The Distance Across The
Isthmus At This Place Is Only Two Miles, And There, Is A Good
Path, Along Which Rice And Sago Are Brought From The Eastern
Villages.
The whole isthmus is very rugged, though not high,
being a succession of little abrupt hills anal valleys, with
angular masses of limestone rock everywhere projecting, and often
almost blocking up the pathway.
Most of it is virgin forest, very
luxuriant and picturesque, and at this time having abundance of
large scarlet Ixoras in flower, which made it exceptionally gay.
I got some very nice insects here, though, owing to illness most
of the time, my collection was a small one, and my boy Ali shot
me a pair of one of the most beautiful birds of the East, Pitta
gigas, a lame ground-thrush, whose plumage of velvety black above
is relieved by a breast of pure white, shoulders of azure blue,
and belly of vivid crimson. It has very long and strong legs, and
hops about with such activity in the dense tangled forest,
bristling with rocks, as to make it very difficult to shoot.
In September 1858, after my return from New Guinea, I went to
stay some time at the village of Djilolo, situated in a bay on
the northern peninsula. Here I obtained a house through the
kindness of the Resident of Ternate, who sent orders to prepare
one for me. The first walk into the unexplored forests of a new
locality is a moment of intense interest to the naturalist, as it
is almost sure to furnish him with something curious or hitherto
unknown.
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