Departure from Amboyna. 355 



I 



CHAPTER XXV. 



CERAM, GORAM, AND THE MATABELLO ISLANDS. 

 OCTOBER, 1859, TO JUNE, 1860. 



I LEFT Amboyna for my first visit to Ceram at three o'clock 

 in the morning of October 29th, after having been delayed 

 several days by the boat's crew, who could not be got togeth- 

 er. Captain Van der Beck, who gave me a passage in his 

 boat, had been running after them all day, and at midnight 

 we had to search for two of my men, who had disappeared at 

 the last moment. One we found at supper in his own house, 

 and rather tipsy with his parting libations of arrack, but the 

 other was gone across the bay, and we were obliged to leave 

 without him. We staid some hours at two villages near the 

 east end of Amboyna, at one of which we had to discharge 

 some wood for the missionaries' house, and on the third aft- 

 ernoon reached Captain Van der Beck's plantation, situated 

 at Hatosua, in that part of Ceram opposite to the island of 

 Amboyna. This was a clearing in flat and rather swampy 

 forest, about twenty acres in extent, and mostly planted with 

 cacao and tobacco. Besides a small cottage occupied by the 

 workmen, there was a large shed for tobacco-drying, a corner 

 of which was offered me ; and thinking from the look of the 

 place that I should find good collecting-ground here, I fitted 

 up temporary tables, benches, and beds, and made aU prepa- 

 rations for some weeks' stay. A few days, however, served 

 to show that I should be disappointed. Beetles were tolera- 

 bly abundant, and I obtained plenty of fine long-horned An- 

 thribidse and pretty longicorns, but they were mostly the same 

 species as I had found during my first short visit to Amboy- 

 na. There were very few paths in the forest, which seemed 

 poor in birds and butterflies, and day after day my men 

 brought me nothing worth notice, I was therefore soon 

 obliged to think about changing my locality, as I could evi- 

 dently obtain no proper notion of the productions of the al- 



