CHAP. XXV.] 



3IR. VAN DER BECK. 



S51 



tbere was a large slied for tobacco drying, a corner of w liicb 

 was of1"eTi?d iiie; and tliiiikinj; from the look of the place 

 tbat 1 should find good collecting ground here, I titted np 

 temporary tables, bt^acliea, and beds, and made all pi-cpara- 

 tions for some weeks' stay. A few days, liovvever, served to 

 show tbat 1 should be disappointed, lieetles were tolerably 

 abundant, and I obtained pk-nty of fine long-horned An- 

 thribidas and pretty Longicorns, but they were mostly the 

 same species as I had found during my tii-i^t short visit to 

 Araboyna. There were very few paths in the forest, which 

 seemed poor in biixls and butterflies, and day after day 

 my men brought me nothing worth notice, I was there- 

 fore soon obliged to think about changing my locality, 

 as I could evidently obtain no ]jroper notion of the pro- 

 ductions of the almost entirely unexplored island of Ceram 

 by staying in this place. 



I rather regretted leaving, because my host was one of 

 the most remarkable men and most entertaining com- 

 panions I had ever met with, lie was a Fleraing by 

 birth, and, like so many of his countrymen, had a won- 

 derful talent for languages. When rpiite a youth he had 

 accomi>anied a Goverinnent ollicial who was sent to report 

 on the trade and commerce of the Meditei-mneau, and had 

 acquired the colloquial language of every place they 

 stayed a few weeks at. He had afterwards made voyages 

 to St. Petersburg, and to other parts of Europe, including 

 a few weeks in Loudon, and had then come out to the 

 East, where he Iiad been for some years trading and 

 speculating in the various islands. He now spoke Dutch, 

 French, Malay, and Javanese, all equally well ; English 

 with a very slight accent, but with perfect fluency, aud a 

 most complete knowledge of idiom, in which 1 often tried 

 to puzzle him in vain. German and Italian were also 

 quite familiar to him, and his acquaintance witli European 

 hinguages included Modem Greek, Turkish, Kussian, and 

 coUoqmai Hebrew and Latin. As a test of liis power, I 

 may mention that he had made a voyage to the out-of-the- 

 way island of Salibaboo, and had stayed tbere trading a 

 few weeks. As 1 was collecting vocabularies, he told me 

 he thought he could remember some words, and dictated 

 a considerable number. Some time after I met with a 



