finding some insects here, but was much disappointed, owing perhaps to
the dampness of the climate; for it was not until the sun was pretty
high that the mists cleared away, and by noon we were generally clouded
up again, so that there was seldom more than an hour or two of fitful
sunshine. We searched in every direction for birds and other game,
but they were very scarce. On our way I had shot the fine white-headed
pigeon, Ptilonopus cinctus, and the pretty little lorikeet,
Trichoglossus euteles. I got a few more of these at the blossoms of the
Eucalypti, and also the allied species Trichoglossus iris, and a few
other small but interesting birds. The common jungle-cock of India
(Gallus bankiva) was found here, and furnished us with some excellent
meals; but we could get no deer. Potatoes are grown higher up the
mountains in abundance, and are very good. We had a sheep killed every
other day, and ate our mutton with much appetite in the cool climate,
which rendered a fire always agreeable.
Although one-half the European residents in Delli are continually
ill from fever, and the Portuguese have occupied the place for three
centuries, no one has yet built a house on these fine hills, which, if
a tolerable road were made, would be only an hour's ride from the town;
and almost equally good situations might be found on a lower level at
half an hour's distance. The fact that potatoes and wheat of excellent
quality are grown in abundance at from 3,000 to 3,500 feet elevation,
shows what the climate and soil are capable of if properly cultivated.
From one to two thousand feet high, coffee would thrive; and there are
hundreds of square miles of country over which all the varied products
which require climates between those of coffee and wheat would flourish;
but no attempt has yet been made to form a single mile of road, or a
single acre of plantation!
There must be something very unusual in the climate of Timor to permit
wheat being grown at so moderate an elevation. The grain is of excellent
quality, the bread made from it being equal to any I have ever tasted,
and it is universally acknowledged to be unsurpassed by any made from
imported European or American flour. The fact that the natives have
(quite of their own accord) taken to cultivating such foreign articles
as wheat and potatoes, which they bring in small quantities on the backs
of ponies by the most horrible mountain tracks, and sell very cheaply
at the seaside, sufficiently indicates what might be done if good roads
were made, and if the people were taught, encouraged, and protected.
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