XI.] NIGHT IN THE FOREST. 265 



We devoted the day to collecting and the evening to skinning, 

 according to the usual routine, and at night our praus, illuminated 

 by dammar torches, presented a busy scene until a late hour. The 

 tall trees of the jungle caught the light here and there and stood 

 out in strong relief against the inky darkness of the forest beyond. 

 Our Malay hunters, squatting on the ground, held the heads of the 

 birds they were skinning between their toes like monkeys, and 

 worked away steadily, hardly uttering a word, while the woolly-haired 

 Papuans sat watching them, smoking their palm-leaf cigarettes and 

 jabbering noisily. Now and again the weird cry of some night- 

 bird silenced them for a while. The whole scene was romantic 

 enough, or would have been had not certain realities of existence 

 prevented it. The night was suffocatingly hot, and we did not need 

 to be reminded that we were within a mile or two of the equator. 

 The mosquitoes descended upon us in swarms, effectually banishing 

 sleep, and, to crown our discomfort, our legs were covered with 

 quantities of ticks of almost microscopic minuteness, which, in the 

 amount of irritation they produce, beat the very similar little Ixodes 

 which haunts the coast of South-east Africa. Tu-ed, irritable, and 

 bathed in perspiration we greeted the appearance of day with 

 delight. 



We started early on our return journey to Momos, and for the 

 first time had an opportunity of seeing the scenery of the gulf. 

 The most striking part is just within the entrance, where innumer- 

 able rocks and islets dot the calm surface of the water. Some of 

 these are quaintly box-like in shape, with peipendicular coralline 

 cliffs, which at the base are in many cases deeply undermined by tlie 

 sea. For nearly two miles we passed through a perfect nest of 

 these jungle-clad islands, the average breadth of the strait being 

 from two to five hundred yards. Lookmg back, the " Cone de 

 Buttle " of Duperrey was visible, rising as a sharp peak to the 

 northward above the little archipelago, the varied beauties of 

 which made us regret that we had not more time to explore them. 



We were desirous of taking in water at Momos, and on 



