( 57 ) 



but now they are quite well-disposed, though they worry ns a great deal with 

 their taboos ! The male of Paradisea minor, Microglossus aterrimus and Corvux 

 orru are ' fomali ' or ' pohen,' as the natives say at Kapaur. The most sacred 

 bird, however, is the ' lusi,' which was described to me as being white, very large, 

 and feeding on fish. I thought they meant a sea-bird ; but by great ill luck 

 Earn Persad, having done very badly one day, shot a huge Haliaetus leueoqaster, 

 though he knew I did not want it, and it turned out that it was the 'lusi ' ! At 

 first they wanted to kill him, but eventually we came to terms. I lost two days, 

 for myself and my men, going over to Skru (Sekrou) in order to get the particular 

 things I had to pay for blood-money : a gun, certain cloths and knives, altogether 

 to the amount of over £3,* and for some time after the natives were very 

 disagreeable." 



" We can only make short excursions. Coolies for luggage are not to be had, 

 and we would undoubtedly be killed if we took any goods with us. The natives are 

 wholly without fear of Europeans ; in fact, the only reason that the coast-people 

 do not loot Skru is because they are afraid of the much stronger mountain tribes, 

 who wouM kill them all in revenge for losing the market for their nutmegs. Here 

 at Ka])aur 1 see liundreds of the mountaineers — the biggest and strongest race of 

 men I have ever seen, I think. They are neither cannibals nor head-hunters, but 

 fight nearly always for the fun of it ! Last winter they made an expedition to the 

 large island of Adi, a hundred miles soutli, and killed off the whole population, not 

 a soul being now left there. We are very badly off for food. The mainstays of life in 

 these countries are rice, cocoa-nuts, and fowls — all unobtainable at Kapaur. I brought 

 with me rice and rotten potatoes. A hundred pounds of beans from Europe turned 

 out too old. Four days' cooking did not soften them. As for tins, there did not 

 seem to be a single eatable thing at Amboina. How I did want some oatmeal, now 

 that 1 }Mce got sugarless tinned milk ; how I longed for the dear tinned tomatoes 

 and green corn of America ! I have tinned corn beef and similar dreadful things, 

 but no soups. I live principally on tea and biscuits with the hoj)e of getting a 

 pigeon now and then. My cook is certainly the worst in the world ! Quite a 

 change from the Dutch steamers, where the food is extraordinarily good — the 

 best, I think, of ship food in the world ; but, as you know, Dutch East Indian 

 cookery is immensely complicated and expensive, and utterly unsuited for the jungle." 



Collections from Kajtaur have apparently never before reached Europe, but 

 close by, at .Skru (iSekru) Mr. Karl Schiidler made a collection about the same time 

 as Doherty's was made at Kapaur, and Dr. Fiusch has given a list of the seventy-six 

 species collected by him. ("Notes, Leyden Museum, vol. xxii. pp. 49-69, July, 1900.) 

 The author refers all tlie birds to known species. 



Andai and Dorey. Besides numerous specimens from Bruiju's hunters and 

 trom the cruise of the Maixkesa, we have some skins collected by Doherty at Dorey. 

 Doherty could not enter the interior and high mountains of Arfak. Small-pox, 

 cholera, and beri-beri were dejiopnlatiug the country, and it was impossible to get 

 one coolie or other man to accompany one. Ordinarily it is not considered by 

 Doherty particularly ditficnlt to go to the Arfak, except that it is a most 

 inconvenient place on account of constant rain, fearful steepness of the slopes, and 

 " scarcity of butterflies." 



Kon Island. From this little island in the southern part of Geelvink Bay we 

 have a small collection from Doherty. He fouud bird-life unusually poor on Ron. 



* Mark the value of ttie "guD." 



