forbidden articles of food. The next morning, after much trouble, we got our
cargoes loaded, and had a delightful row across the deep bay of Teluti, with a
view of the grand central mountain-range of Ceram. Our four boats were rowed
by sixty men, with flags flying and tom-toms beating, as well as very vigorous
shouting and singing to keep up their spirits. The sea way smooth, the morning
bright, and the whole scene very exhilarating. On landing, the Orang-kaya and
several of the chief men, in gorgeous silk jackets, were waiting to receive us, and
conducted me to a house prepared for my reception, where I determined to stay a
few days, and see if the country round produced anything new.
My first inquiries were about the lories, but I could get very little satisfactory
information. The only kinds known were the ring-necked lory and the common
red and green lorikeet, both common at Amboyna. Black Tories and cockatoos
were quite unknown. The Alfuros resided in the mountains five or six days'
journey away, and there were only one or two live birds to be found in the
village, and these were worthless. My hunters could get nothing but a few
common birds; and notwithstanding fine mountains, luxuriant forests, and a
locality a hundred miles eastward, I could find no new insects, and extremely
few even of the common species of Amboyna and West Ceram. It was evidently
no use stopping at such a place, and I was determined to move on as soon as
possible.
The village of Teluti is populous, but straggling and very dirty. Sago trees
here cover the mountain side, instead of growing as usual in low swamps; but a
closer examination shows that they grow in swampy patches, which have formed
among the loose rocks that cover the ground, and which are kept constantly full
of moisture by the rains, and by the abundance of rills which trickle down
among them. This sago forms almost the whole subsistence of the inhabitants,
who appear to cultivate nothing but a few small patches of maize and sweet
potatoes. Hence, as before explained, the scarcity of insects. The Orang-kaya has
fine clothes, handsome lamps, and other expensive European goods, yet lives
every day on sago and fish as miserably as the rest.
After three days in this barren place I left on the morning of March 6th, in two
boats of the same size as those which had brought me to Teluti. With some
difficulty I had obtained permission to take these boats on to Tobo, where I
intended to stay a while, and therefore got on pretty quickly, changing men at the
village of Laiemu, and arriving in a heavy rain at Ahtiago. As there was a good
deal of surf here, and likely to be more if the wind blew hard during the night,
our boats were pulled up on the beach; and after supping at the Orang-kaya's
house, and writing down a vocabulary of the language of the Alfuros, who live