loaded, and had a delightful row across the deep hay of I
Teluti, with a view of the grand central mountain-range of I
Ceram. Our four boats were rowed by sixty men, with I
flags flying and tom-toms beating, as well as very vigorous I
shouting and singing to keep up their spirits. The sea was I
smooth, the morning bright, and the whole scene very
exhilarating. On landing, the Orang-kaya and several of I
the chief men, in gorgeous silk jackets, were waiting to
receive us, and conducted me to a house prepared for my
reception, where I determined to stay a few days, and see
if the country round produced anything new.
My first inquiries were about the lories, but I could get
very little satisfactory information. The only kinds known
were the ring-necked lory and the common red and green
lorikeet, both common at Amboyna. Black lories and
cockatoos were quite unknown. The Alfuros resided in the
mountains five or six days’ journey away, and there were
only one or two live birds to be found in the village, and
these were worthless. My hunters could get nothing but
a few common birds ; and notwithstanding fine mountains,
luxuriant forests, and a locality a hundred miles eastward,
I could find no new insects, and extremely few even of the
common species of Amboyna and West Ceram. It was
evidently no use stopping at such a place, and I was
determined to move on as soon as possible.
The village of Teluti is populous, but straggling and very
dirty. Sago trees here cover the mountain side, instead of
orowing as usual in low swamps ; but a closer examination
shows that they grow in swampy patches, which have
formed among the loose rocks that cover the ground, and
which are kept constantly full of moisture by the rains, and
by the abundance of rills which trickle down among them.
This sago forms almost the whole subsistence of the inhabitants,
who appear to cultivate nothing but a few small
patches of maize and sweet potatoes. Hence, as before
explained, the scarcity of insects. The Orang-kaya has
fine clothes, handsome lamps, and other expensive
European goods, yet lives every day on sago and fish as
miserably as the rest.
After three days in this barren place I left on the morning
of March 6th, in two boats of the same size as those
which had brought me to Teluti. With some difficulty
I had obtained permission to take these boats on to Tobo,
where I intended to stay a while, and therefore got on
pretty quickly, changing men at the village of Laiemu,
and arriving in a heavy rain at Ahtiago. As there was a
good deal of surf here, and likely to be more if the wind
blew hard during the night, our boats were pulled up on
the beach ; and after supping at the Orang-kaya’s house, and
writing down a vocabulary of the language of the Alfuros,
who live in the mountains inland, I returned to sleep in
the boat. Next morning we proceeded, changing men at