XIV.] SHOOTING IN THE FOREST. 343 



the curious lumbering praus that bring them to the island. Ten or 

 a dozen of these we found hauled up on the sandy beach. They 

 were about the size of a fifty-ton yacht, and were all more or less 

 out of repair. 



We spent a long day in the forest on "VVokan Island, in chase of 

 the Paradise birds. The little King-bird seemed not uncommon, 

 but, though we heard the loud, rough cry of Paradisea a^oda on 

 several occasions, we could not get even a glimpse of it. The deep 

 hocmi of the large fruit-eating pigeons is a characteristic sound in 

 the forests of the Papuan region. The sense of hearing is perhaps 

 almost equally powerful with the sense of smell in recalling past 

 cenes to the mind, and I am sure that notliing would more quickly 

 conjure up before my mental vision the picture of these magnificent 

 jungles, and the varied and beautiful forms that they display than 

 the sound of this curious and most undove-like note. We obtained 

 here two species of the genus that we had not met with before — 

 Carpopliaga zoecc and muelleri — fine biixls about eighteen inches in 

 length, whose bodies appeared at our dinner-table, while their skins 

 were in due course packed carefully away in our collecting-boxes. 



Immediately beliind the Posthouder's house the forest rose like 

 a wall. It was impenetrable on account of a small swamp, and we 

 had to take to the beach for some distance before beginning to 

 shoot. A species of Cycas grows very abundantly along the shore, 

 as well as great quantities of Pandanus, whose bright scarlet fruit 

 we gathered every morning for our Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise, 

 for he had got rather tired of his usual cockroach diet. About a 

 mile from Dobbo is a large plantation owned by the Kapten Laut, 

 the chief Malay of the place, and the outskirts of this furnished us 

 with a fair collecting ground. It was interesting to observe how 

 wonderfully the bananas flourished, although the soil in w^hich 

 they were growing was apparently composed almost entirely of 

 shells and broken coral. 



Although there were always half a dozen small dusky beaters 

 to assist us in our shooting excursions, and to carrv our cartridges 



