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

xsxv.] VOYAGE FROM CERAM TO WAIGIOU. 391and ubiquity rendered it necessary to be constantly on guardagainst them.The flies that troubled me most were a large kind of bluebottleor blow-fly. These settled in swarms on my bird skinswhen first put out to dry, filling their plumage with masses ofeggs, which, if neglected, the next day produced maggots. Theywould get under the wings or under the body where it I'ested onthe drying-board, sometimes actually raising it up half an inchby the mass of eggs deposited in a few hours ; and every eggwas so firmly glued to the fibres of the feathers, as to make it awork of much time and patience to get them off without injuringthe bird. In no otlier locality have I ever been troubledwith such a plague as this.On the 29th we left Dorey, and expected a quick voyage home,as it was the time of year when we ought to have had steadysoutherly and easterly winds. Instead of these, however, we hadcalms and westerly breezes, and it was seventeen days beforewe reached Ternate, a distance of five hundred miles only, which,with average winds, could have been done in five days. It wasa great treat to me to find myself back again in my comfoi'tablehouse, enjoying milk to my tea and coffee, fresh bread andbutter, and fowl and fish daily for dinner. This New Guineavoyage had used us all up, and I determined to stay and recruitbefore I commenced any fresh expeditions. My succeedingjourneys to Gilolo and Batchian have already been narrated,and it now only remains for me to give an account of my residencein Waigiou, the last Papuan territory I visited in searchof Birds of Paradise.CHAPTEE XXXV.VOYAGE FROM CERAJSITO WAIGIOU.(JUNE AND JULY 1860.)In my twenty-fifth chapter I have described my arrival atWahai, on my way to Mysol and Waigiou, islands which belongto the Papuan district, and the account of which naturallyfollows after that of my visit to the mainland of New Guinea.I now take up my narrative at my departure from Wahai, withthe intention of carrying various necessary stores to myassistant, Mr. Allen, at Silinta, in Mysol, and then continuingmy journey to Waigiou. It will be remembered that I wastravelling in a small prau, which I had purchased and fitted upin Goram, and that, having been deserted by my crew on thecoast of Ceram, I had obtained four men at Wahai, who, withmy Amboynese hunter, constituted my ci^ew.Between Ceram and Mysol there are sixty miles of open sea,