278 THE UNKNOWN. 



the land of the lories, of the coclatoos and the birds of 

 paradise, the country of tortoise-shell and pearls, of beauti- 

 ful shells and rare insects " ? And when, having visited 

 them, and swept into his cabinet their riches, his eye is 

 still towards the rising sun, and the gorgeous spoils of the 

 unknown Papuan group are firing his imagination, he 

 thus jots down his undefinable expectations : — 



"I am going another thousand miles eastward to the 

 Arru Islands, which are within a hundred miles of the 

 coast of New Guinea, and are the most eastern islands of 

 the Archipelago. Many reasons have induced me to go 

 so far now. I must go somewhere to escape the terrific 

 rainy season here. I have all along looked to visiting 

 Arru as one of the great objects of my journey to the 

 East ; and almost all the trade with Arru is from Macassar. 

 I have an opportunity of going in a proa, owned and com- 

 manded by a Dutchman, (Java-born,) who will take me 

 and bring me back, and assist me in getting a house, &c., 

 there ; and he goes at the very time I want to leave. I 

 have also friends here with whom I can leave all the 

 things I do not want to take with me. All these advan- 

 tageous circumstances would probably never be combined 

 again; and were I to refuse this opportunity I might 

 never go to Arru at all ; which, when you consider it is 

 the nearest place to New Guinea where I can stay on 

 shore and work in perfect safety, would be much to be 

 regretted. What I shall get there it is impossible to say. 

 Being a group of small islands, the immense diversity and 

 richness of the productions of New Guinea will, of course, 



