154 



lOMBOCK. 



[chap. il 



tlie beach itself. j^Ir. S. received us kindly, and oJTured 

 tne a resideiicii at Lis liouse sbould 1 tSiinli tlie ueighbour- 

 hood favourable for my pursuits. jU'ter au early break- 

 ftist %ve went out to explore, takiug guns aud iusect-net. 

 Wc reached some low hills whieh seemed to offer tiie 

 moftt favourable grouml, passing over swamps, sandy tlata 

 overgrown with coarse sedges, and through pastures and 

 cultivated grounds, tinding however veiy little in the way 

 of either birds or insects. On our way we passed one 

 or two human skeleton.s, enclosed within a small banihon 

 fence, with the clothes, pillow, mat, and bi;tel-box of tlie 

 unfortunate iiulividual, — who hail been oitlier murdered or 

 executed, l^cturning to the house, we found a lialinese 

 chief and his foUowei-s on a visit. Those of higlier nnd< 

 sat on chairs, the others squatted on the floor. The chiff 

 very coolly asked for beer and brandy, aud helped himself 

 and his followei-s, appai-ently more out of curiosity than 

 aiiytliiug else as regards the beer, for it seemed very 

 distasteful to them, while they drank the brandy in 

 tumblers with much rt;lish. 



Returning to Ampanam, I devoted myself for some days 

 to shooting the birds of the neighbourhooih The fine fig- 

 trees of the avenues, where a market %vas held, were tenanted 

 by superb orioles (Oriolns brodei-pii) of a rich orange 

 colour, and peculiar to this island and the adjacent ones 

 of ijumbfiwa aud Flores. All round the town were abun- 

 dance of the curious Tropidorhyuchus timoriensis, allied 

 to the Friar bird of AustraHa. They are here called 

 Quaich-quaieh," from their strange loud voice, which 

 seems to repeat these words in various and not unmelo- 

 dious intonations. 



Every day boys were to he seen walking along the 

 roads and by the hedges and ditches, catcliing dragon-flies 

 with birdlmie. They carry a slender stick, with a few 

 twigs at the end well anomtedj so that the least touch 

 captures the insect, whose wings are pulled olT before it 

 is consigned to a small basket. The dragon-flies are so 

 ubundant at the time of the rice flowering that thousands 

 are soon caught in this way. The bodies are fried in oil 

 with onions and preserved shrimps, or sometimes alone, 

 and are considered a great delicacy. In Borneo, Celebes, 



