Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
immediately had it cleared out, and by evening had all my things housed, and was regularly
installed as an inhabitant of Dobbo. I had brought with me a cane chair, and a few light
boards, which were soon rigged up into a table and shelves. A broad bamboo bench served
as sofa and bedstead, my boxes were conveniently arranged, my mats spread on the floor, a
window cut in the palm-leaf wall to light my table, and though the place was as miserable
and gloomy a shed as could be imagined, I felt as contented as if I had obtained a well-fur-
nished mansion, and looked forward to a month's residence in it with unmixed satisfaction.
The next morning, after an early breakfast, I set off to explore the virgin forests of Aru,
anxious to set my mind at rest as to the treasures they were likely to yield, and the probable
success of my long-meditated expedition. A little native imp was our guide, seduced by the
gift of a German knife, value three-halfpence, and my Macassar boy Baderoon brought his
chopper to clear the path if necessary.
We had to walk about half a mile along the beach, the ground behind the village being
mostly swampy, and then turned into the forest along a path which leads to the native village
of Wamma, about three miles off on the other side of the island. The path was a narrow one,
and very little used, often swampy and obstructed by fallen trees, so that after about a mile
we lost it altogether, our guide having turned back, and we were obliged to follow his ex-
ample. In the meantime, however, I had not been idle, and my day's captures determined the
success of my journey in an entomological point of view. I had taken about thirty species of
butterflies, more than I had ever captured in a day since leaving the prolific banks of the
Amazon, and among them were many most rare and beautiful insects, hitherto only known
by a few specimens from New Guinea. The large and handsome spectre-butterfly, Hestia
durvillei; the pale-winged peacock butterfly, Drusilla catops; and the most brilliant and won-
derful of the clear-winged moths, Cocytia d'Urvillei, were especially interesting, as well as
several little 'blues,' equalling in brilliancy and beauty anything the butterfly world can pro-
duce. In the other groups of insects I was not so successful, but this was not to be wondered
at in a mere exploring ramble, when only what is most conspicuous and novel attracts the at-
tention. Several pretty beetles, a superb 'bug,' and a few nice land-shells were obtained, and
I returned in the afternoon well satisfied with my first trial of the promised land.
The next two days were so wet and windy that there was no going out; but on the suc-
ceeding one the sun shone brightly, and I had the good fortune to capture one of the most
magnificent insects the world contains, the great bird-winged butterfly, Ornithoptera posei-
don. I trembled with excitement as I saw it coming majestically towards me, and could
hardly believe I had really succeeded in my stroke till I had taken it out of the net and was
gazing, lost in admiration, at the velvet black and brilliant green of its wings, seven inches
