Ali Was
Charged To Buy All The Birds Of Paradise He Could Get, And To
Shoot And Skin All Other Rare Or New Birds; And Lahagi Was To
Collect Insects, Which I Hoped Might Be More Abundant Than At
Dorey.
When I recommenced my daily walks in search of insects, I
found a great change in the neighbourhood, and one very agreeable
to me.
All the time I had been laid up the ship's crew and the
Javanese soldiers who had been brought in a tender (a sailing
ship which had arrived soon after the Etna), had been employed
cutting down, sawing, and splitting large trees for firewood, to
enable the steamer to get back to Amboyna if the coal-ship did
not return; and they had also cleared a number of wide, straight
paths through the forest in various directions, greatly to the
astonishment of the natives, who could not make out what it all
meant. I had now a variety of walks, and a good deal of dead wood
on which to search for insects; but notwithstanding these
advantages, they were not nearly so plentiful as I had found them
at Sarawak, or Amboyna, or Batchian, confirming my opinion that
Dorey was not a good locality. It is quite probable, however,
that at a station a few miles in the interior, away from the
recently elevated coralline rocks and the influence of the sea
air, a much more abundant harvest might be obtained.
One afternoon I went on board the steamer to return the captain's
visit, and was shown some very nice sketches (by one of the
lieutenants), made on the south coast, and also at the Arfak
mountain, to which they had made an excursion.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 286 of 412
Words from 76965 to 77252
of 111511