394 MY LIFE 



are to them a profitable merchandise. The same causes frequently- 

 lead the inhabitants of uncivilized countries to conceal any minerals 

 or other natural products with which they may become acquainted, 

 from the fear of being obliged to pay increased tribute, or of bringing 

 upon themselves a new and oppressive labour. 



I have given this short sketch of my search after the birds of para- 

 dise, barely touching on the many difficulties and dangers I experi- 

 enced, because I fear that the somewhat scanty results of my exertions 

 may have led to the opinion that they failed for want of judgment or 

 perseverance. I trust, however, that the mere enumeration of my 

 voyages will show that patience and perseverance were not altogether 

 wanting; but I must plead guilty to having been misled, first by Lesson 

 and then by all the native traders, it never having occurred to me 

 (and I think it could not have occurred to anyone) that in scarcely 

 a single instance would the birds be found to inhabit the districts in 

 which they are most frequently to be purchased. Yet such is the case; 

 for neither at Dorey, nor at Salwatty, nor Waigiou, nor Mysol are 

 any of the rarer species to be found alive. Not only this, but even at 

 Sorong, where the Waigiou chiefs go every year and purchase all 

 kinds of birds of paradise, it has turned out that most of the speci- 

 mens are brought from the central mountain ranges by the natives, 

 and reach the shore in places where it is not safe for trading praus 

 to go, owing to the want of anchorage on an exposed rocky coast. 



Nature seems to have taken every precaution that these, her choicest 

 treasures, may not lose value by being too easily obtained. First, we 

 find an open, harbourless, inhospitable coast, exposed to the full swell 

 of the Pacific Ocean; next, a rugged and mountainous country, covered 

 with dense forests, offering its swamps and precipices and serrated 

 ridges an almost impassable barrier to the central regions; and lastly, 

 a race of the most savage and ruthless character, in the very lowest 

 stage of civilization. In such a country and among such a people 

 are found these wonderful productions of nature. In those trackless 

 wilds do they display that exquisite beauty and that marvellous devel- 

 opment of plumage, calculated to excite admiration and astonishment 

 among the most civilized and most intellectual races of men. A 

 feather is itself a wonderful and a beautiful thing. A bird clothed 

 with feathers is almost necessarily a beautiful creature. How much, 

 then, must we wonder at and admire the modification of simple 

 feathers into the rigid, polished, wavy ribbons which adorn Paradisea 

 rubra, the mass of airy plumes upon P. apoda, the tufts and wires of 

 Seleucides alba, or the golden buds borne upon airy stems that spring 

 from the tail of Cicinnurus regius ; while gems and polished metals 

 can alone compare with the tints that adorn the breast of Parotia 

 sexsetacea and Astrapia nigra, and the immensely developed shoulder- 

 plumes of Epimachus magnus. 



