506 



NEW GUIXEA. 



[chap. XXXIV 



certainly is of tlio rare" species of crown pigeon (Goura 

 steursii), one of wliicii was brought alive and sold on boarCL 

 Jobie, however, is a very dangerous place^ aiid sailors are 

 often murdered there when on shore ; sometimes the 

 vessels themselves being attacked. Wandammen, on tht 

 mainland opposite Jobie, where there are said to lie 

 plenty of birds, is even worse, and at either of these 

 places my life would not have been worth a week's pur- 

 chase had I ventured to live alone and unprotected as at 

 Dorey. On board the steamer they had a pair of tree- 

 kangaroos alive. They differ chiefly from tlie gi'ound- 

 kangaroo in having a more hairy taO, not thickened at 

 the base, and not used as a prop ; and by the powerful 

 claM's on the fore-feet, by wliich they grasp the bark and 

 branches, and seize the leaves on which tliey feed. They 

 move along by short jumps on their hind-feet, which do 

 not seem particularly well adapted for climbing trees. It 

 been supposed that these tree-kangaroos are a special 

 adaptation to the s^vauipy, half-dxx)wued foresta of New 

 Giuuea, in place of the usual form of the group^ which is 

 adapted only to dry ground. !Mr, Windsor Earl makes 

 much of this theory, but, unfortunately for it, the tree- 

 kcngaroos are chiedy found in the northern peninsula of 

 New Guinea, which is entirely composed of hills and 

 niountaiiis with veiy little flat land, while the kangaroo 

 of the low tlat Aru Islands (Dorcopsis asiaticus) is a 

 ground species, A more probable supposition seems to 

 he, that the tree-kangaroo has been modified to enable 

 it to teed on foliage in the vast forests of New Guinea, 

 as these fonn the great natural feature which distin- 

 guishes that countrj' from Australia 



On June 5th, the coal-ship arrived, having been sent 

 back from Amboyna, with the addition of some fresh 

 stores for tlie steamer. The woofl, which had been almost 

 all taken on board, was now unladen again, the coal taken 

 in, and on the 17th both steamer and tender lelt; for Hum- 

 boldt Bay, We were then a Little quiet again, and got 

 something to eat ; for while the vessels were here every bit 

 of fish or vegetable was taken on board, and I had often 

 to make a small parruquet serve for tw^o meals, My men 



