Effects of the Rain. 247 



days, down came a deluge of rain, which continued to fall al- 

 most every afternoon, showing that the early part of the Avet 

 season had commenced. I hoped now to get a good harvest 

 of insects, and in some respects I was not disappointed. 

 Beetles became much more numerous, and under a thick bed 

 of leaves that had accumulated on some rock by the side of a 

 forest stream I found abundance of Carabidse, a family gener- 

 ally scarce in the tropics. The butterflies, however, disap- 

 peared. Two of my servants were attacked with fever, dysen- 

 tery, and swelled feet just at the time that the third had left 

 me, and for some days they both lay groaning in the house. 

 When they got a little better I was attacked myself ; and as 

 my stores were nearly finished and every thing was getting 

 very damp, I was obliged to prepare for ray return to Macas- 

 sar, esj^ecially as the strong westerly winds would render the 

 passage in a small open boat disagreeable if not dangerous. 



Since the rains began, numbers of hugh Millipedes as thick 

 as one's finger and eight or ten inches long crawled about 

 everywhere, in the paths, on trees, about the house, and one 

 morning when I got up I even found one in my bed ! They 

 were generally of a dull lead color or of a deep brick-red, and 

 were very nasty-looking things to be coming everywhere in 

 one's way, although quite harmless. Snakes too began to 

 show themselves. I killed two of a very abundant species, 

 big-headed and of a bright green color, which lie coiled up on 

 leaves and shrubs, and can scarcely be seen till one is close 

 upon them. Brown snakes ^ot into my net while beating 

 among dead leaves for insects, and made me rather cautious 

 about inserting my hand till I knew what kind of game I had 

 captured. The fields and meadows, which had been parched 

 and sterile, now became suddenly covered with fine long grass ; 

 the river-bed, where I had so many times walked over burn- 

 ing rocks, was now a deep and rapid stream ; and numbers 

 of herbaceous plants and shrubs were everywhere springing 

 up and bursting into flower. I found plenty of new insects, 

 and if I had had a good, roomy, water-and-wind-proof house, 

 I should perhaps have staid during the wet season, as I feel 

 sure many things can then be obtained which are to be found 

 at no other time. With my summer hut, however, this was 

 impossible. During the heavy rains a fine drizzly mist pene- 



