8 BARBOUR: ZOOGEOGRAPHY. 



(lone at Samarai in southeast Papua, once a deadly locality, now a comparatively 

 liveable town. 



So far the commerce with the Dutch section has been only trading with the 

 natixes, or a few resident Chinamen for Bird-of-Paradise skins, dammar gum, 

 and forest products, such as wild nutmegs, etc. The bird skins at the rate they 

 are being taken will in time become rare in the accessible regions. The fact that 

 adult males alone are wanted — the inconspicuous females going unharmed and 

 often unknown to the native hunters — accounts for the fact that the bird is 

 still abundant. Its raucous screams may probably still be heard from the porch 

 of the Residency at Manokwari. The Great Bird-of-Paradise (Paradisea apoda 

 Linne), found only in the Aru Islands, is already much diminished in number; 

 and even the nearly related species, {Paradisea jobiensis Rothschild), which is 

 confined to Jobi Island, is also rare, owing to the fact that its plumes are longer 

 and more silky than those of its more common congener, (Paradisea minor 

 Shaw) on the mainland of Papua. The many other species of the Paradiseidae, 

 especially those confined to the inland mountains, are only hunted in a desultory 

 way, and have suiTered no diminution of numbers. It is to be hoped that there 

 may be some regulation of this traffic, perhaps a conservative limit set, and only 

 a certain number of skins allowed to be bartered from each village. This would 

 work no injustice to the native, as he buys with his skins only what to him are 

 luxuries. It is probable that such measures would meet with great opposition 

 among the Dutch merchants at Ternate and Makassar. Until some other 

 reason arises for sending a ship to Papua — as, for instance, the starting of 

 rubber plantations — these voyages can only be made to pay by the trade in 

 skins ; but this alone now makes the voyage one of the most profitable of any 

 in the Indies. 



After the return to Java from the \'oyage, some time was spent at Buiten- 

 zorg ill packing the collections, and also in making several short collecting trips 

 to various parts of the island. In this way Sindanglaia, Tjibodas, and other 

 near by villages were visited. At the last-named locality is situated the moun- 

 tain branch of the Buitenzorg Botanical Gardens. Then Bandoung, . Garut, 

 and Djokjakarta were visited, and short trips made in several directions from 

 each town. On the previous trip through the island en route to Sourabaya, 

 before sailing to Bali from that port, some collecting was done in east Java. 

 From Buitenzorg our collectors were sent for periods of several weeks each to 

 Sukabumi, Tjibodas, and to localities on the slopes of the volcano Salak. By 

 keeping separate these various collections made at different altitudes, we are 



