In Topsy-Turvy Land.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20384, 12 October 1929, Page 4 (Supplement)

In Topsy-Turvy Land .

FISH THAT CLIMB TREES. '

Down from the south coast-of Asia into tho China Sea extends a long tcngne of land curiously shaped, less than fifty miles wide at its narrowest part, bnf broadening at the lower end. It is tht Malay Peninsula. Darwin, many years ago, called tits peninsula Topsy-turvy Land. It has no definite seasons. The traveller finds birds nesting in one tree, and others moulting in another.

There is a kind of fish that lives mostly on land and climbs trees. Huge crabs subsist wholly on coconuts. Rats live in the tops of tall trees. In that stranga region there seems to be the biggest and smallest of everything—the largest insect in the world, the smallest mammal iij existence, the tiniest fish, the hageifc snake; elephants, tigers and rhinoceroses* The biggest snake is the regal, or " r&. ticulated," python, which attains a length of 30ft. and a weight exceeding 200ib. It is a haunier of swamps, being as much at home in water as on.land. It can bite terrifically with its many teeth, which turn inward like hooks,-so that a man, once seized has little chance of disengaging himself from the creature's jaws.

The " biggest insect" is a walking slick. There are in the Malav Peninsula rnanv species of walking sticks—remarkable bugs that counterfeit tree-twigs so perfectly as to be indistinguishable irorn the latter, practically. For that reason, they are in effect invisible to the eye—whence their' scientific name, Phasidae, meaning phantoms. They are cf various sizes, the largest being a foot and a-half long.

The " smallest mammalis a shrew, weighing half an ounce. It feeds on in. sects. But much more rcmarkjible is & fish, the smallest vertebrate animal in t!;« world, which is half an inch long and weighs less than one grain. It is found in a deep lake that occupies the crater of an extict volcano, and is very good to cat, Tha finny species is captured in quantity by dipping sheets of muslin under schools of them. They are seasoned with spices and pressed uncooked into thin cakes which are dried in the sun. One cako may contain 2000 or 3000 of them.

This tiny fish is a species l of goby. But another kind of goby, the one mentioned as a tree climber, is much more'interesting. It spends most of its time out cf water, hopping about over mud flats or ascending the aerial roots of mangroves along shore, even reaching branches 30ft. or more up, in pursuit of insects. The creature's fore-fins are modified to serve as hands, for climbing. The native "Malays of the penisnla keep rats as pets. It is not known how ihs rats get alone with the cats; but the latter, of the breed domesticated by those people, are different from any that wo kncuv. Heir tails are only about half.as long, and are tied by nature in a sort of knot thai cannot be straightened out. In the jungle there is an amazing bird, the " argus," largest of all pheasants One remembers Argus, in ancient Greek mythology, who had a hundred eyes.Hence the n;>mo bestowed upon this remarkable fowl, whose huge wing-feathers hear eye-like maikings. But the mark-> ings, when examined, do not rpally ro< semhle eyes; each one of them is a perfectly drawn and shaded representaticn of a ball lying in a socket—surely one of the rnosi' curious of Nature's imitations. Nature often imitates ono living thing with another, as in the case of the .walking stick, but in this instance shs counterfeits something wholly artificial. The most'extraordinary animals or that region, however, are found in the adjacent seas. To call them giants of their kind is to put the fact mildly, for sometimes ; hoy have arms 60ft. in length. An octopus of that size has a " spread " of oven 120 ft.; it is the largest of all marine animals. Many talcs arc told, of attacks by such monsters upen fishing boats, which they develop with their arms, dragging them, tcgethcr with'the men on board," down into the depths. They are even said to have attacked vessels. From some stick story Jules Yernc got the idea for his description of. a raid made by a number c! giant octopuses upon the submarine craft of Captain Nemo, the horrible creatures being finally driven o5 by chopping off their tentacles with axes. Belated to the octopus is the argonaut, or " paper sailor." which * navigates » beautiful little boat, snowy white and most gracefully shaped and fluted. In those waters, whole fleets of tl>B dainty craft are sometimes seen afloat in calm weather, each one with its sail spread to catch what breeze there is. At the slightest alarm' however, they sink beneath the wave'sC So that the capture of a living specimen Ts rare. The Malays of that region have i triethod of making fire that is unknown anywhere else in Ithe world. The install menfc used is a very remarkable invent tion, galled tho " fire syringe." It is a short tube of buffalo horn, closed at one end, with a piston attached by a string.; The principle on which it works is that air, when suddenly compressed, gives up its heat with reduction of volume. The piston has a hollow end, in which' a small scrap of tinder is placed; its other end terminates in » knob. Th« operator, holding the tube in his left hand, inserts the piston and strikes tha knob forcibly with the palm, of his righ% driving it home. The piston being in«" stantly withdrawn, tho tinder is found to bo smouldering; the operator breathe* gently upon it to bring it to a flame, adding fresh tinder, and in a few moment! there is firo available. Altogether, the Malay Peninsula well deserves the name of Topsy-turvy and tho quaint customs of its inhabitants, as well as its remarkablo natural fe»' tures, make it one of the most interesting countries of the world from the viewpoint of the traveller.