oken away to fit them for their ignoble
use.

My collections, however, got on but slowly, owing to the unexpectedly
bad weather, violent winds with heavy showers having been so continuous
as only to give me four good collecting days out of the first sixteen I
spent here. Yet enough had been collected to show me that with time and
fine weather I might expect to do something good. From the natives I
obtained some very fine insects and a few pretty land-shells; and of
the small number of birds yet shot more than half were known New Guinea
species, and therefore certainly rare in European collections, while the
remainder were probably new. In one respect my hopes seemed doomed to
be disappointed. I had anticipated the pleasure of myself preparing fine
specimens of the Birds of Paradise, but I now learnt that they are all
at this season out of plumage, and that it is in September and October
that they have the long plumes of yellow silky feathers in full
perfection. As all the praus return in July, I should not be able to
spend that season in Aru without remaining another whole year, which
was out of the question. I was informed, however, that the small
red species, the "King Bird of Paradise," retains its plumage at all
seasons, and this I might therefore hope to get.

As I became familiar with the forest scenery of the island, I perceived
it to possess some characteristic features that distinguished it
from that of Borneo and Malacca, while, what is very singular and
interesting, it recalled to my mind the half-forgotten impressions of
the forests of Equatorial America. For example, the palms were much more
abundant than I had generally found them in the East, more generally
mingled with the other vegetation, more varied in form and aspect,
and presenting some of those lofty and majestic smooth-stemmed,
pinnate-leaved species which recall the Uauassu (Attalea speciosa) of
the Amazon, but which I had hitherto rarely met with in the Malayan
islands.

In animal life the immense number and variety of spiders and of lizards
were circumstances that recalled the prolific regions of south America,
more especially the abundance and varied colours of the little jumping
spiders which abound on flowers and foliage, and are often perfect gems
of beauty. The web-spinning species were also more numerous than I had
ever seen them, and were a great annoyance, stretching their nets
across the footpaths just about the height of my face; a