There Was
Now, However, A Fair Stream Of Water In It; And A Path Which Was
Partly In And Partly
By the side of the water, promised well for
insects, as I here saw the magnificent blue butterfly, Papilio
ulysses,
As well as several other fine species, flopping lazily
along, sometimes resting high up on the foliage which drooped
over the water, at others settling down on the damp rock or on
the edges of muddy pools. A little way on several paths branched
off through patches of second-growth forest to cane-fields,
gardens, and scattered houses, beyond which again the dark wall
of verdure striped with tree-trunks, marked out the limits of the
primeval forests. The voices of many birds promised good
shooting, and on my return I found that my boy s had already
obtained two or three kinds I had not seen before; and in the
evening a native brought me a rare and beautiful species of
ground-thrush (Pitta novaeguinaeae) hitherto only known from New
Guinea.
As I improved my acquaintance with them I became much interested
in these people, who are a fair sample of the true savage
inhabitants of the Aru Islands, tolerably free from foreign
admixture. The house I lived in contained four or five families,
and there were generally from six to a dozen visitors besides.
They kept up a continual row from morning till night - talking,
laughing, shouting, without intermission - not very pleasant, but
interesting as a study of national character.
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