CH. VII TO SANGIR AND TALAVT' 157 



that the Malay hunters are almost as ignorant of these 

 things as our European authorities. 



We must accuse the baboons and snakes of being the 

 chief cause of our want of knowledge, for they are able to 

 carry on their predatory habits in all the nooks and crannies 

 of the branches of lofty trees which are inaccessible to human 

 beings, and consequently the birds are compelled for self- 

 preservation to hide their nests and their precious contents 

 in some of the secret places of the forests free from the -visits 

 of unwelcome visitors, and at present beyond our ken. 



As a bird's-nesting expedition, however, my visit to the 

 island was a failure ; but there were many things in the 

 dense jungle covering the island which I am sure would 

 have repaid further investigations had time and opportunity 

 permitted. The island is surrounded by a strand of white 

 coral debris, upon which is found, as usual, lumps of water- 

 worn organ-pipe coral, blue coral, shells and bits of drift 

 wood, and nuts of various kinds, but presented nothing 

 that was new or particularly interesting to me. For some 

 time our little party, consisting of the Dominie Wielandt, 

 the second mate of the ' Ternate,' and a small party of 

 Malay sailors and attendants could find no entrance to the 

 thick jungle of vines and creepers which formed an en- 

 circling barrier round the forest, but at last Manuel found 

 a track leading to a small plantation of bananas in the 

 centre of the island. In many respects the jungle was 

 different from any that I had seen, for some heavy rains 

 had brought out in flower a number of the herbs and 

 creepers, and these again had attracted from their hiding 

 countless beautiful butterflies, diurnal moths, and other 

 insects, which in their turn kept a number of birds in a 

 state of agitation. Our advent into this wild island jungle 

 was not hailed then by the usual deadly silence of the 

 orests I had previously visited, but by a cloud of brilliant 



