leads probably into another valley, but which I had no time to explore.
Returning to where this rift had begun the main path turns up to the
left in a sort of gully, and reaches a summit over which a fine natural
arch of rock passes at a height of about fifty feet. Thence was a steep
descent through thick jungle with glimpses of precipices and distant
rocky mountains, probably leading into the main river valley again. This
was a most tempting region to explore, but there were several reasons
why I could go no further. I had no guide, and no permission to enter
the Bugis territories, and as the rains might at any time set in,
I might be prevented from returning by the flooding of the river. I
therefore devoted myself during the short time of my visit to obtaining
what knowledge I could of the natural productions of the place.
The narrow chasms produced several fine insects quite new to me, and one
new bird, the curious Phlaegenas tristigmata, a large ground pigeon
with yellow breast and crown, and purple neck. This rugged path is the
highway from Maros to the Bugis country beyond the mountains. During
the rainy season it is quite impassable, the river filling its bed and
rushing between perpendicular cliffs many hundred feet high. Even at the
time of my visit it was most precipitous and fatiguing, yet women and
children came over it daily, and men carrying heavy loads of palm sugar
(of very little value). It was along the path between the lower and the
upper falls, and about the margin of the upper pool, that I found most
insects. The large semi-transparent butterfly, Idea tondana, flew lazily
along by dozens, and it was here that I at length obtained an insect
which I had hoped but hardly expected to meet with--the magnificent
Papilio androcles, one of the largest and rarest known swallow-tailed
butterflies. During my four days' stay at the falls, I was so fortunate
as to obtain six good specimens. As this beautiful creature flies, the
long white tails flicker like streamers, and when settled on the beach
it carries them raised upwards, as if to preserve them from injury. It
is scarce even here, as I did not see more than a dozen specimens
in all, and had to follow many of them up and down the river's bank
repeatedly before I succeeded in their capture. When the sun shone
hottest, about noon, the moist beach of the pool below the upper
fall presented a beautiful sight, being dotted with groups of gay
butterflies--orange, yellow, white, blue, and green--which on being
disturbed rose into the air by hundreds, forming clouds of variegated
colours.
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