An Unwelcome Guest. 303 



Amboyna and those of Macassar, the latter generally small 

 and obscure, the former large and brilliant. On the whole, 

 the insects here most resemble those of the Aru Islands, but 

 they are almost always of distinct species, and when they 

 are most nearly allied to each other the species of Amboyna 

 are of larger size and more brilliant colors, so that one might 

 be led to conclude that, in passing east and west into a less 

 favorable soil and climate, they had degenerated into less 

 striking forms. 



Of an evening I generally set reading in the veranda, 

 ready to captui-e any insects that were attracted to the light. 

 One night about nine o'clock I heard a curious noise and 

 rustling overhead, as if some heavy animal were crawling 

 slowly over the thatch. The noise soon ceased, and I 

 thought no more about it, and went to bed soon afterward. 

 The next afternoon just before dinner, being rather tired 

 with my day's work, I was lying on the couch with a book 

 in my hand, when, gazing upward, I saw a large mass of 

 something overhead which I had not noticed before. Look- 

 ing more carefully, I could see yellow and black marks, and 

 thought it must be a tortoise-shell put up there out of the 

 way between the ridge-pole and the roof. Continuing to 

 gaze, it suddenly resolved itself into a large snake, compactly 

 coiled up in a kind of knot ; and I could detect his head and 

 his bright eyes in the very centre of the folds. The noise 

 of the evening before was now explained. A python had 

 climbed up one of the posts of the house, and had made his 

 way under the thatch within a yard of my head, and taken 

 up a comfortable position in the roof — and I had slept sound- 

 ly all night directly under him. 



I called to my two boys who were skinning birds below 

 and said, "Here's a big snake in the roof;" but as soon as I 

 had shown it to them they rushed out of the house and beg- 

 ged me to come out directly. Finding they were too much 

 afraid to do any thing, we called some of the laborers in the 

 plantation, and soon had half a dozen men in consultation 

 outside. One of these, a native of Bouru, where there are a 

 great many snakes, said he would get him out, and proceeded 

 to work in a business-like manner. He made a strong noose 

 of rattan, and with a long pole in the other hand poked at 



