LINNEAX SOCIEXY OF LONDON, 39 



difficulties Kapaor was reached. But this place was unhealthy, 

 fevers raged, and quitting the spot on a wretched craft, they 

 reached Dorei, and achieved the exploration of Mount Arfak as the 

 crown of their endeavours. Besides geological specimens, many 

 birds, mammals, beetles, and reptiles, he had 700 numbers in 

 ample sup[)ly, together with spirit specimens. 



Tlie health of D'Albertis had now become so bad that it was 

 impossible for him to stay in the tropics, so the two travellers, 

 after great difficulty, came upon the Italian corvette, ' Vettor 

 Pisani,' and upon this vessel D'Albertis embarked. In 1873, 

 Beccari visited the islands of Aru and Kai, virgin soil for the 

 botanist. Here under native huts thatched with leaves be set 

 up his headquarters ; his worst enemies were five species of ant, 

 which threatened to destroy his specimens. 



Beccari then returned to Macassar, and after resting and 

 recruiting his health, again set out for the Molucca Islands ; at 

 another time, on board the Dutch ship ' Sumatra,' for a trip in 

 1874. 



Before returning home, he much wished to try Ids luck again in 

 New Guinea, but, as he wrote home, his finances were exhausted. 

 From this difficulty his friend Giacomo Doria relieved him by 

 inciting the citizens of Genoa to send the sum of 15,000 lire as a 

 lielp. 



Relieved and encouraged by this, Beccari journeyed by Batavia 

 to Ternate, and Andai, to chmb Mount Arfak. After a successful 

 quest, he embarked in March 1876 for Java, in due course reaching 

 Florence, where he was received with great enthusiasm. In the 

 autumn of tlie following year he again started for Malaya, this 

 time with Enrico D'Albertis, a cousin of his former companion, 

 landing at Bombay and traversing India to Calcutta, thence to 

 .Singapore, onwards to Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart; New 

 Zealand ; followed by a return to Singapore, and then to Sumatra, 

 where he found the AmorjiliophalJus Titanum and also the tiny 

 Aroid Microcasia py(jm(m. 



In 1878 he left Batavia for his last journey -.-Padaug, where he 

 investigated the products ; Singalang, where he stayed some time 

 diligently collecting, till finally he directed his course homeward, 

 and Florence was reached in the last days of 1878, closing his 

 career as an explorer but beginning another as illustrator. 



'Malesia' grew under his pen during 1877 to 1886, 3 volumes 

 in quarto. Greatly to his mortification, when the third volume 

 was half printed, the Istituto di Studi Su])eriori, which had 

 financed the publication so far, ceased to provide the funds, but 

 this becoming known in England, a contribution from the 

 Bentham Fund enabled Beccari to complete his splendid work. 



The magnificent folio ' Asiatic Palms ' practically closed the 

 authorship of Beccari : the second part appeared posthumously 

 in 1U21 as 231 pages and 6 ])lates in quarto, and 120 plates 

 in collotype in folio; but the full extent of the work can 

 only be assessed by reference to the ten pages of Bibliography, 



