birds found
were the same as at Dorey, but were still scarcer. None of the natives
anywhere near the coast shoot or prepare Birds of Paradise, which come
from far in the interior over two or three ranges of mountains, passing
by barter from village to village till they reach the sea. There the
natives of Dorey buy them, and on their return home sell them to the
Bugis or Ternate traders. It is therefore hopeless for a traveller to go
to any particular place on the coast of New Guinea where rare Paradise
birds may have been bought, in hopes of obtaining freshly killed
specimens from the natives; and it also shows the scarcity of these
birds in any one locality, since from the Amberbaki district, a
celebrated place, where at least five or six species have been procured,
not one of the rarer ones has been obtained this year. The Prince of
Tidore, who would certainly have got them if any were to be had, was
obliged to put up with a few of the common yellow ones. I think it
probable that a longer residence at Dorey, a little farther in the
interior, might show that several of the rarer kinds were found there,
as I obtained a single female of the fine scale-breasted Ptiloris
magnificus. I was told at Ternate of a bird that is certainly not yet
known in Europe, a black King Paradise Bird, with the curled tail and
beautiful side plumes of the common species, but all the rest of the
plumage glossy black. The people of Dorey knew nothing about this,
although they recognised by description most of the otter species.

When the steamer left, I was suffering from a severe attack of fever. In
about a week I got over this, but it was followed by such a soreness of
the whole inside of the mouth, tongue, and gums, that for many days
I could put nothing solid between my lips, but was obliged to subsist
entirely on slops, although in other respects very well. At the same
time two of my men again fell ill, one with fever, the other with
dysentery, and both got very bad. I did what I could for them with my
small stock of medicines, but they lingered on for some weeks, till
on June 26th poor Jumaat died. He was about eighteen years of age, a
native, I believe, of Bouton, and a quiet lad, not very active, but
doing his work pretty steadily, and as well as he was able. As my men
were all Mahometans, I let them bury him in their own fashion, giving
them some new cotton cloth for a shroud.

On July 6th the steamer returned from the eastward. The