I had a small house at the very end of the village, almost hanging over the
precipitous slope down to the stream, and with a splendid view from the
verandah. The thermometer in the morning often stood at 62° and never rose so
high as 80°, so that with the thin clothing used in the tropical plains we were
always cool and sometimes positively cold, while the spout of water where I
went daily for my bath had quite an icy feel. Although I enjoyed myself very
much among these fine mountains and forests, I was somewhat disappointed as
to my collections. There was hardly any perceptible difference between the
animal life in this temperate region and in the torrid plains below, and what
difference did exist was in most respects disadvantageous to me. There seemed
to be nothing absolutely peculiar to this elevation. Birds and quadrupeds were
less plentiful, but of the same species. In insects there seemed to be more
difference. The curious beetles of the family Cleridae, which are found chiefly