The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

328 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.spread on the floor, a window cut in the palm-leaf wall to lightmy table, and though the place was as miserable and gloomya shed as could be imagined, I felt as contented as if I hadobtained a well-furnished mansion, and looked forward to amonth's residence in it with unmixed satisfaction.The next morning, after an early breakfast, I set off to explorethe virgin forests of Aru, anxious to set my mind at rest as tothe treasures they were likely to yield, and the probable successof my long-meditated expedition. A little native imp was ourguide, seduced by the gift of a German knife, value threehalfpence,and my Macassar boy Baderoon brought his chopperto clear the jDath if necessary.We liad to walk about half a mile along the beach, the groundbehind the village being mostly swampy, and then turned intothe forest along a path which leads to the native village ofV\^amma, about three miles off on the other side of the island.The path was a narrow one, and very little used, often swampyand obstructed by fallen trees, so that after about a mile welost it altogether, our guide having turned back, and we wereobliged to follow his example. In the meantime, however, I hadnot been idle, and my day's captures determined tlie success ofmy journey in an entomological point of view. I had takenabout thirty species of butterflies, more than I had ever capturedin a day since leaving the prolitic banks of the Amazon, andamong them were many most rare and beautiful insects, hithertoonly known by a few specimens from New Guinea. The largeand handsome spectre-butterfly, Hestia durvillei ; the palewingedpeacock butterfly, Drusilla catops ; and the most brilliantand wonderful of the clear-winged moths, Cocytia d'Urvillei,were especially interesting, as well as sevei^al little "blues,"equalling in brilliancy and beauty anything the butterfly worldcan produce. In tlie other groups of insects I was not so successful,but this was not to be wondered at in a mere exploringramble, when only what is most conspicuous and novel attractsthe attention. Several pretty beetles, a superb " bug," and a fewnice land-shells were obtained, and I returned in the afternoonwell satisfied with my first trial of the ijromised land.The next two days were so wet and windy that there was nogoing out ; but on tlie succeeding one the sun shone brightly,and I had the good fortune to caj^ture one of the most magnificentinsects the world contains, the great bird-winged butterfly,Ornithoptera poseidon. I trembled with excitement as Isaw it coming majestically towards me, and could hardly believeI had really succeeded in my stroke till I had taken it out ofthe net and was gazing, lost in admiration, at the velvet blackand brilliant green of its Avings, seven inclies across, its goldenbody, and crimson breast. It is true I had seen similar insectsin cabinets at liome, but it is quite anotlier thing to capturesuch one's self—to feel it struggling between one's fingers,and to gaze upon its fresh and living beauty, a bright gem shin-