at my approach, and display their vivid orange and cinnabar-red
wings, while among them would flutter a few of the fine blue-banded
Papilios. Where leafy branches hung over the gully, I might expect to
find a grand Ornithoptera at rest and an easy prey. At certain rotten
trunks I was sure to get the curious little tiger beetle, Therates
flavilabris. In the denser thickets I would capture the small metal-blue
butterflies (Amblypodia) sitting on the leaves, as well as some rare and
beautiful leaf-beetles of the families Hispidae and Chrysomelidae.

I found that the rotten jack-fruits were very attractive to many
beetles, and used to split them partly open and lay them about in the
forest near my house to rot. A morning's search at these often produced
me a score of species--Staphylinidae, Nitidulidae, Onthophagi, and
minute Carabidae, being the most abundant. Now and then the "sagueir"
makers brought me a fine rosechafer (Sternoplus schaumii) which they
found licking up the sweet sap. Almost the only new birds I met with
for some time were a handsome ground thrush (Pitta celebensis), and a
beautiful violet-crowned dove (Ptilonopus celebensis), both very similar
to birds I had recently obtained at Aru, but of distinct species.

About the latter part of September a heavy shower of rain fell,
admonishing us that we might soon expect wet weather, much to the
advantage of the baked-up country. I therefore determined to pay a visit
to the falls of the Maros river, situated at the point where it issues
from the mountains--a spot often visited by travellers and considered
very beautiful. Mr. M. lent me a horse, and I obtained a guide from a
neighbouring village; and taking one of my men with me, we started
at six in the morning, and after a ride of two hours over the flat
rice-fields skirting the mountains which rose in grand precipices on our
left, we readied the river about half-way between Maros and the falls,
and thence had a good bridle-road to our destination, which we reached.
in another hour. The hills had closed in around us as we advanced;
and when we reached a ruinous shed which had been erected for the
accommodation of visitors, we found ourselves in a flat-bottomed
valley about a quarter of a mile wide, bounded by precipitous and often
overhanging limestone rocks. So far the ground had been cultivated, but
it now became covered with bushes and large scattered trees.

As soon as my scanty baggage had arrived and was