A Fine Butterfly, 225 



and the water of the almost stagnant river was too muddy to 

 drink, we went toward a house a few hundred yards off. In 

 the plantation we saw a small raised hut, which we thought 

 would do well for us to breakfast in, so I entered, and found 

 inside a young woman with an infant. She handed me a jug 

 of water, but looked very much frightened. However, I sat 

 down on the door-step and asked for the provisions. In 

 handing them up, Baderoon saw the infant, and started back 

 as if he had seen a serpent. It then immediately struck me 

 that this was a hut in which, as among the Dyaks of Borneo 

 and many other savage tribes, the women are secluded for 

 some time after the birth of their child, and that we did very 

 wi'ong to enter it ; so we walked off and asked permission to 

 eat our breakfast in the family mansion close at hand, which 

 was of course granted. While I ate, three men, two women, 

 and four children watched every motion, and never took eyes 

 off me till I had finished. 



On our way back in the heat of the day I had the good- 

 fortune to capture three specimens of a fine Ornithoptera, the 

 largest, the most perfect, and the most beautiful of butter- 

 flies. I trembled with excitement as I took the first out of 

 my net and found it to be in perfect condition. The ground 

 color of this superb insect was a rich shining bronzy black, 

 the lower wings delicately grained with white, and bordered 

 by a row of lai-ge spots of the most brilliant satiny yellow. 

 The body was marked with shaded spots of white, yellow, 

 and fiery orange, while the head and thorax were intense 

 black. On the under side the lower wings were satiny white, 

 with the marginal spots half black and half yellow. I gazed 

 ujjon my prize with extreme interest, as I at first thought it 

 was quite a new species. It proved, however, to be a variety 

 of Ornithoptera remus, one of the rarest and most remark- 

 able species of this highly esteemed group. I also obtained 

 several other new and pretty butterflies. When we arrived 

 at our lodging-house, being particularly anxious about my 

 insect treasures, I suspended the box from a bamboo on which 

 I could detect no sign of ants, and then began skinning some 

 of my birds. During my work I often glanced at my pre- 

 cious box to see that no intruders had arrived, till after a lon- 

 ger spell of work than usual I looked again, and saw to my 



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