530 



fFMGIOU, 



[cTiriAr. xxxvr. 



ever, ]Joss&^s one or more Papuan slaves, on whose labour 

 tiiey li%'e in almost absolute idleness, just going out on 

 little fishing or trading excursions, as an excitement in 

 their monotonous existence. They are under the rule of 

 the Sultan of Tidore, and every year have to pay a smaU 

 tribute of Paradise birds, tortoiseshel I, or sago. To obtiiin 

 these, they go in the hue season on a ti'ading voyage to the 

 main laud of New Guinea, and getting a few goods on 

 credit from some Cer;nn or Bugis trader, make hard 

 bargains with the natives, and gain enough to pay their 

 tribute, and leave a little prutit lor tlujmselvas. 



Such a comitry is not a very pleasant one to live in, for as 

 there are no su])erliAiities, there is nothing to sell ; and had 

 it not been for a trader from Ceram %^ho was reskhng 

 there during my stay, who had a small vegetable garden, 

 and whose nien occasionally got a few spare fish, 1 should 

 often have had nothing to eat Fowls, fi-uit, aud vegetables 

 are luxuries very rarely to be purchased at Muka; and 

 even cocoa-nuts, so indispensable for eastern cookery, 

 are not to be obtained , for though there are some 

 hundreds of trees in the village, all the fruit is eaten 

 gi*een, to supply the place of the vegetables the people 

 are too lazy to cultivate. Without eggs, cocoa-nuts, or 

 plantains, we bad very short commons, and the Iwisterous 

 weather being unpropitious for fishing, we had to live on 

 wliafc few eatable biixis we could shoot, with an occasional 

 cuscus, or eastern opossum, the only quadruped, except 

 pigs, inhabiting the island. 



I had only shot t wo male Paradiseas on my tree when 

 they ceased visiting it, either owing to the fruit becoming 

 scarce, or that they were wise enongh to know there was 

 danger. We continued to hear and see them in the forest, 

 but after a mouth had not succeeded in shooting any more ; 

 aud as my chief object in \dsiting Waigiou was to get 

 these birds, I determined to go to Bessir, where there are a 

 number of Papuans who catch and preserve them. I hired 

 a small outrigger boat for this journey, and left one of my 

 men to guard my house and goods. We had to wait 

 several days for fine weather, and at length started early 

 one morning, and arrived late at night, after a rough and 

 disagreeable passage. The village of Bessir was built in 



