I Also Got As Much Sweet "Sagueir "As I Liked To
Drink, And Mr. M. Always Sent Me A Piece Of Each Pig He Killed,
Which With Fowls, Eggs, And The Birds We Shot Ourselves, And
Buffalo Beef About Once A Fortnight, Kept My Larder Sufficiently
Well Supplied.
Every bit of flatland was cleared and used as rice-fields, and
on the lower slopes of many of the hills tobacco and vegetables
were grown.
Most of the slopes are covered with huge blocks of
rock, very fatiguing to scramble over, while a number of the
hills are so precipitous as to be quite inaccessible. These
circumstances, combined with the excessive drought, were very
unfavourable for lily pursuits. Birds were scarce, and I got but
few new to me. Insects were tolerably plentiful, but unequal.
Beetles, usually so numerous and interesting, were exceedingly
scarce, some of the families being quite absent and others only
represented by very minute species. The Flies and Bees, on the
other hand, were abundant, and of these I daily obtained new and
interesting species. The rare and beautiful Butterflies of
Celebes were the chief object of my search, and I found many
species altogether new to me, but they were generally so active
and shy as to render their capture a matter of great difficulty.
Almost the only good place for them was in the dry beds of the
streams in the forest, where, at damp places, muddy pools, or
even on the dry rocks, all sorts of insects could be found.
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