458 The Aru Islands. 



As the only difficulty now was a pecuniary one, I got out about 

 ten yards of cloth, an axe, with a few beads and some tobac- 

 co, and sent them as my final offer for the part of the house 

 which I had before pointed out. This was accepted after a 

 little more talk, and I immediately proceeded to take pos- 

 session. 



The house was a good large one, raised as usual about 

 seven feet on posts, the walls about three or four feet more, 

 with a high-pitched roof. The floor was of bamboo laths, 

 and in the sloping roof was an immense shutter, which could 

 be lifted S,nd propped up to admit light and air. At the end 

 where this was situated the floor was raised about a foot, and 

 this piece, about ten feet wide by twenty long, quite open to 

 the rest of the house, was the portion I was to occupy. At 

 one end of this piece, separated by a thatch jDartition, was a 

 cooking-place, with a clay floor and shelves for crockery. At 

 the opposite end I had my mosquito-cui'tain hung, and round 

 the walls we arranged my boxes and other stores, fitted up a 

 table and seat, and with a little cleaning and dusting made the 

 place look quite comfortable. My boat was then hauled up 

 on shore, and covei*ed with palm-leaves, the sails and oars 

 brought in-doors, a hanging-stage for drying my specimens 

 erected outside the house and another inside, and my boys 

 were set to clean their guns and get all ready for beginning 

 work. 



The next day I occupied myself in exploring the paths in 

 the immediate neighborhood. The small river up which we 

 had ascended ceases to be navigable at this point, above which 

 it is a little rocky brook, which quite dries up in the hot sea- 

 son. There was now, however, a fair stream of water in it ; 

 and a path which was partly in and partly by the side of the 

 water, promised well for insects, as I here saw the magnificent 

 blue butterfly (Papilio Ulysses), as well as several other fine 

 species, flopping lazily along, sometimes resting high up on the 

 foliage which drooped over the water, at others settling down 

 on the damp rock or on the edges of muddy pools, A little 

 way on several paths branched off through patches of second- 

 growth forest to cane-fields, gardens, and scattered houses, be- 

 yond which again the dark wall of verdure striped with tree- 

 trunks, marked out the limits of the primeval forests. The 



