This Would
Indicate Flat There Had Been A Recent Elevation Of More Than Two
Hundred Feet, Which Had Still More Recently Clanged Into A
Movement Of Subsidence.
The hill was very rugged, but among dry
sticks and fallen trees I found some good insects, mostly of
forms and species I was already acquainted with from Ternate and
Gilolo.
Finding no good paths I returned, and explored the lower
ground eastward of the village, passing through a long range of
plantain and tobacco grounds, encumbered with felled and burnt
logs, on which I found quantities of beetles of the family
Buprestidae of six different species, one of which was new to me.
I then reached a path in the swampy forest where I hoped to find
some butterflies, but was disappointed. Being now pretty well
exhausted by the intense heat, I thought it wise to return and
reserve further exploration for the next day.
When I sat down in the afternoon to arrange my insects, the louse
was surrounded by men, women, and children, lost in amazement at
my unaccountable proceedings; and when, after pinning out the
specimens, I proceeded to write the name of the place on small
circular tickets, and attach one to each, even the old Kapala,
the Mahometan priest, and some Malay traders could not repress
signs of astonishment. If they had known a little more about the
ways and opinions of white men, they would probably have looked
upon me as a fool or a madman, but in their ignorance they
accepted my operations as worthy of all respect, although utterly
beyond their comprehension.
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