Taking a House. 433 



first comer, wanted considerable repairs, and no one could be 

 found to do the work, although about four times its value 

 was ofiered. The captain, therefore, recommended me to take 

 possession of a pretty good house near his own, whose owner 

 was not expected for some weeks ; and as I was anxious to 

 be on shore, I immediately had it cleared out, and by even- 

 ing had all my things housed, and was regularly installed as 

 an inhabitant of Dobbo. I had brought with me a cane chair 

 and a few light boards, which were soon rigged up into a 

 table and shelves. A broad bamboo bench served as sofa and 

 bedstead, my boxes were conveniently arranged, my mats 

 spread on the floor, a wmdow cut in the palm-leaf wall to 

 light my table ; and though the place was as miserable and 

 gloomy a shed as could be imagined, I felt as contented as if 

 I had obtained a well-furnished mansion, and looked forward 

 to a month's residence in it with unmixed satisfaction. 



The next morning, after an early breakfast, I set off to ex- 

 plore the virgin forests of Aru, anxious to set my mmd at 

 rest as to the treasures they were likely to yield, and the 

 probable success of my long-meditated expedition. A little 

 native imp was onr guide, seduced by the gift of a German 

 knife, value three half-pence, and my Macassar boy Baderoon 

 brought his chopjier to clear the path if necessary. 



We had to walk about half a mile along the beach, the 

 ground behind the village being mostly swampy, and then 

 turned into the forest along a path which leads to the native 

 village of Wamma, about three miles off on the other side of 

 the island. The path was a narrow one, and very little used, 

 often swampy, and obstructed by fallen trees, so that after 

 about a mile we lost it altogether, our guide having turned 

 back, and we were obliged to follow his example. In the 

 mean time, however, I had not been idle, and my day's cap- 

 tures determined the success of my journey in an entomo- 

 logical point of view. I had taken about thirty species of 

 butterflies — more than I had ever captured in a day since 

 leaving the prolific banks of the Amazon, and among them 

 were many most rare and beautiful insects, hitherto only 

 known by a few specimens from New Guinea. The large and 

 handsome spectre-butterfly (Hestia durvillei), the pale-wing- 

 ed peacock-butterfly (Drusilla catops), and the most brilliant 



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