The
First Part Was Flat And Swampy, But It Soon Rose A Little, And
Ran Alongside The Fine Stream Which
Passed behind my house, and
which here rushed and gurgled over a rocky or pebbly bed,
sometimes leaving wide sandbanks
On its margins, and at other
places flowing between high banks crowned with a varied and
magnificent forest vegetation. After about two miles, the valley
narrowed, and the road was carried along the steep hill-side
which rose abruptly from the water's edge. In some places the
rock had been cut away, but its surface was already covered with
elegant ferns and creepers. Gigantic tree-ferns were abundant,
and the whole forest had an air of luxuriance and rich variety
which it never attains in the dry volcanic soil to which I had
been lately accustomed. A little further the road passed to the
other side of the valley by a bridge across the stream at a place
where a great mass of rock in the middle offered an excellent
support for it, and two miles more of most picturesque and
interesting road brought me to the mining establishment.
This is situated in a large open space, at a spot where two
tributaries fall into the main stream. Several forest-paths and
new clearings offered fine collecting grounds, and I captured
some new and interesting insects; but as it was getting late I
had to reserve a more thorough exploration for future occasions.
Coal had been discovered here some years before, and the road was
made in order to bring down a sufficient quantity for a fair
trial on the Dutch steamers. The quality, however, was not
thought sufficiently good, and the mines were abandoned. Quite
recently, works had been commenced in another spot, in Hopes of
finding a better vein. There ware about eighty men employed,
chiefly convicts; but this was far too small a number for mining
operations in such a country, where the mere keeping a few miles
of road in repair requires the constant work of several men. If
coal of sufficiently good quality should be found, a tramroad
would be made, and would be very easily worked, owing to the
regular descent of the valley.
Just as I got home I overtook Ali returning from shooting with
some birch hanging from his belt. He seemed much pleased, and
said, "Look here, sir, what a curious bird," holding out what at
first completely puzzled me. I saw a bird with a mass of splendid
green feathers on its breast, elongated into two glittering
tufts; but, what I could not understand was a pair of long white
feathers, which stuck straight out from each shoulder. Ali
assured me that the bird stuck them out this way itself, when
fluttering its wings, and that they had remained so without his
touching them. I now saw that I had got a great prize, no less
than a completely new form of the Bird of Paradise, differing
most remarkably from every other known bird. The general plumage
is very sober, being a pure ashy olive, with a purplish tinge on
the back; the crown of the head is beautifully glossed with pale
metallic violet, and the feathers of the front extend as much
over the beak as inmost of the family. The neck and breast are
scaled with fine metallic green, and the feathers on the lower
part are elongated on each side, so as to form a two-pointed
gorget, which can be folded beneath the wings, or partially
erected and spread out in the same way as the side plumes of most
of the birds of paradise. The four long white plumes which give
the bird its altogether unique character, spring from little
tubercles close to the upper edge of the shoulder or bend of the
wing; they are narrow, gentle curved, and equally webbed on both
sides, of a pure creamy white colour. They arc about six inches
long, equalling the wing, and can be raised at right angles to
it, or laid along the body at the pleasure of the bird. The bill
is horn colour, the legs yellow, and the iris pale olive. This
striking novelty has been named by Mr. G. R. Gray of the British
Museum, Semioptera Wallacei, or "Wallace's Standard wing."
A few days later I obtained an exceedingly beautiful new
butterfly, allied to the fine blue Papilio Ulysses, but differing
from it in the colour being of a more intense tint, and in having
a row of blue stripes around the margin of the lower wings. This
good beginning was, however, rather deceptive, and I soon found
that insects, and especially butterflies, were somewhat scarce,
and birds in tar less variety than I had anticipated. Several of
the fine Moluccan species were however obtained. The handsome red
lory with green wings and a yellow spot in the back (Lorius
garrulus), was not uncommon. When the Jambu, or rose apple
(Eugenic sp.), was in flower in the village, flocks of the little
lorikeet (Charmosyna placentis), already met with in Gilolo, came
to feed upon the nectar, and I obtained as many specimens as I
desired. Another beautiful bird of the parrot tribe was the
Geoffroyus cyanicollis, a green parrot with a red bill and head,
which colour shaded on the crown into azure blue, and thence into
verditer blue and the green of the back. Two large and handsome
fruit pigeons, with metallic green, ashy, and rufous plumage,
were not uncommon; and I was rewarded by finding a splendid deep
blue roller (Eurystomus azureus); a lovely golden-capped sunbird
(Nectarinea auriceps), and a fine racquet-tailed kingfisher
(Tanysiptera isis), all of which were entirely new to
ornithologists. Of insects I obtained a considerable number of
interesting beetles, including many fine longicorns, among which
was the largest and handsomest species of the genus Glenea yet
discovered. Among butterflies the beautiful little Danis sebae
was abundant, making the forests gay with its delicate wings of
white and the richest metallic blue; while showy Papilios, and
pretty Pieridae, and dark, rich Euphaeas, many of them new,
furnished a constant source of interest and pleasing occupation.
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