196 Timor. 



Coupang market ; and when we had got some way across into 

 a rather rough sea, we found that a quantity of water was 

 coming in which we had no means of bahng out. This caused 

 us to sink deeper in the water, and then we shipped seas over 

 our sides, and the rowers, who had before declared it was 

 nothing, now became alarmed, and turned the boat round to 

 get back to the coast of Semao, which was not far off. By 

 clearing away some of the baggage, a little of the water could 

 be baled out, but hardly so fast as it came in, and when we 

 neared the coast we found nothing but vertical wall of rock, 

 against which the sea was violently beating. We coasted 

 along some distance till we found a little cove, into which we 

 ran the boat, hauled it on shore, and, emptying it, found a large 

 hole in the bottom, which had been temporarily stopped up 

 with a plug of cocoa-nut, which had come out. Had we been 

 a quarter of a mile further off before we discovered the leak, 

 we should certainly have been obliged to throw most of our 

 baggage overboard, and might easily have lost our lives. 

 After we had put all straight and secure we again started, and 

 when we were half-way across, got into such a strong current 

 and high cross-sea that we were very nearly being swamped 

 a second time, which made me vow never to trust myself again 

 in such small and miserable vessels. 



The mail-steamer did not arrive for a week, and I occupied 

 myself in getting as many of the birds as I could, and found 

 some which were very interesting. Among these were five 

 species of pigeons, of as many distinct genera, and most of 

 them peculiar to the island ; two parrots — the fine red- winged 

 broad-tail (Platycercus vulneratus), allied to an Australian 

 species, and a green species of the genus Geoffroyiis. The 

 Tropidorhynchus timorensis was as ubiquitous and as noisy 

 as I had found it at Lombock ; and the Sphsecothera viridis, 

 a curious green oriole, with bare red orbits, was a great ac- 

 quisition. There were several pretty finches, warblers, and 

 fly-catchers, and among them I obtained the elegant blue and 

 red Cyornis hyacinthina ; but I can not recognize among my 

 collections the species mentioned by Dampier, who seems to 

 have been much struck by the number of small song-birds in 

 Timor. He says : " One sort of these pretty little birds my 

 men called the ringing-bird, because it had six notes, and al- 



