1862.] OF HIS SEARCH AFTER BIRDS OF PARADISE. 157 
us rapidly away. One of them was our pilot ; and, without a chart or 
any knowledge of the coasts, we had to blunder our way short-handed 
among the rocks and reefs and innumerable islands which surround 
the rocky coasts of Waigiou. Our little vessel was five times on the 
rocks in the space of twenty-four hours, and a little more wind or 
sea would in several cases have caused our destruction. Onat length 
reaching our resting-place on the south coast of Waigiou, I imme- 
diately sent a native boat after my lost sailors, which, however, re- 
turned in a week without them, owing to bad weather, Again they 
were induced to make the attempt, and this time returned with them 
in a very weak and emaciated condition, as they had lived a month 
on a mere sand-bank, about a mile in diameter, subsisting on shell- 
fish and the succulent shoots of a wild Bromelia. 
I now devoted myself to an investigation of the natural history of 
Waigiou, having great expectations raised by Lesson’s account, who 
says that he purchased the three true Paradisee, as well as P. magni- 
fica and P. sewsetacea, with Lpimachus magnus and Sericulus aureus, 
in the island, and also mentions several rare Psittaci as probably 
found there. I soon ascertained, however, from the universal testi- 
mony of the inhabitants, afterwards confirmed by my own observa- 
tion, that none of these species exist on the island, except P. rubra, 
which is the sole representative of the Paradiseide and Epimachide, 
and is strictly limited to this one spot. 
With more than the usual amount of difficulties, privations, and 
hunger, I succeeded in obtaining a good series of this beautiful and 
extraordinary bird ; and three months’ assiduous collecting produced 
no other species at all worthy of attention. The parrots and pigeons 
were all of known species ; and there was really nothing in the island 
to render it worth visiting by a naturalist, except the P. rubra, which 
can be obtained nowhere else. 
Our two expeditions to two almost unknown Papuan islands have 
thus added but one species to the Paradisee I had before obtained 
from Aru and Dorey. ‘These voyages occupied us nearly a year ; for 
we parted company i: Amboyna in February, and met again at Ter- 
nate in November, and it was not till the following January that we 
were either of us able to start again on a fresh voyage. 
At Waigiou I learned that the Birds of Paradise all came from three 
places on the north coast, between Salwatty and Dorey—Sorong, 
Maas, and Amberbaki. The latter I had tried unsuccessfully from 
Dorey ; at Maas, the natives who procured the birds were said to 
live three days’ journey in the interior, and to be cannibals ; but at 
Sorong, which was near Salwatty, they were only about a day from 
the coast, and were less dangerous to visit. At Mysol, Mr. Allen 
had received somewhat similar information ; and we therefore resolved 
he should make another attempt at Sorong, where we were assured 
all the sorts could be obtained. The whole of that country being 
under the jurisdiction of the Sultan of Tidore, I obtained, through 
the Dutch resident at Ternate, a Tidore lieutenant and two soldiers 
to accompany Mr. Allen as a protection, and to facilitate his opera- 
tions in getting men_and visiting the interior, 
