376 MY LIFE 



was too dry, and both birds and insects very scarce. I there- 

 fore went on to Batavia and thence to Buitenzorg and to the 

 Pangerango mountain, over ten thousand feet high. At a 

 station about four thousand feet above sea-level, where the 

 main road passes through some virgin forest, I stayed some 

 weeks, and made a tolerable collection of birds and butterflies, 

 though the season was here as much too wet as East Java 

 was too dry. I next went to Palembang in Sumatra, which 

 I reached by way of Banka on November 8. Here the coun- 

 try was mostly flooded, and I had to go up the river some 

 distance to where a military road starts for the interior and 

 across the mountains to Bencoolen. On this road, about 

 seventy miles from Palembang, I came to a place called Lobo 

 Raman, surrounded with some fine virgin forest and near the 

 centre of East Sumatra. Here, and at another station on 

 the road, I stayed about a month, and obtained a few very 

 interesting birds and butterflies ; but it was the height of the 

 wet season, and all insects were scarce. I therefore returned 

 to Palembang and Banka, and thence to Singapore, on my 

 way home. While waiting here for the mail steamer, two 

 living specimens of the smaller paradise bird (Paradisea 

 papuana) were brought to Singapore by a trader, and I went 

 to see them. They were in a large cage about five or six 

 feet square, and seemed in good health, but the price asked 

 for them was enormous, as they are so seldom brought, and 

 the rich Chinese merchants or rich natives in Calcutta are 

 always ready to purchase them. As they had never been 

 seen alive in Europe I determined to take the risk and at 

 once secured them, and with some difficulty succeeded in 

 bringing them home in safety, where they lived in the Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens for one and two years respectively. 



While living in the wilds of Sumatra I wrote two letters, 

 to my friends Bates and Silk, which, being the last I wrote 

 before reaching home, may be of interest as showing what 

 subjects were then uppermost in my mind. The first from 

 which I will quote is that to Mr. Bates, and referring to a 

 paper on the Papilios of the Amazon which he had sent me 

 I make some remarks on the distribution of animals in South 



