of the Aru Islands. 475 



taken prisoners, and the rest of the population had all fled to the 

 mainland. Now for some time there was no more hope of my 

 getting boats and men. Guards were set in Dobbo, and prows 

 were got ready to go after the pirates. A few days more, and the 

 crew of one of our captain's small vessels which had gone trading 

 among the islands, returned stripped of everything. They had 

 got on shore, while the pirates plundered the prow, taking every- 

 thing, even to the men's boxes and clothes. They reported that 

 the pirates were all at the east side of the islands, where the 

 merchants send their small vessels to buy pearl-shell and tripang, 

 and there was no danger of their returning again to this side, 

 where they had more to fear and less to get. Now, too, I re- 

 ceived a letter I had been expecting from the Governor of 

 Amboyna, with orders to the Aru chief to give me assistance ; 

 and, after two months' residence in Dobbo, I succeeded in getting 

 a boat and two natives, and set off for the great island of Aru. 



I visited several localities, and at length, finding a good one 

 near the centre of the island, I stayed there six weeks, and got, 

 on the whole, a very fine collection of birds. Returning to 

 Dobbo, I intended to make another short excursion ; but lame- 

 ness, produced by the constant irritation of insect-bites on my 

 legs, kept me in the house for several weeks, and the east wind 

 became so strong, and the weather so wet and boisterous, as to 

 render travelling by sea in a small boat out of the question. A 

 little later, one of my bird-skinners left me, and the other was 

 laid up with intermittent fever, so I was compelled to make the 

 best of it, and get what I could in the small island till the com- 

 mencement of July, when we returned direct to Macassar. 



Having thus given an outline of my journey, I shall proceed 

 to give some account of the ornithology and general natural 

 history of the Aru Islands, and a summary of the collections I 

 have made there. The very first bird likely to attract one's atten- 

 tion at Dobbo is a most beautiful brush-tongued parroquet, closely 

 allied to Trichoglossus cyanogrammus jWa^l. It frequents in flocks 

 the Casuarina-trees which line the beach, and its crimson under 

 wings and orange breast make it a most conspicuous and bril- 

 liant object. Its twittering whistle may be heard almost con- 

 stantly in the vicinity of the trees it frequents. Almost the only 

 other birds which approach the village are a swallow {Hirundo 

 nigricanSf Vieill.), found also in New Guinea and Australia, and 

 an Artamus, probably A. papuensis, Temm., which perches occa- 

 sionally on the house-tops, or on dead trees in the neighbourhood. 

 A little black-and-white wagtail flycatcher [Rhipidura, sp.) may 

 also often be seen among bushes, and on the sea-beach, chirping 

 musically, and waving laterally its expanded tail whenever it 

 alights. 



31* 



