S. D. Riplay—Round about Dutch New Guinea 269


mail boat leaves early in the month from Makassar and returns early

the following month.


Before calling at New Guinea, it stops at Ambon, a small island

south of Ceram, where the head offices of the administration of this

area are situated. In Ambon there is a dealer who is, however, mostly

interested in Parrots. I bought a lovely pair of the Giant Rajah

Cockatoos, Prohosciger aterrimus, from him as I had only secured one

in New Guinea and it had died. These rare birds only seem to do well

on a local form of almond called “ Kanari ”, although some have tried

them with grated coco-nut meat. This dealer also had a beautiful

Ceram Cockatoo, salmon crested and salmon tinted, surely, next to

Leadbeaters, the most beautiful of that tribe ; and a comical young

Wreathed Hornbill of the kind which is so common in New Guinea.

Another attraction was a beautiful breeding pair of Ceram Ecleetus.


From Ambon one goes north to Halmahera, skirting around the

coast of this curiously-shaped island and stopping at many places of

interest such as Batchian and Ternate—both ruled by local Sultans,

the latter place surrounded by a breath-taking series of gorgeous

island volcanoes. Everywhere here one sees the Halmahera Lory,

Domicella garmla , perched outside the doors of native houses, shining

green wings contrasting with vivid red bodies. Batchian is the home of

the rare Wallace Standard Wing Bird of Paradise. Wallace’s description

of the sight of these birds is exciting to read even to-day, and no traveller

to the far East Indies should be without a copy of the classic Malay

Archipelago which describes so well the hardships and thrills encountered

by the great naturalist in the early eighteen-sixties. But this bird is

too rare ever to be met with in a few hours’ stay. The advantage of the

mail boat, however, is that it calls at most of the same ports on the

return journey. Now that I have left New Guinea and Halmahera,

I have regretted that I did not bestir myself sufficiently to meet the

powers that be in Batchian, tell them when I was passing through again,

and beg and implore them to send out some bird hunters for me.

People in the East Indies and New Guinea are kind and generous to

passing travellers. I suppose it is in che frontier tradition to be so.

I always' found their understanding and helpfulness to be unfailing,

though sometimes I-wondered why it should be so ; why they should



