298 TIMOR. [chap. xiii. 



cling to our ponies' backs ; and thus we went up and down, 

 over bare hills whose surface was covered with small 

 pebbles and scattered over with Eucalypti, reminding me 

 of what I had read of parts of the interior of Australia 

 rather than of the Malay Archipelago. 



The village consisted of three houses only, with low 

 walls raised a few feet on posts, and very high roofs 

 thatched with grass hanging down to within two or three 

 feet of the ground. A house which was unfinished and 

 partly open at the back was given for our use, and in 

 it we rigged up a table, some benches, and a screen, 

 while an inner enclosed portion served us for a sleeping 

 apartment. We had a splendid view down upon Delli 

 and the sea beyond. The country round was undulating 

 and open, except in the hollows, where there were some 

 patches of forest, which Mr. Geach, who had been all 

 over the eastern part of Timor, assured me was the most 

 luxuriant he had yet seen in the island. I was in hopes 

 of finding some insects here, but was much disappointed, 

 owing perhaps to the dampness of the climate ; for it 

 was not till the sun was pretty high that the mists cleared 

 away, and by noon we were generally clouded up again, 

 so that there was seldom more than an hour or two 

 of fitful sunshine. We searched in every direction for 

 birds and other game, but they were very scarce. On our 

 way I had shot the fine white-headed pigeon, Ptilonopus 





