462 



THE ARU ISLANBS. 



[chap. XXXI. 



October, and there is then an excessive scarcity of water, 

 so that sometimes hundreds of birds and other smimals die 

 of drougtit. The natives then remove to houses near the 

 sotirces of the small streams, where, in the shady depths of 

 the forest, a small <|uantity of water still remains. Even 

 then many of them liavc to go miles for their water, which 

 they keep in large bamboos and iise very sparingly. They 

 assure me that tliey catch and kill game of all kinds, 

 by watching at the wuter holes or setting snares around 

 them. That would be the time for me to make my collec- 

 tions ; but the want of water would be a terrible annoy- 

 ance, and the impossibility of getting away before another 

 whole year had pulsed made it out of the question. 



Ever since leaving Dobbo I had snfTered terribly from 

 insects, who seemed here bent upon revenging my long- 

 continued persecution of their race. At our first stopping- 

 place sand-tlies were very abundant at night, penetrating to 

 every part of the body, and producing a more lasting ini- 

 tation than mosqiutoes. My feet and ankles especially 

 sulfered, and were completely covered with little i^ed 

 swollen specks, which tormented me horribly. On arriving 

 here we were delighted to find the house free from sand- 

 tiiea or mosquitoes, but in the plantations where niy daily 

 walks led me, the day-biting mosquitoes swai-nied, and 

 seemed especially to delight in attacking my poor feet. 

 After a month's incessant punishment, those useful 

 members rebelled against such treatment and broke into 

 open insurrection, throwing out nanieroua inflamed ulcers, 

 which were very painful, and stopped me from walking. 

 So I found myself confined to the house, and with no 

 immediate prospect of leaving it. Wounds or sores in 

 the feet are especially difScult to heal in hot climates, and 

 I therefore dreaded them more than any other illness. The 

 confinement was veiy annoying, as the fine hot weather 

 was excellent for insects, of which I had every promise of 

 obtaining a fine collection; and it is only by daily and 

 un remitting search that the smaller kinds, and the rarer 

 imd more interesting specimens, can be obtaiDed A\lien I 

 crawled down to the river-side to bathe, I often saw the 

 blue-winged Papilio ulysses, or some other equally rare and 

 beautifui insect ; but there was oothmg for it but patience, 



