precipices rise abruptly; and in ascending the little stairway along the
side of the fall, you step two or three times from one rock on to the
other--the limestone dry and rough, being worn by the water and rains
into sharp ridges and honeycombed holes--the basalt moist, even, and
worn smooth and slippery by the passage of bare-footed pedestrians. The
solubility of the limestone by rain-water is well seen in the little
blocks and peaks which rise thickly through the soil of the alluvial
plains as you approach the mountains. They are all skittle-shaped,
larger in the middle than at the base, the greatest diameter occurring
at the height to which the country is flooded in the wet season,
and thence decreasing regularly to the ground. Many of them overhang
considerably, and some of the slenderer pillars appear to stand upon a
point. When the rock is less solid it becomes curiously honeycombed by
the rains of successive winters, and I noticed some masses reduced to
a complete network of stone through which light could be seen in every
direction.
From these mountains to the sea extends a perfectly flat alluvial plain,
with no indication that water would accumulate at a great depth beneath
it, yet the authorities at Macassar have spent much money in boring a
well a thousand feet deep in hope of getting a supply of water like that
obtained by the Artesian wells in the London and Paris basins. It is not
to be wondered at that the attempt was unsuccessful.
Returning to my forest hut, I continued my daily search after birds and
insects. The weather, however, became dreadfully hot and dry, every drop
of water disappearing from the pools and rock-holes, and with it the
insects which frequented them. Only one group remained unaffected by
the intense drought; the Diptera, or two-winged flies, continued as
plentifully as ever, and on these I was almost compelled to concentrate
my attention for a week or two, by which means I increased my collection
of that Order to about two hundred species. I also continued to obtain
a few new birds, among which were two or three kinds of small hawks and
falcons, a beautiful brush-tongued paroquet, Trichoglossus ornatus, and
a rare black and white crow, Corvus advena.
At length, about the middle of October, after several gloomy days, down
came a deluge of rain which continued to fall almost every afternoon,
showing that the early part of the wet season had commenced. I hoped
now to get a good harvest of insects, and in some respects I was not
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