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

aXXXIV.] NEW GUINEA.—DOREY. 385New Guinea !—a country wliich I might never visit again,—country which no naturalist had ever resided in before—country which contained more strange and new and beautifulnatural objects than any other part of the globe. The naturalistwill be able to appreciate my feelings, sitting from morningto niglit in my little hut, unable to move without a crutcli, andmy only solace the birds my hunters brought in every afternoon,and the few insects caught by my Tei-nate man, Lahagi, who nowwent out daily in my place, but wlio of course did not get a fourthpart of what I should have obtained. To add to my troublesall my men were more or less ill, some with fever, others withdysentery or ague ; at one time there were three of them besidesmyself all lielpless, the cook alone being well, and having enoughto do to wait upon us. The Prince of Tidore and the Residentof Banda were both on board the steamer, and were seekingBirds of Paradise, sending men round in every direction, so thatthere was no chance of my getting even native skins of therarer kinds ; and any birds, insects, or animals the Dorey peoplehad to sell were taken on board the steamer, where purcha,serswere found for everything, and where a larger variety of articleswere offered in exchange than I had to show.After a month's close confinement in the house I was at lengthable to go out a little, and about the same time I succeeded ingetting 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, andto shoot and skin all other rare or new birds ;and Lahagi wasto collect insects, which I hoped might be more abundantthan at Dorey. When I recommenced my daily walks insearch of insects, I found a great change in the neighbourhood,and one very agreeable to me. All the time I had beenlaid up the ship's crew and the Javanese soldiei's who had beenbrought in a tender (a sailing sliip which had arrived soon afterthe Etna), had been employed cutting down, sawing, and splittinglarge trees for firewood, to enable the steamer to get backto Amboyna if the coal-ship did not return ;and they liad alsocleared a number of wide, straiglit paths through the forest invarious directions, greatly to the astonishment of the natives,who could not make out what it all meant. I had now a varietyof walks, and a good deal of dead wood on wliich to search forinsects ; but notwithstanding these advantages, they were notnearly so plentiful as I had found them at Sarawak, or Amboyna,or Batchian, confirming my opinion that Dorey was not a goodlocality. It is quite probable, however, tliat at a station a fewmilesin the interioi', away from the recently elevated corallinerocks and the influence of the sea air, a much more abundantharvest might be obtained.One afternoon I went on board the steamer to return thecaptain's visit, and very nice sketches (by was shown some oneof the lieutenants), made on the south coast, and also at thec c