Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
picturesque effect. The lower slopes of the mountains in Java possess such a delightful cli-
mate and luxuriant soil; living is so cheap and life and property are so secure, that a consid-
erable number of Europeans who have been engaged in Government service, settle perman-
ently in the country instead of returning to Europe. They are scattered everywhere
throughout the more accessible parts of the island, and tend greatly to the gradual improve-
ment of the native population, and to the continued peace and prosperity of the whole coun-
try.
Twenty miles beyond Buitenzorg the post road passes over the Megamendong Mountain,
at an elevation of about 4,500 feet. The country is finely mountainous, and there is much
virgin forest still left upon the hills, together with some of the oldest coffee-plantations in
Java, where the plants have attained almost the dimensions of forest trees. About 500 feet
below the summit level of the pass there is a road-keeper's hut, half of which I hired for a
fortnight, as the country looked promising for making collections. I almost immediately
found that the productions of west Java were remarkably different from those of the eastern
part of the island; and that all the more remarkable and characteristic Javanese birds and in-
sects were to be found here. On the very first day, my hunters obtained for me the elegant
yellow and green trogon (Harpactes Reinwardti), the gorgeous little minivet flycatcher
(Pericrocotus miniatus), which looks like a flame of fire as it flutters among the bushes, and
the rare and curious black and crimson oriole (Analcipus sanguinolentus), all of them spe-
cies which are found only in Java, and even seem to be confined to its western portion. In a
week I obtained no less than twenty-four species of birds, which I had not found in the east
of the island, and in a fortnight this number increased to forty species, almost all of which
are peculiar to the Javanese fauna. Large and handsome butterflies were also tolerably
abundant. In dark ravines, and occasionally on the roadside, I captured the superb Papilio ar-
juna, whose wings seem powdered with grains of golden green, condensed into bands and
moon-shaped spots; while the elegantly formed Papilio coön was sometimes to be found
me a butterfly between his fingers, perfectly unhurt. He had caught it as it was sitting with
wings erect, sucking up the liquid from a muddy spot by the roadside. Many of the finest
tropical butterflies have this habit, and they are generally so intent upon their meal that they
can be easily approached and captured. It proved to be the rare and curious Charaxes kad-
enii, remarkable for having on each hind wing two curved tails like a pair of callipers. It was
the only specimen I ever saw, and is still the only representative of its kind in English col-
lections.
