CHAP. XXXTV,] JRRIFAL OF THE ETNA:* 



501 



reefs and are mucli strewn witli nias.ses of coral but; little 

 altered. The ridge behind my house, which runs out 

 to the point, is also entirely coral rock, altliongh therfc 

 are signs of a stratified foundation in the ravines, and 

 the rock itself is more compact and ciystalliiie. It is, 

 therefore, probably older, a more recent elevation having 

 exposed the low grounds and islands. On the other side 

 of the bay rise the great mass of the Arfak nionntalns, 

 said by the French navigators to be about ten thousand 

 feet high, and inhabited by savage tribes. These are 

 held in great dread by the Dorey people, who have often 

 been attacked and plundered by them, and have some of 

 their skulls hanging outside their houses. If I was seen 

 going into the forest anywhere in the direction of the 

 mouDtains, the little boys of the village would shout after 

 me, "Arfaki! Arfaki 1" just as they did after Lesson 

 nearly forty years before. 



On the IGth of May the Dutch war-steamer Etna 

 arrived ; but, as tlie coals liatl gone, it was obliged to 

 stay till they came back. The captain knew when the 

 coalship was to arrive, and how long it wlis chartered to 

 stay 'it Dorey, and could have been hack in time, but 

 supposied it would wait for him, and so flid not hurry 

 himself. The steamer lay at anchor just opposite my 

 Iiouse, and I had the advantage of hearing the half- 

 hourly bells struck, which was very pleasant after the 

 monotonous silence of the forest The captain, doctor, 

 engineer, and some other of the officers paid me visits; 

 the servauta came to the brook to wash clothes, and the 

 son of the Prince of Tidore, -with one or two companions, 

 to bathe; otherwise I saw little of them, and was not 

 disturbed by visitors so much as I had expected to be. 

 About this time the weather set in pretty fine, but neither 

 birds nor insects became much more abundant, and new 

 birds were veiy scarce. None of the Birds of Taradise 

 except the common one were ever met with, and we were 

 still searching in vain for several of the fine birds which 

 Ijesson had obtained hera Insects were tolerably abun- 

 dant, but were not on the aveiiige so fine as those of 

 Amboyna, and I reluctantly came to the conclusion that 

 Dorey was not a good collecting locality. Butteiiiies weie 



