388 MY LIFE 



Just as I was trying to arrange a trip to the larger island, a fleet of 

 Magindano pirates made their appearance, committing great devasta- 

 tions, and putting the whole place in an uproar ; and it was only after 

 they had been some time gone that confidence began to be restored, and 

 the natives could be persuaded to take the smallest voyage. This 

 delayed me two months in Dobbo without seeing a paradise bird. 



When, however, I at length reached the main island and ascended a 

 small stream to a native village, I soon obtained a specimen of the 

 lovely king bird of paradise, which, when first brought me, excited 

 greater admiration and delight than I have experienced on any similar 

 occasion. The larger species was still not to be seen, and the natives 

 assured me that it would be some months before their plumage arrived 

 at perfection, when they were accustomed to congregate together and 

 could be more easily obtained. This proved to be correct, for it was 

 about four months after my arrival at Dobbo that I obtained my first 

 full-plumaged specimen of the great paradise bird. This was near the 

 centre of the large island of Aru ; and there, with the assistance of 

 the natives, I procured the fine series which first arrived in England. 



While at Dobbo I had frequent conversations with the Bugis traders 

 and with the Rajah of Goram, who all assured me that in the northern 

 parts of New Guinea I could travel with safety, and that at Mysol, 

 Waigiou, Salwatty, and Dorey I could get all the different sorts of 

 Paradisese. Their accounts excited me so much that I could think of 

 nothing else; and after another excursion in Celebes I made my way 

 to Ternate, as the best headquarters for the Moluccas and New Guinea. 

 Finding a schooner about to sail on its annual trading voyage to the 

 north coast of New Guinea, I agreed for a passage to Dorey, and to be 

 called for on the return of the vessel after an interval of three or four 

 months. We arrived there, after a tedious voyage, in April, 1858, and 

 I began my second search after the birds of paradise. 



I went to Dorey in full confidence of success, and thought myself 

 extremely fortunate in being able to visit that particular locality; for 

 it was there that Lesson, in the French discovery ship Coquille, pur- 

 chased from the natives the skins of at least eight species, viz., Para- 

 disea papuana, with regia, magnifica, suberba, and sexsetacea, Astrapia 

 nigra, Epimachus magnus, and Sericulusu aureus. Here was a prospect 

 for me ! The very anticipation of it made me thrill with expectation. 



My disappointment, therefore, may be imagined when, shortly after 

 my arrival, I found all these bright hopes fade away. In vain I inquired 

 for the native bird-hunters; none were to be found there; and the 

 inhabitants assured me that not a single bird of paradise of any kind 

 was ever prepared by the Dorey people, and that only the common 

 yellow one (P. papuana) was found in the district. This turned out 

 to be the case; for I could get nothing but this species sparingly, a 

 few females of the king-bird and one young male of the twelve-wired 





