00:00The End
00:33Skimming across Macasa Bay on the way to Celebes and Komodo,
00:38one thrills at an approaching invasion of the unknown
00:41on the strangest islands in all the travel-cade of world wonders.
00:50The harbor is filled with weather-beaten craft that have endured for generations.
00:56Macasa, a Dutch Indies metropolis, gives Celebes the last touch of modern civilization on this strange journey.
01:03The three-wheel tandem bicycles on Temple Street are part of the Dutch influence.
01:09The misfortunes of war that have hit Holland are reflected in Macasa,
01:15where the peaceful flow of life shown here has been rudely disjointed by the cyclones that is sweeping around the
01:21world.
01:25Apartment house in Celebes, where Diaks dwell in a ramshackle compound 300 feet long on high wooden stilts,
01:33with no elevator service.
01:41A visiting Toradja tribesman who carries his palm wine in his own bamboo container.
01:47Toradjians drink very little water, but are never thirsty.
01:55Outside Macasa, frolics the Anuang, or forest cow, found nowhere else but in Celebes.
02:02Slightly larger than a sheep, this animal oddity seems like a composite goat, cow, and water buffalo.
02:16Ruins of a freak volcanic disaster of centuries ago that swallowed up a mighty river,
02:22leaving the Mata'alo a mere trickle of water 60 feet below,
02:26and the coffin boats perched high on a rocky ledge.
02:30By this strange accident, the dry land boat relics mark the most unique burial ground on earth.
02:48The Toradja tribes cling to this desolation with a superlative regard for their dead,
02:54whose remains are taken to repose in the rock wall tombs close by the 500-year-old coffin boats.
03:04An interesting variety of curious images representing departed spirits
03:09protects the lofty tombs from destruction and the invasion of all evil.
03:18Until a few years ago, the Toradjians were headhunters.
03:23In Bonaran, their chief village, they are now a docile race.
03:28The stranded boats on the rock cliff serve as the motive for the architecture of their present homes.
03:35The remarkable dances of a heathen ritual are intended to memorialize the departed of the 12 Toradjian tribes,
03:42as well as to drive away the spirits of evil.
04:03The throwing away of their palm plates by the men at the end of the dances indicates that all is
04:09well in the spirit world.
04:16The house containing a corpse long dead and decorated with charm tokens marks the strange superstition
04:23that a Toradjian dies three times, once at death, once while his spirit wanders,
04:29and once at his reincarnation as a bird or animal.
04:33The villagers observe the third death with a feast of the dead.
04:42Barbecued buffalo meat and palm wine drawn from trees savor the feast.
04:48There is always a bountiful repast, and no one thinks of doing any work while the festival is in progress.
04:55The palm wine has a potent power, and inspires the younger set to step out in dances that are reverential
05:02but joyful.
05:13The merriment includes games, as well as dancing, and sometimes a buffalo fight.
05:20After a week of drinking and dining for the dead, the mourners are most happily sad.
05:32Those who survive the festival, the next day carry the corpse from the family home
05:37in a solemn funeral procession that wends its way through the village
05:41and proceeds along a stony path leading up to the family tomb on the hillside,
05:48there to repose through timeless time amid the coffin boats of mysterious antiquity.
05:59Now for the thrill of a daring expedition to photograph the Varana, a fiery-tongued monstrosity.
06:06Sailing across Lea Bay and sighting Komodo Island, the only native habitat on Earth of the living dragon.
06:14Deep in the Far East, Komodo is a little island of large tails that have terrified sailors the world over.
06:21The sailors described it as a land of devils and monsters.
06:29Main street of Komodo's only village of 90 persons.
06:36Komodo means the land of fools and was formerly a prison colony.
06:41It required hours for the landing party to anchor and get everything ashore, including cameras and equipment for the dragon
06:48hunt.
06:52The morning of the big day, a tropical dawn over lizard land.
07:04The early start of a long hike under a blistering sun in search of a legendary dry riverbed through field
07:12and jungle, past mangrove bush and fig tree.
07:18Guns, material for hunting blinds and cameras, make heavy pack haulage.
07:24At last, a journey to the other side of the world is almost ended.
07:28The living dragons are at hand.
07:30The Varane has survived in this stony dry river wilderness for unknown centuries because insects, deer, wild pigs, and other
07:38jungle creatures provide him with food as they come forth to sun themselves.
07:49The living dragon is in truth a giant lizard, sometimes attaining a length of nine feet, when infuriated he is
07:56a killer using his tail in a circular lunge on the attack.
07:59His long forked tongue is a pinkish white color that flames like phosphorus.
08:05It is soft and pliable, being used to spear hundreds of insects as the strange creature lumbers along.
08:12The Varane is hatched from an egg and has the characteristics of a snake.
08:16Truly, there is no more distinct creature than the giant lizard whom ancient Chinese mariners conjured into the ferocious mythical
08:24dragon.
08:24With unforgettable memories of the Varane, Earth's only living connection with a prehistoric past, we leave the weird land of
08:33Komodo.
08:55The Varane is doing the same thing.
08:55The Varane is also very wild, which was a famousatsƤchlich sagging Bangladeur.
08:55The Varane is operating by its size, which is the largest sea with a ė
, the vessel in the sea,
08:55which is the largest sea with an endless tale.
08:55It is a great idea for the entire planet that the notion of Faane is that the planet's working into
08:55the species of ancient tribes.
08:55The Yager represents the space of a lot.
