tree ferns I had ever seen, the stem being scarcely thicker than my thumb, yet
reaching a height of fifteen or twenty feet. I also caught a new butterfly of the
genus Pieris, and a magnificent female specimen of Papilio gambrisius, of which
I had hitherto only found the males, which are smaller and very different in
colour. Descending the other side of the ridge, by a very steep path, we reached
another river at a spot which is about the centre of the island, and which was to
be our resting place for two or three days. In a couple of hour my men had built
a little sleeping-shed for me, about eight feet by four, with a bench of split poles,
they themselves occupying two or three smaller ones, which had been put up by
former passengers.
The river here was about twenty yards wide, running over a pebbly and
sometimes a rocky bed, and bordered by steep hills with occasionally flat
swampy spots between their base and the stream. The whole country was one
dense, Unbroken, and very damp and gloomy virgin forest. Just at our resting-
place there was a little bush-covered island in the middle of the channel, so that
the opening in the forest made by the river was wider than usual, and allowed a
few gleams of sunshine to penetrate. Here there were several handsome
butterflies flying about, the finest of which, however, escaped me, and I never
saw it again during my stay. In the two days and a half which we remained here,
I wandered almost all day up and down the stream, searching after butterflies, of
which I got, in all, fifty or sixty specimens, with several species quite new to me.
There were many others which I saw only once, and did not capture, causing me
to regret that there was no village in these interior valleys where I could stay a
month. In the early part of each morning I went out with my gun in search of
birds, and two of my men were out almost all day after deer; but we were all
equally unsuccessful, getting absolutely nothing the whole time we were in the
forest. The only good bird seen was the fine Amboyna lory, but these were
always too high to shoot; besides this, the great Moluccan hornbill, which I did
not want, was almost the only bird met with. I saw not a single ground-thrush, or
kingfisher, or pigeon; and, in fact, have never been in a forest so utterly desert of
animal life as this appeared to be. Even in all other groups of insects, except
butterflies, there was the same poverty. I bad hoped to find some rare tiger
beetles, as I had done in similar situations in Celebes; but, though I searched
closely in forest, river-bed, and mountain-brook, I could find nothing but the two
common Amboyna species. Other beetles there were absolutely none.
The constant walking in water, and over rocks and pebbles, quite destroyed
the two pair of shoes I brought with me, so that, on my return, they actually fell
to pieces, and the last day I had to walk in my stockings very painfully, and