It Seems As If Nature Had Taken Precautions That These Her
Choicest Treasures Should Not Be Made Too Common, And Thus Be
Undervalued.
This northern coast of New Guinea is exposed to the
full swell of the Pacific Ocean, and is rugged
And harbourless.
The country is all rocky and mountainous, covered everywhere with
dense forests, offering in its swamps and precipices and serrated
ridges an almost impassable barrier to the unknown interior; and
the people are dangerous savages, in the very lowest stage of
barbarism. In such a country, and among such a people, are found
these wonderful productions of Nature, the Birds of Paradise,
whose exquisite beauty of form and colour and strange
developments of plumage are calculated to excite the wonder and
admiration of the most civilized and the most intellectual of
mankind, and to furnish inexhaustible materials for study to the
naturalist, and for speculation to the philosopher.
Thus ended my search after these beautiful birds. Five voyages to
different parts of the district they inhabit, each occupying in
its preparation and execution the larger part of a year, produced
me only five species out of the fourteen known to exist in the
New Guinea district. The kinds obtained are those that inhabit
the coasts of New Guinea and its islands, the remainder seeming
to be strictly confined to the central mountain-ranges of the
northern peninsula; and our researches at Dorey and Amberbaki,
near one end of this peninsula, and at Salwatty and Sorong, near
the other, enable me to decide with some certainty on the native
country of these rare and lovely birds, good specimens of which
have never yet been seen in Europe.
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