CHAPTER XX.
AMBOYNA.
(DECEMBER 1857, OCTOBER 1859, FEBRUARY 1860.)
rjWENTY hours from Banda brought us to Amboyna,
the capital of the Moluccas, and one of the oldest
European settlements in the East. The island consists of
two peninsulas, so nearly divided by inlets of the sea, as
to leave only a sandy isthmus about a mile wide near their
eastern extremity. The western inlet is several miles long
and forms a fine harbour, on the southern side of which is
situated the town of 'Amboyna. I had a letter of introduction
to Dr. Mohnike, the chief medical officer of the
Moluccas, a German and a naturalist. I found that he
could write and read English, hut could not speak it, being
like myself a bad linguist; so we had to use French as a
medium of communication. He kindly offered me a room
during my stay in Amboyna, and introduced me to his
junior, Dr. Doleschall, a Hungarian and also an entomologist.
He was an intelligent and most amiable young
man, hut I was shocked to find that he was dying of con-
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