Where Leafy
Branches Hung Over The Gully, I Might Expect To Find A Grand
Ornithoptera At Rest And An Easy Prey.
At certain rotten trunks I
was sure to get the curious little tiger beetle, Therates
flavilabris.
In the denser thickets I would capture the small
metal-blue butterflies (Amblypodia) sitting on the leaves, as
well as some rare and beautiful leaf-beetles of the families
Hispidae and Chrysomelidae.
I found that the rotten jack-fruits were very attractive to many
beetles, and used to split them partly open and lay them about in
the forest near my house to rot. A morning's search at these
often produced me a score of species - Staphylinidae, Nitidulidae,
Onthophagi, and minute Carabidae, being the most abundant. Now
and then the "sagueir" makers brought me a fine rosechafer
(Sternoplus schaumii) which they found licking up the sweet sap.
Almost the only new birds I met with for some time were a
handsome ground thrush (Pitta celebensis), and a beautiful
violet-crowned dove (Ptilonopus celebensis), both very similar to
birds I had recently obtained at Aru, but of distinct species.
About the latter part of September a heavy shower of rain fell,
admonishing us that we might soon expect wet weather, much to the
advantage of the baked-up country. I therefore determined to pay
a visit to the falls of the Maros river, situated at the point
where it issues from the mountains - a spot often visited by
travellers and considered very beautiful. Mr. M. lent me a horse,
and I obtained a guide from a neighbouring village; and taking
one of my men with me, we started at six in the morning, and
after a ride of two hours over the flat rice-fields skirting the
mountains which rose in grand precipices on our left, we readied
the river about half-way between Maros and the falls, and thence
had a good bridle-road to our destination, which we reached. in
another hour. The hills had closed in around us as we advanced;
and when we reached a ruinous shed which had been erected for the
accommodation of visitors, we found ourselves in a flat-bottomed
valley about a quarter of a mile wide, bounded by precipitous and
often overhanging limestone rocks. So far the ground had been
cultivated, but it now became covered with bushes and large
scattered trees.
As soon as my scanty baggage had arrived and was duly deposited
in the shed, I started off alone for the fall, which was about a
quarter of a mile further on. The river is here about twenty
yards wide, and issues from a chasm between two vertical walls of
limestone, over a rounded mass of basaltic rock about forty feet
high, forming two curves separated by a slight ledge. The water
spreads beautifully over this surface in a thin sheet of foam,
which curls and eddies in a succession of concentric cones until
it falls into a fine deep pool below. Close to the very edge of
the fall a narrow and very rugged path leads to the river above,
and thence continues close under the precipice along the water's
edge, or sometimes in the water, for a few hundred yards, after
which the rocks recede a little, and leave a wooded bank on one
side, along which the path is continued, until in about half a
mile, a second and smaller fall is reached.
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