Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
leaves and shrubs and can scarcely be seen till one is close upon them. Brown snakes got in-
to my net while beating among dead leaves for insects, and made me rather cautious about
inserting my hand till I knew what kind of game I had captured. The fields and meadows
which had been parched and sterile, now became suddenly covered with fine long grass; the
river bed where I had so many times walked over burning rocks, was now a deep and rapid
stream; and numbers of herbaceous plants and shrubs were everywhere springing up and
bursting into flower. I found plenty of new insects, and if I had had a good, roomy, water-
and-wind-proof house, I should perhaps have stayed during the wet season, as I feel sure
many things can then be obtained which are to be found at no other time. With my summer
hut, however, this was impossible. During the heavy rains a fine drizzly mist penetrated into
every part of it, and I began to have the greatest difficulty in keeping my specimens dry.
Early in November I returned to Macassar, and having packed up my collections, started
in the Dutch mail steamer for Amboyna and Ternate. Leaving this part of my journey for the
present, I will in the next chapter conclude my account of Celebes, by describing the ex-
treme northern part of the island which I visited two years later.
