ing and tom-toms beating, as well as very vigorous
shouting and singing to keep up their spirits. The sea way smooth, the
morning bright, and the whole scene very exhilarating. On landing, the
Orang-kaya and several of 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
Tories 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 growing 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