XXIII] 



LIFE IN LONDON 



393 



day in the forest to shoot and receiving a small present when he was 

 successful. 



In the grand matter of the paradise birds, however, little was done. 

 Only one additional species was found, the Seleucides alba (or twelve- 

 wired bird of paradise), of which he had already obtained a specimen on 

 the island of Salwatty on his way to Sorong ; so that at this much- 

 vaunted place in the mountains, and among the bird-catching natives, 

 nothing fresh was obtained. The P. magnifica, they said, was found 

 there, but was rare ; the Sericulus aureus also rare ; Epimachus magnus, 

 Astrapia nigra, Parotia sexsetacea, and Lophorina superba not found 

 there, but only much further in the interior, as well as the lovely little 

 lory, Charmosyna papuana. Moreover, neither at Sorong nor at Salwatty 

 could he obtain a single native skin of the rarer species. 



Thus ended my search after these beautiful birds. Five voyages to 

 different parts of the district they inhabit, each occupying in its prepara- 

 tion and execution the larger part of a year, have produced me only five 

 species out of the thirteen known to exist in New Guinea. The kinds 

 obtained are those that inhabit the districts near the coasts of New 

 Guinea and its islands, the remainder seeming to be strictly confined to 

 the central mountain ranges of the northern peninsula; and our researches 

 at Dorey and Amberbaki, near one end of this peninsula, and at Salwatty 

 and Sorong, near the other, enable me to decide with some certainty on 

 the native country of these rare and lovely birds, good specimens of 

 which have never yet been seen in Europe. It must be considered as 

 somewhat extraordinary that during five years' residence and travel in 

 Celebes, the Moluccas, and New Guinea I should never have been able 

 to purchase skins of half the species which Lesson, forty years ago, 

 obtained during a few weeks in the same countries. I believe that all, 

 except the common species of commerce, are now much more difficult to 

 obtain than they were even twenty years ago ; and I impute it principally 

 to their having been sought after by the Dutch officials through the 

 Sultan of Tidore. The chiefs of the annual expeditions to collect tribute 

 have had orders to get all the rare sorts of paradise birds ; and as they 

 pay little or nothing for them (it being sufficient to say they are for the 

 Sultan), the head men of the coast villages would for the future refuse to 

 purchase them from the mountaineers, and confine themselves instead to 

 the commoner species, which are less sought after by amateurs, but 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 experienced, 

 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 perse- 

 verance. I trust, however, that the mere enumeration of my voyages 



