men to clear a patch of forest, from which I hoped to
obtain many fine beetles before I left.
During the whole of my stay, however, insects never
became plentiful. My clearing produced me a few fine
longicorns and Buprestid©, different from any I had before
seen, together with several of the Amboyna species, but by
no means s9 numerous or so beautiful as I had found in
that small island. For example, I collected only 210
different kinds of beetles during my two months’ stay at
Bouru, while in three weeks at Amboyna, in 1857,1 found
more than 300 species. One of the finest insects found at
Bouru was a large Cerambyx, of a deep shining chestnut
colour, and with very long antennae. It varied greatly
in size, the largest specimens being three inches long,
while the smallest were only an inch, the antennae varying
from one and a half to five inches.
One day my boy Ali came home with a story of a
big snake. He was walking through some high grass,
and stepped on something which he took for a small
fallen tree, but. it felt cold and yielding to his feet,
and far to the right and left there was a waving and
rustling of the herbage. He jumped back in affright
and prepared to shoot, but could not get. a good view
of the creature, and it passed away, he said, like a
tree being dragged along through the grass. As he
tad several times already shot large snakes, which he
Reclared were all as nothing compared with this, I am
■nclined to believe it must really have been a monster. Ijsuch creatures are rather plentiful here, for a man living
close by showed me on his thigh the marks where he had
been seized by one close to his house. I t was big enough
I t o take the man’s thigh in its mouth, and he would pro-
■bably have been killed and devoured by it had not his
■cries brought out his neighbours,- who destroyed it with
■their choppers. As far as I could make out it was about
■twenty feet long, but Ali’s was probably much larger.
It sometimes amuses me to observe how, a few days after
■I have taken possession of it, a native hut seems quite
■a comfortable home. My house at Waypoti was a bare
I shed, with a large bamboo platform at one side. At one
I end of this platform, which was elevated about three feet, I
I fixed up my mosquito curtain, and partly enclosed it with
I a large Scotch plaid, making a comfortable little sleeping
I apartment. I put up a rude table on legs buried in the
I earthen floor, and had my comfortable rattan-chair for
I a seat. A line across one corner carried my daily-
1 washed cotton clothing, and on a bamboo shelf was
I arranged my small stock of crockery and hardware. Boxes
■ were ranged against the thatch walls, and hanging shelves,
I to preserve my collections from ants while drying, were
[ suspended both without and within the house. On my
table lay books, penknives, scissors, pliers, and pins, with