Besides A Small Cottage Occupied By The Workmen, There
Was A Large Shed For Tobacco Drying, A Corner Of Which
Was
offered me; and thinking from the look of the place that I should
find- good collecting ground here, I
Fitted up temporary tables,
benches, and beds, and made all preparations for some weeks'
stay. A few days, however, served to show that I should be
disappointed. Beetles were tolerably abundant, and I obtained
plenty of fine long-horned Anthribidae and pretty Longicorns, but
they were mostly the same species as I had found during my first
short visit to Amboyna. There were very few paths in the forest;
which seemed poor in birds and butterflies, and day after day my
men brought me nothing worth notice. I was therefore soon obliged
to think about changing my locality, as I could evidently obtain
no proper notion of the productions of the almost entirely
unexplored island of Ceram by staying in this place.
I rather regretted leaving, because my host was one of the most
remarkable men and most entertaining companions I had ever met
with. He was a Fleeting by birth, and, like so many of his
countrymen, had a wonderful talent for languages. When quite a
youth he had accompanied a Government official who was sent to
report on the trade and commerce of the Mediterranean, and had
acquired the colloquial language of every place they stayed a few
weeks at. He had afterwards made voyages to St. Petersburg, and
to other parts of Europe, including a few weeks in London, and
had then come out to the past, where he had been for some years
trading and speculating in the various islands.
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