Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 53.djvu/469

Rh Fortunately, however, each and every one of these drawbacks, save the second mentioned, can be overcome, and this the writer proposes to do in the near future.

Insects, again, make very instructive pictures as taken by means of the camera, though frequently they are secured with no little difficulty. Photographic pictures of this kind are in the writer's collection, showing beetles, spiders, butterflies, and the like, and a number of them have already been published. Great restlessness on the part of most of the subjects is here what chiefly has to be dealt with and overcome. The large black and yellow butterfly, taken life size, and shown in Fig. 4, occupied the best part of two hours to obtain. It was extremely restive, and declined over and over again to alight upon the day lily that had been selected for it as a perch. Still, indefatigable patience, the prime qualification for achievement in this field of art, in time won over the unintentional obstinacy on the part of this lovely insect, and victory finally crowned the long series of efforts made to secure its photograph. Nothing whatever can be gained here where harshness, haste, or lack of tact are allowed to come into play. On the contrary, one must not only be more or less familiar with the habits of the subject in Nature that he is trying to secure the picture of, but every act and movement on the part of the artist to accomplish this end must be characterized by extreme gentleness, patience, and perseverance, or else the desired goal will never be reached, and the science of zoölogy will forever remain ignorant of his power to produce portraits of living forms as they appear in Nature, by employing to that end such an instrument as the photographic camera.

relates that one of the points of etiquette of the natives of the Baram district of Borneo forbids any man being called away from his meals; and it is even considered wrong to attack an enemy while he is eating. The people assume to converse with spirits and omen birds through the medium of fire. If a man hears the cry of a bird—which is a bad omen—he lights a fire and tells it to protect him. The fire is supposed to speak to the bird. The owner of fruit trees in fruit places round stones in cleft sticks near them, and utters a curse against any one who may attempt to steal the fruit, calling upon the stones to be his witnesses. If a friend passing by wishes to take some of the fruit, he lights a fire and tells the flame to explain matters to the stone, and that is supposed to make him safe. When a house is to be built, all the parts having been made ready to be put together and the omens having been consulted, every man, woman, and child in the neighborhood is called upon to help on a given day in erecting the structure; while a few small boys are sent out to beat gongs and keep up a din, in order that bad omens may not be heard after a good omen has been obtained.