to stay a few days in the house at the landing, and begged
him to have it made ready for me. He was very civil,'
and came down at once to get it cleared, when we found
that the traders had already left, on hearing that I required
it. There were no doors to it, so I obtained the loan of
a couple of hurdles to keep out dogs and other animals.
The land here was evidently sinking rapidly, as shown by
the number of trees standing in salt water dead and dying.
After breakfast I started for a walk to the forest-covered
hill above the village, with a couple of boys as guides.
It was exceedingly hot and dry, no rain having fallen for
two months. When we reached an elevation of about two
hundred feet, the coralline rock which fringes the shore
was succeeded by a hard crystalline rock, a kind of meta-
morphic sandstone. This would indicate that there had
been a recent elevation of more than two hundred feet,
which had still more recently changed into a movement
of subsidence. The hill was very rugged, but among
dry sticks and fallen trees I found some good insects,
mostly of forms and species I was already acquainted
with from Ternate and G-ilolo. Finding no good paths I
returned, and explored the lower ground eastward of the
village, passing through a long range of plantain and
tobacco grounds, encumbered with felled and burnt logs,
on which I found quantities of beetles of the family
Buprestidse of six different species, one of which was new
to me. I then reached a path in the swampy forest where
I hoped to find some butterflies, but was disappointed.
Being now pretty well exhausted by the intense heat,
I thought it wise to return and reserve further exploration
for the next day.
When I sat down in the afternoon to arrange my insects,
the house was surrounded by men, women, and children,
lost in amazement at my unaccountable proceedings; and
when, after pinning out the specimens, I proceeded to
write the name of the place on small circular tickets,
and attach one to each, even the old Kapala, the Mahometan
priest, and some Malay traders could not repress signs
of astonishment. If they had known a little more about
the ways and opinions of white men, they would probably
have looked upon me as a fool or a madman, but in their
ignorance they accepted my operations' as worthy of all
respect, although utterly beyond their comprehension.
The next day (October 16th) I went beyond the swamp,
and found a place where a new clearing was being made
in the virgin forest. It was a long and hot walk, and the
search among the fallen trunks o and branches was vervj
fatiguing, but I was rewarded by obtaining about seventy
distinct species of beetles, of which at least a dozen were
new to me, and many others rare and interesting. I have
never ip my life seen beetles so abundant as they were
on this spot. Some dozen species of good-sized golden