Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tained 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 ob-
tained. 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 cook
alone being well, and having enough to do to wait upon us. The Prince of Tidore and the
Resident of Banda 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 recom-
menced 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 fire-
wood, 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
Saráwak, or Amboyna, or Batchian, confirming my opinion that Dorey was not a good loc-
ality. 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 har-
vest 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 de-
scription, it appeared that the people of Arfak were similar to those of Dorey, and I could
