126 A COLLECTING TRIP 
tell us a great deal about the natives; the Captain has 
been sailing about here for twenty-one years. 
-  Sinee I wrote to you from Makassar we stopped 
at Tifu, Island of Buru and had very good luck ecol- 
lecting at a place which had hardly been collected at 
before; here we have a very good lot of things, but 
this place is far better known than the ports we shall 
touch at in Halmaheira (Jilolo) and New Guinea. We 
have a lovely parrot, perfectly tame, but I do not 
think we can bother about taking him home, much as 
we would like to do so. We have two and a half days 
here and part company with Dr. Van Kampen who 
now goes to Aru to inspect the pearl fisheries. He will 
join us on our return here. Yesterday we took a long 
walk to a cave in the mountains away up in the hills 
behind the town and caught a lot of bats; one a Rhino 
lophus is very peculiar and I hope it may be a new 
species. Well, I have very little time to write, since 
the men come in every couple of hours with many 
specimens which I have to care for. This often keeps 
us busy until far into the night, and so I shall close 
wishing you all everything that is best. 
With love to each and every one 
: From 
Tom. 
P S. Got a fine sky blue eel, evidently a Rhino- 
nurraena, which should be new. Caught it in a tide 
pool, while shore-collecting. [It did turn out new and 
was named Rhinonurraena Amboinensis Barbour. | 
