shallow pools connected by the smallest possible thread of
trickling water. If there were a dry season like that of
Macassar, the Aru Islands would be uninhabitable, as there
is no part of them much above a hundred feet high ; and
the whole being a mass of porous coralline rock, allows
the surface water rapidly to . escape. The only dry season
they have is for a month or two about September or
October, and there is then an excessive scarcity of water,
so that sometimes hundreds of birds and other animals die
of drought. The natives then remove to houses near the
sources of the small streams, where, in the shady depths of
the forest, a small quantity of water still remains. Even
then many of them have to go miles for their water, which
they keep in large bamboos and use very sparingly. They
assure me that they catch and kill game of all kinds,
by watching at the water holes or setting snares around
them. That would be the time for me to make my collections
; but the want of water would be a terrible annoyance,
and the impossibility of getting away before another
whole year had passed made it out of the question.
Ever since leaving Dobbo I had suffered terribly from
insects, who seemed here bent upon revenging my long-
continued persecution of their race. At our first stopping-
place sand-flies were very abundant at night, penetrating to
every part of the body, and producing a more lasting irritation
than mosquitoes. My feet and ankles especially
suffered, and were completely covered with little red
swollen specks, which tormented me horribly. On arriving
here we were delighted to find the house free from sandflies
or mosquitoes, but in the plantations where my daily
walks led me, the day-biting mosquitoes swarmed, and
seemed especially to delight in attacking my poor feet.
After a month’s incessant punishment, those useful
members rebelled against such treatment and broke into
open insurrection, throwing out numerous inflamed ulcers,
which were very painful, and stopped me from walking.
So I found myself confined to the house, and with no
immediate prospect of leaving it. Wounds or sores in
the feet are especially difficult to heal in hot climates, and
I therefore dreaded them more than any other illness. The
confinement was - very annoying, as the fine hot weather
was excellent for insects, of which I had every promise of
obtaining a fine collection; and it is only by daily and
unremitting search that the smaller kinds, and the rarer
and more interesting specimens, can be obtained. When I
crawled down to the river-side to bathe, I often saw the
blue-winged Papilio ulysses, or some other equally rare and
beautiful insect; but there was nothing for it but patience,
and to return quietly to my bird-skinning, or whatever
other work I had indoors. The stings and bites and
ceaseless irritation caused by these pests of the tropical
forests, would be borne uncomplainingly; but to be kept