322 ON THE GENUS PITTA. 



purpose) we have the great capital of Russia, St. Petersburg, built on 

 piles. 



I may add, with regard to Mysore, that English maps sometimes 

 represent this as one island, while in truth it consists of three, of which the 

 low island of Mysore proper is the most northern. 



Dr. Meyer has sent me the following extracts relating to Kordo : — 



" When I approached in my small schooner (a Malay craft) the village 

 of Kordo (the chief Papuan settlement on the island of Mysore, or Willem- 

 Schouten island, as the Dutch call it), some large Papuan boats came to 

 meet me, and, as I supposed, in. a friendly way, wishing to help me in finding 

 the course through the coral reefs which encircle the shores near the place 

 They had their boats fastened to my schooner ; and some twenty men imme- 

 diately boarded it, without asking permission ; but they were welcomed as 

 guides. 



'^I anchored quite in the neighbourhood of the village, before the 

 small river which runs through it, in sight of a mountain-chain ascending 

 steeply from the proximity of the shore. The vessel was soon surrounded 

 by a large number of boats, filled with men ; and they all climbed on board, 

 screaming and running about. In vain I tried to make them understand 

 that their presence was not convenient to me ; they remained. I was short 

 of water, and intended to despatch some of my men for it ; but on preparing, 

 I saw that they would not permit us to go ashore ; and at the same time they 

 showed me, near the river, a sort of ' tabu ' already erected as a sign of 

 prohibition against approach. 



^^It was only after a while that I discovered th^ reason for their 

 acting thus. On a former expedition, one of my hunters (a Tidore man) 

 had been engaged here in a bad slave-trading afi'air, followed by the 

 killing of some Papuan men. It is a sad truth that in these countries 

 the slave-trade still flourishes, the Dutch having no power to prevent it; 



