returned
in the afternoon well satisfied with my first trial of the promised
land.

The next two days were so wet and windy that there was no going out; but
on the succeeding one the sun shone brightly, and I had the good fortune
to capture one of the most magnificent insects the world contains, the
great bird-winged butterfly, Ornithoptera Poseidon. I trembled with
excitement as I saw it coming majestically towards me, and could hardly
believe I had really succeeded in my stroke till I had taken it out
of the net and was gazing, lost in admiration, at the velvet black and
brilliant green of its wings, seven inches across, its bolder body, and
crimson breast. It is true I had seen similar insects in cabinets at
home, but it is quite another thing to capture such oneself-to feel it
struggling between one's fingers, and to gaze upon its fresh and living
beauty, a bright gem shirring out amid the silent gloom of a dark and
tangled forest. The village of Dobbo held that evening at least one
contented man.

Jan. 26th.--Having now been here a fortnight, I began to understand a
little of the place and its peculiarities. Praus continually arrived,
and the merchant population increased almost daily. Every two or three
days a fresh house was opened, and the necessary repairs made. In every
direction men were bringing in poles, bamboos, rattans, and the leaves
of the nipa palm to construct or repair the walls, thatch, doors, and
shutters of their houses, which they do with great celerity. Some of the
arrivals were Macassar men or Bugis, but more from the small island of
Goram, at the east end of Ceram, whose inhabitants are the petty traders
of the far East. Then the natives of Aru come in from the other side of
the islands (called here "blakang tana," or "back of the country") with
the produce they have collected during the preceding six months, and
which they now sell to the traders, to some of whom they are most likely
in debt.

Almost all, or I may safely say all, the new arrivals pay me a visit,
to see with their own eyes the unheard-of phenomenon of a person come to
stay at Dobbo who does not trade! They have their own ideas of the uses
that may possibly be made of stuffed birds, beetles, and shells which
are not the right shells--that is, "mother-of-pearl." They every day
bring me dead and broken shells, such as I can pick up by hundreds on
the beach, and seem quite puzzled and distressed when I decline them.
If, howev