CHAPTER XX. 



AMBOYNA. 



(DECEMBER 1857, OCTOBER 1859, FEBRUARY 1860.) 



rpWENTY hours from Banda brought us to Amboyna, 

 the capital of the Moluccas, and one of the oldest 

 European settlements in the East. The island consists of 

 two peninsulas, so nearly divided by inlets of the sea, as 

 to leave only a sandy isthmus about a mile wide near their 

 eastern extremity. The western inlet is several miles long 

 and forms a fine harbour, on the southern side of which is 

 situated the town of Amboyna. I had a letter of intro- 

 duction to Dr. Mohnike, the chief medical officer of the 

 Moluccas, a German and a naturalist. I found that he 

 could write and read English, but could not speak it, being 

 like myself a bad linguist ; so we had to use French as a 

 medium of communication. He kindly offered me a room 

 during my stay in Amboyna, and introduced me to his 

 junior, Dr. DoleschalL a Hungarian and also an ento- 

 mologist. He was an intelligent and most amiable young 

 man, but I was shocked to find that he was dying of con- 



