190 



TIMOR, 



[chap. XIIL 



and P. liris; the males of wliich are quite unlike each 

 other, and belonfj in fact to distinct sectiot>s of the genus, 

 while the females are so much alike tliat they are nn- 

 diatinguishable on the wing, and to an uneducated eye 

 equally so in the cabinefc. Several other beantiful butter- 

 flies rewarded my search in this place ; amon*^ winch I 

 may especially mention the Cethosia lesehenaultii, whose 

 ^Tings of the deepest purple are bordered with but!" in such 

 a manner as to resemble at first sight onr own Camber well 

 beauty, although it belongs to a different genus. The 

 most abundant butterflies were the whites and yellows 

 (Pieridte), several of which I had already found at Lom- 

 bock and at Coupang, while others were new to me. 



Early m February we made arrangemeuta to stay for a 

 week at a village called Baliba, situated about four miles 

 oflf on the mountains^ at an elevation of 2,000 feet. We 

 took our Imggage and a supply of all necessaries on pack- 

 horses J and though the disUiuee by the route we took was 

 not more than six or seven miles, w^e were half a day 

 getting there. The mads were mere tracks, sometimes up 

 steep rocky stairs, sometimes in nairow giilhes worn by 

 the horses' feet, and where it was necessary to tuck up our 

 legs on our horses' necks to avoid having them crushed. 

 At some of these places the baggage had to be unloaded, 

 at others it was knocked otr Sometimes the ascent or 

 descent was so steep that it was easier to %valk than to 

 cling to onr ponies' backs ; and thus we went up and down, 

 over bare hills whose surface was covered with small 

 pebbles and scattered over with Eucalypti, reminding me 

 of what I had read of parts of the interior of Australia 

 rather than of the Malay Archipelago, 



The village consisted of three houses only, with low 

 walls raised a few feet on posts, and very high roofs 

 thatched with grass hanging down to within two or three 

 feet of the gi'ound, A house which was uniinisJied and 

 partly open at the back was given for onr use, and in 

 it we rigged up a table, some benches, and a screen, 

 wlule an inner enclosed portion served us for a sleeping 

 apartment- We had a splendid view down upon Belli 

 and the sea beyond. The country round was undulating 

 and open, except in the hollows, where there were some 



