5G6 
THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CTT A LLENGER , 
the group. Tt was, however, found necessary to send a commission every year to uproot 
the young nutmeg trees sown on these- islands by the Fruit Pigeons ( Carpophaga conciima), 
called “ Nutcrackers” by the Dutch residents. 
The various Fruit Pigeons must have played a most important part in the dissemina- 
tion of plants, and especially trees, over the wide region inhabited by them. Sir Charles 
Lyell, 1 referring to the transportation of seeds by the agency of birds, noted especially 
this transportation effected by pigeons, and quotes Captain Cook’s Voyages to the effect 
that at Tanna “ Mr. Forster shot a pigeon (obviously a Carpophaga) in whose craw was 
a wild nutmeg.” 2 At the Admiralty Islands the officers of the Challenger shot very large 
numbers of a Fruit Pigeon ( Carpophaga, rhodinolcemct) , whose crops were full of fruits 
of various kinds. Amongst them were abundance of wild nutmegs and wild coffee- 
berries ; many of the fruits were entirely uninjured, and the seeds quite fit for germina- 
tion. No doubt, when frightened or w T ounded by accident, the pigeons eject the whole 
fruits, and they habitually eject the hard kernels, as I saw quantities of them lying about 
under the trees on a small- island at the Admiralty Islands, on which the birds roost in 
vast numbers. As soon as a few littoral trees, such as Barringtonia and Calophyllum 
inophyllum, have established themselves by means of their drifting seeds on a freshly 
dry coral islet, the Fruit Pigeons alight in the branches in their flight from place to 
place, and drop the seeds of all kinds of other trees with succulent fruits. The pigeons 
were seen thus resting on two or three small littoral trees, which as yet form almost 
the only vegetation of Observatory Islet, a very small islet in Nares Harbour. Admiralty 
Islands. 
The Resident or Governor at Banda, like all the Europeans, received the Expedi- 
tion in a most friendly manner, and held a reception at his house in its honour, 
where nearly the whole community assembled. A very good Malay band performed 
a selection during the evening, which was spent by most of the guests in playing cards 
and smoking. 
One day was devoted to a visit to the nutmeg plantation of Mr. Laws, called 
Laoetang, on Great Banda Island. The party started in the steam pinnace at 6 A.M., 
accompanied by the Resident, his Secretary, and Mr. de Borges. The Resident’s large 
canoe with high pointed bow and stern, profusely decorated with banners, and paddled 
by eighteen Malays, who kept stroke to the beat of tom-toms and gongs, accompanied 
the party. The semi-savage appearance of the Malays, their mode of throwing their 
paddles straight up in the air in exact time and all together between each stroke, the 
song with which they accompanied their efforts, together with their decorated canoe, 
presented a most picturesque and pleasing effect. The speed of the canoe was consider- 
able, but not sufficient to keep up with the steam pinnace (see fig. 186). 
1 Principles of Geology, 10th ed., vol. ii. p. 69. 
2 Cook’s Second Voyage, London, 1877, vol. ii. p. 69, 
