Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
species of pigeons, of as many distinct genera, and most of them peculiar to the island; two
parrots—the fine red-winged broad-tail (Platycercus vulneratus), allied to an Australian spe-
cies, and a green species of the genus Geoffroyus. The Tropidorhynchus timorensis was as
ubiquitous and as noisy as I had found it at Lombock; and the Sphæcothera viridis, a curious
green oriole, with bare red orbits, was a great acquisition. There were several pretty finches,
warblers, and flycatchers, and among them I obtained the elegant blue and red Cyornis hy-
acinthina; but I cannot recognise among my collections the species mentioned by Dampier,
who seems to have been much struck by the number of small song-birds in Timor. He says:
'One sort of these pretty little birds my men called the ringing bird, because it had six notes,
and always repeated all his notes twice, one after the other, beginning high and shrill and
ending low. The bird was about the bigness of a lark, having a small sharp black bill and
blue wings, the head and breast were of a pale red, and there was a blue streak about its
neck.' In Semao monkeys are abundant. They are the common hare-lipped monkey (Maca-
cus cynomolgus), which is found all over the western islands of the Archipelago, and may
have been introduced by natives, who often carry it about captive. There are also some deer,
but it is not quite certain whether they are of the same species as are found in Java.
I arrived at Delli, the capital of the Portuguese possessions in Timor, on January 12, 1861,
and was kindly received by Captain Hart, an Englishman and an old resident, who trades in
the produce of the country and cultivates coffee on an estate at the foot of the hills. With
him I was introduced to Mr. Geach, a mining-engineer who had been for two years endeav-
ouring to discover copper in sufficient quantity to be worth working.
Delli is a most miserable place compared with even the poorest of the Dutch towns. The
houses are all of mud and thatch; the fort is only a mud enclosure; and the custom-house and
church are built of the same mean materials, with no attempt at decoration or even neatness.
The whole aspect of the place is that of a poor native town, and there is no sign of cultiva-
tion or civilization round about it. His Excellency the Governor's house is the only one that
makes any pretensions to appearance, and that is merely a low whitewashed cottage or bun-
galow. Yet there is one thing in which civilization exhibits itself. Officials in black and
white European costume, and officers in gorgeous uniforms, abound in a degree quite dis-
proportionate to the size or appearance of the place.
The town being surrounded for some distance by swamps and mud-flats is very un-
healthy, and a single night often gives a fever to new-comers which not unfrequently proves
fatal. To avoid this malaria, Captain Hart always slept at his plantation, on a slight elevation
about two miles from the town; where Mr. Geach also had a small house, which he kindly
