CHAP. XXV.] MR. VAN DER BECK. 75 



tobacco. Besides a small cottage occupied by the workmen, 

 there was a large shed for tobacco drying, a corner of which 

 was offered me ; and thinking from the look of the place 

 that I should find good collecting ground here, I fitted up 

 temporary tables, benches, and beds, and made all prepara- 

 tions for some weeks' stay. A few days, however, served to 

 show that I should be disappointed. Beetles were tolerably 

 abundant, and I obtained plenty of fine long-horned An- 

 thribidoe and pretty Longicorns, but they were mostly the 

 same species as I had found during my first short visit to 

 Amboyna. There were very few paths in the forest, which 

 seemed poor in birds and butterflies, and day after day 

 my men brought me nothing worth notice. I was there- 

 fore soon obliged to think about changing my locality, 

 as I could evidently obtain no proper notion of the pro- 

 ductions of the almost entirely unexplored island of Ceram 

 by staying in this place. 



I rather regretted leaving, because my host was one of 

 the most remarkable men and most entertaining com- 

 panions T had ever met with. He was a Fleming by 

 birth, and, like so many of his countrymen, had a won- 

 derful talent for languages. When quite a youth he had 

 accompanied a Government official who was sent to report 

 on the trade and commerce of the Mediterranean, and had 

 acqiiired the colloquial language of every place they 

 staved a few weeks at. He had afterwards made voyages 



