Difficult to Obtain. 575 



calculated to excite the wonder and admiration of the most 

 civilized and the most intellectual of mankind, and to furnish 

 inexhaustible materials for study to the naturalist, and for spec- 

 ulation to the philosopher. 



Thus ended my search after these beautiful birds. Five 

 voyages to different parts of the district they inhabit, each oc- 

 cupying in its preparation and execution the larger part of a 

 year, produced me only five species out of the fourteen knowB 

 to exist in the New Guinea district. The kinds obtained are 

 those that inhabit the coasts of New Guinea and its islands, 

 the remainder seeming to be strictly confined to the central 

 mountain-ranges of the northern peninsula; and our researches 

 at Dorey and Amberbaki, near one end of this peninsula, and 

 at Salwatty and Sorong, near the other, enable me to decide 

 with some certainty on the native country of these rare and 

 lovely birds, good specimens of which have never yet been 

 seen in Europe. 



It must be considered as somewhat extraordinary that, dur- 

 ing five years' residence and travel in Celebes, the Moluccas, 

 and New Guinea, I should never have been able to purchase 

 skins of half the species which Lesson, forty years ago, obtain- 

 ed during a few weeks in the same countries. I believe that 

 all, except the common species of commerce, are now much 

 more difiicult to obtain than they were even twenty years ago ; 

 and I impute it principally to their having been sought after 

 by the Dutch officials through the Sultan of Tidore. The 

 chiefs of the annual expeditions to collect tribute have had or- 

 ders to get all the rare sorts of paradise birds ; and as they 

 pay little or nothing for them (it being sufficient to say they 

 are for the Sultan), the head men of the coast villages would 

 for the future refuse to purchase them from the mountaineers, 

 and confine themselves instead to the commoner sjoecies, which 

 are less sought after by amateurs, but are a more profitable mer- 

 chandise. The same causes frequently lead the inhabitants of 

 uncivilized countries to conceal minerals or other natural prod- 

 ucts with which they may become acquainted, from the fear of 

 being obUged to pay increased tribute, or of bringing upon 

 themselves a new and oppressive labor. 



