striking illustration of the low state of civilization of these people, until quite
recently, is to be found in the great diversity of their languages. Villages three or
four miles apart have separate dialects, and each group of three or four such
villages has a distinct language quite unintelligible to all the rest; so that, until
the recent introduction of Malay by the Missionaries, there must have been a bar
to all free communication. These languages offer many peculiarities. They
contain a Celebes-Malay element and a Papuan element, along with some radical
peculiarities found also in the languages of the Siau and Sanguir islands further
north, and therefore, probably derived from the Philippine Islands. Physical
characteristics correspond. There are some of the less civilized tribes which have
semi-Papuan features and hair, while in some villages the true Celebes or Bugis
physiognomy prevails. The plateau of Tondano is chiefly inhabited by people
nearly as white as the Chinese, and with very pleasing semi-European features.
The people of Siau and Sanguir much resemble these, and I believe them to be
perhaps immigrants from some of the islands of North Polynesia. The Papuan
type will represent the remnant of the aborigines, while those of the Bugis
character show the extension northward of the superior Malay races.
As I was wasting valuable time at Panghu, owing to the bad weather and the
illness of my hunters, I returned to Menado after a stay of three weeks. Here I
had a little touch of fever, and what with drying and packing all of my
collections and getting fresh servants, it was a fortnight before I was again ready
to start. I now went eastward over an undulating country skirting the great
volcano of Klabat, to a village called Lempias, situated close to the extensive
forest that covers the lower slopes of that mountain. My baggage was carried
from village to village by relays of men; and as each change involved some
delay, I did not reach my destination (a distance of eighteen miles) until sunset. I
was wet through, and had to wait for an hour in an uncomfortable state until the
first installment of my baggage arrived, which luckily contained my clothes,
while the rest did not come in until midnight.
This being the district inhabited by that singular annual the Babirusa (Hog-
deer), I inquired about skulls and soon obtained several in tolerable condition, as
well as a fine one of the rare and curious "Sapi-utan" (Anoa depressicornis). Of
this animal I had seen two living specimens at Menado, and was surprised at
their great resemblance to small cattle, or still more to the Eland of South Africa.
Their Malay name signifies "forest ox," and they differ from very small highbred
oxen principally by the low-hanging dewlap, and straight, pointed horns which
slope back over the neck. I did not find the forest here so rich in insects as I had
expected, and my hunters got me very few birds, but what they did obtain were