“We must defend him then,” said Mr Hooker; “and Ali must make another tube to be at his service.”
Another was quickly manufactured, and we then proceeded on carefully to discover the nests. In a short time we came to another tree with no less than four cones hanging to one of the branches. In spite of the injuries he had received (for he had not escaped altogether free), Ali prepared to ascend the tree. He made his preparations as before; and it was wonderful to see the composure with which he occasionally swung the torches towards the creatures while ascending, or waved it slowly above his head when he got on the bough. Four more fine cones rewarded him for his enterprise. The bees descended as before, but we received them with the smoke from our dammar torches, which helped considerably to keep them off. Now and then, however, one bold fellow would rush in between the wreaths of smoke and inflict a disagreeable sting; and we had difficult work to defend Merlin’s nose and tail at the same time. Mr Hooker, however, stood stock still, merely letting his torch burn quietly; and though some of the bees settled on him, they seemed to consider that they could do him no harm, and again flew off in pursuit of Oliver, Merlin, and I, as we ran away from them.
We now commenced our return homewards, laden with our honey cones and a supply of dammar. We were proceeding across a space rather more open than usual, when we saw a creature run up the trunk of a tree and fly obliquely from it towards the ground, near the foot of another, up which it immediately commenced its ascent. I should have supposed it to be a huge bat, had I not seen it climbing as it did. Ali immediately made chase; and as the creature did not move very fast, he succeeded in overtaking it before it had got to any great distance up the stem. He gave it a tremendous blow on the head, when it fell to the ground, and we thought it had been killed; but as we reached it, it gradually began to move off, running along like any ordinary quadruped. We caught it just as it was about to ascend another tree, when again it received several heavy blows. Even then, however, it seemed not to be dead. Ali coming up, pinned it to the ground with a forked stick. We then saw that it was a creature about the size of a cat, and that it had broad membranes, extending completely round its body to the extremities of the toes, as also to the end of its tail. This was of considerable length, and by the way it curled round a stick we placed near it we found that it was prehensile. The creature we now saw had a young one clinging to its breast, a miserable little wrinkled, hairless monster, and apparently as yet unable to see. Its fur was beautifully soft, almost like velvet. The little one had escaped injury; indeed, the mother was evidently still alive.
Mr Hooker at once recognised it as a flying lemur, the learned name for which is Galeo-pithecus. Ali having covered up its head, undertook to carry it home, as Mr Hooker hoped it would recover.
“Your uncle will be delighted to have it in his menagerie,” said Mr Hooker; “and I believe that, unless we cut the creature’s head off, nothing will deprive it of life. So I have no doubt that it will be in good health again by to-morrow morning.”
We had not got far after this adventure when I heard a curious noise close to us, which I thought must proceed from some bird. It sounded like “Tokay, tokay;” almost, indeed, like a human voice. I drew Mr Hooker’s attention to it. He also thought it must be some bird, till Ali coming up at once informed him that it was a lizard, and that he had often heard the creatures thus talk. What it said, he declared he could not tell, but he was very positive that it did talk some language. Perhaps some day a person who did understand it might come that way.
As may be supposed, we were cordially welcomed on our return, especially by the Frau, who was highly delighted with the honey and wax which we brought her.
“Oh! now you shall have honey for your breakfasts, and wax candles when you sit in the house to read or stuff the birds and beasts; though I cannot tell what use they are after you have taken the meat out of them, or wherefore you get so many skins, and pack them up in the boxes,” she remarked.
The Frau was no naturalist.