284 THE ARU ISLANDS. [chap, xxxii. 



the house by iUness, and had lost much time by the want 

 of the means of locomotion, and by missing the right 

 season at the right place, I brought away with me more 

 than nine thousand specimens of natural objects, of about 

 sixteen hundred distinct species. I had made the acquaint- 

 ance of a strange and little-known race of men ; I had 

 become familiar with the traders of the far East; I had 

 revelled in the delights of exploring a new fauna and flora, 

 one of the most remarkable and most beautiful and least- 

 known in the world ; and I had succeeded in the main 

 object for which I had undertaken the journey — namely, 

 to obtain fine specimens of the magnificent Birds of Para- 

 dise, and to be enabled to observe them in their native 

 forests. By this success I was stimulated to continue my 

 researches in the Moluccas and New Guinea for nearly 

 five years longer, and it is still the portion of my travels to 

 which I look back with the most complete satisfaction. 



