252 THE ARU ISLANDS. [chap. xxxi. 



prisoner by them in so ricli and unexplored a country, 

 where rare and beautiful creatures are to be met with in 

 every forest ramble — a country reached by such a long and 

 tedious voyage, and which might not in the present cen- 

 tury be again visited for the same purpose — is a punish- 

 ment too severe for a naturalist to pass over in silence. 



I had, however, some consolation in the birds my boys 

 brought liome daily, more especially the Paradiseas, which 

 they at length obtained in full plumage. It was quite a 

 relief to my mind to get these, for I could hardly have torn 

 myself away from Aru had I not obtained specimens. 

 But what I valued almost as much as the birds themselves 

 was the knowledge of their habits, which I was daily ob- 

 taining both from the accounts of my himters, and from 

 the conversation of the natives. The birds had now com- 

 menced what the people here call their " sacaleli," or 

 danciog-parties, in certain trees in the forest, which are not 

 fruit trees as I at first imagined, but which have an im- 

 mense head of spreading branches and large but scattered 

 leaves, giving a clear space for the birds to play and exhibit 

 their plumes. On one of these trees a dozen or twenty 

 full-plumaged male birds assemble together, raise up their 

 wings, stretch out their necks, and elevate their exquisite 

 plumes, keeping them in a continual vibration. Between 

 whiles they fly across from branch to branch in great ex- 

 citement, so that the whole tree is filled with waving plumes 



