And This, Too, In New Guinea - A
Country Which I Might Never Visit Again, - A Country Which No
Naturalist Had Ever Resided In Before, - A Country Which Contained
More Strange And New And Beautiful Natural Objects Than Any Other
Part Of The Globe.
The naturalist will be able to appreciate my
feelings, sitting from morning to night in my little hut, unable
To move without a crutch, and my only solace the birds my hunters
brought in every afternoon, and the few insects caught by my
Ternate man, Lahagi, who now went out daily in my place, but who
of course did not get a fourth part of what I should have
obtained. To add to my troubles all my men were more or less ill,
some with fever, others with dysentery or ague; at one time there
were three of them besides myself all helpless, the coon alone
being well, and having enough to do to wait upon us. The Prince
of Tidore and the Resident of Panda were both on board the
steamer, and were seeking Birds of Paradise, sending men round in
every direction, so that there was no chance of my getting even
native skins of the rarer kinds; and any birds, insects, or
animals the Dorey people had to sell were taken on board the
steamer, where purchasers were found for everything, and where a
larger variety of articles were offered in exchange than I had to
show.
After a month's close confinement in the house I was at length
able to go out a little, and about the same time I succeeded in
getting a boat and six natives to take Ali and Lahagi to
Amberbaki, and to bring them back at the end of a month. 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. From these and the
captain's description, it appeared that the people of Arfak were
similar to those of Dorey, and I could hear nothing of the
straight-haired race which Lesson says inhabits the interior, but
which no one has ever seen, and the account of which I suspect
has originated in some mistake. The captain told me he had made a
detailed survey of part of the south coast, and if the coal
arrived should go away at once to Humboldt Pay, in longitude 141°
east, which is the line up to which the Dutch claim New Guinea.
On board the tender I found a brother naturalist, a German named
Rosenberg, who was draughtsman to the surveying staff. He had
brought two men with him to shoot and skin birds, and had been
able to purchase a few rare skins from the natives. Among these
was a pair of the superb Paradise Pie (Astrapia nigra) in
tolerable preservation. They were brought from the island of
Jobie, which may be its native country, as it certainly is of the
rarer species of crown pigeon (Goura steursii), one of which was
brought alive and sold on board. Jobie, however, is a very
dangerous place, and sailors are often murdered there when on
shore; sometimes the vessels themselves being attacked.
Wandammen, on the mainland opposite Jobie, inhere there are said
to be plenty of birds, is even worse, and at either of these
places my life would not have been worth a week's purchase had I
ventured to live alone and unprotected as at Dorey. On board the
steamer they had a pair of tree kangaroos alive. They differ
chiefly from the ground-kangaroo in having a more hairy tail, not
thickened at the base, and not used as a prop; and by the
powerful claws on the fore-feet, by which they grasp the bark and
branches, and seize the leaves on which they feed. They move
along by short jumps on their hind-feet, which do not seem
particularly well adapted for climbing trees. It has been
supposed that these tree-kangaroos are a special adaptation to
the swampy, half-drowned forests of, New Guinea, in place of the
usual form of the group, which is adapted only to dry ground. Mr.
Windsor Earl makes much of this theory, but, unfortunately for
it, the tree-kangaroos are chiefly found in the northern
peninsula of New Guinea, which is entirely composed of hills and
mountains with very little flat land, while the kangaroo of the
low flat Aru Islands (Dorcopsis asiaticus) is a ground species.
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