CHAP, XIII.] 



RARE INSECTS. 



189 



custom-hoase and church are built of the same mean 

 materials, with no attempt at decoration or even neatness. 

 Hjc whole aspect of the place is that of a poor native town, 

 and there is no sij^n of cultivatiou or civilization round 

 about it His Excellency the Governor's house is the only 

 one that makes any pretensions to appearance^ and that 

 is merely a low whitewashed cottage or bungalow. Yet 

 there is one thing in which civilization exhibits itself. 

 Officials in black and wliite European costume, and officers 

 in gorgeous uniforms, abound in a degree quite dispro- 

 portionate to the size or appearance of the place. 



The town being surrounded for some distance by swamps 

 and mud-flat-s is very unhealthy, and a single night often 

 gives a fever to new-comers which not un frequently proves 

 fatal. To avoid tliLs malaria, Ca]itain Hart always slept 

 at his plantation, on a slight elevation about two miles 

 from the town ; where ^Iy. Geach also had a small bouse, 

 which be kindly invitetl me to share. We ix)de there in 

 the evening ; and in. the course of two day.'s my baggage 

 was brought up, and I wa.s able to look aliout me and see 

 if I could do any collecting. 



For the first few weeks I was very unwell and could not 

 go far from the house. The country was covered with low 

 .spiny shrubs and acacias, except in a little valley where 

 a stream came down from the liiils, wliere some fine trees 

 and bushes shaded tlie vvater and formed a very pleasant 

 place to ramble up. There were plenty of birds alxmt, and 

 of a tolerable variety of species ; but very few of them 

 were gaily coloured. Indeed, with one or two exceptions, 

 the birds of this tropical island were hardly so ornamental 

 as those c>f Gi-eat Britain. Beetles were so scarce that a 

 collector might fairly say there were none, as the few 

 obscure or uninteresting species would not repay him for 

 the search. The only insects at all remarkable or inter- 

 esting were the butterllics, wliich, though comparatively 

 few in species, were suthcieutly abundant, and comprised 

 a large proportion of new or rare sorts. The banks of the 

 stream formed my Itest collecting-ground, and I daUy wan- 

 dered up and down its shady bod. which about a mile up 

 became rocky and preci])it'nis. Here I obtained the rare 

 and beautiful swallow-tail butterllies, Papilio aenomaua 



