afforded me one of the most astonishing and beautiful sights I have
ever beheld. The bottom was absolutely hidden by a continuous series of
corals, sponges, actiniae, and other marine productions of magnificent
dimensions, varied forms, and brilliant colours. The depth varied from
about twenty to fifty feet, and the bottom was very uneven, rocks and
chasms and little hills and valleys, offering a variety of stations for
the growth of these animal forests. In and out among them, moved numbers
of blue and red and yellow fishes, spotted and banded and striped in
the most striking manner, while great orange or rosy transparent medusae
floated along near the surface. It was a sight to gaze at for hours, and
no description can do justice to its surpassing beauty and interest. For
once, the reality exceeded the most glowing accounts I had ever read of
the wonders of a coral sea. There is perhaps no spot in the world richer
in marine productions, corals, shells and fishes, than the harbour of
Amboyna.
From the north side of the harbour, a good broad path passes through
swamp, clearing and forest, over hill and valley, to the farther side
of the island; the coralline rock constantly protruding through the deep
red earth which fills all the hollows, and is more or less spread over
the plains and hill-sides. The forest vegetation is here of the most
luxuriant character; ferns and palms abound, and the climbing rattans
were more abundant than I had ever seen them, forming tangled festoons
over almost every large forest tree. The cottage I was to occupy was
situated in a large clearing of about a hundred acres, part of which
was already planted with young cacao-trees and plantains to shade them,
while the rest was covered with dead and half-burned forest trees; and
on one side there was a tract where the trees had been recently felled
and were not yet burned. The path by which I had arrived continued along
one side of this clearing, and then again entering the virgin forest
passed over hill and dale to the northern aide of the island.
My abode was merely a little thatched hut, consisting of an open
verandah in front and a small dark sleeping room behind. It was raised
about five feet from the ground, and was reached by rude steps to the
centre of the verandah. The walls and floor were of bamboo, and it
contained a table, two bamboo chairs, and a couch. Here I soon made
myself comfortable, and set to work hunting for insects among the
more recently felled timber, which swarmed with fine Curculionidae,
Longicorns, and Buprestidae, most of them remarkable for their elegant
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