variety and beauty by those of any one spot on the earth. The celebrated
Dutch ichthyologist, Dr. Blecker, has given a catalogue of seven hundred
and eighty species found at Amboyna, a number almost equal to those of
all the seas and rivers of Europe. A large proportion of them are of the
most brilliant colours, being marked with bands and spots of the purest
yellows, reds, and blues; while their forms present all that strange and
endless variety so characteristic of the inhabitants of the ocean.
The shells are also very numerous, and comprise a number of the finest
species in the world. The Mactras and Ostreas in particular struck me by
the variety and beauty of their colours. Shells have long been an
object of traffic in Amboyna; many of the natives get their living by
collecting and cleaning them, and almost every visitor takes away a
small collection. The result is that many of the commoner-sorts have
lost all value in the eyes of the amateur, numbers of the handsome but
very common cones, cowries, and olives sold in the streets of London for
a penny each, being natives of the distant isle of Amboyna, where they
cannot be bought so cheaply. The fishes in the collection were all well
preserved in clear spirit in hundreds of glass jars, and the shells were
arranged in large shallow pith boxes lined with paper, every specimen
being fastened down with thread. I roughly estimated that there were
nearly a thousand different kinds of shells, and perhaps ten thousand
specimens, while the collection of Amboyna fishes was nearly perfect.
On the 4th of January I left Amboyna for Ternate; but two years later,
in October 1859, I again visited it after my residence in Menado, and
stayed a month in the town in a small house which I hired for the sake
of assorting and packing up a large and varied collection which I had
brought with me from North Celebes, Ternate, and Gilolo. I was obliged
to do this because the mail steamer would have come the following month
by way of Amboyna to Ternate, and I should have been delayed two months
before I could have reached the former place. I then paid my first
visit to Ceram, and on returning to prepare for my second more complete
exploration of that island, I stayed (much against my will) two months
at Paso, on the isthmus which connects the two portions of the island of
Amboyna. This village is situated on the eastern side of the isthmus,
on sandy ground, with a very pleasant view over the sea to the island of
Haruka. On the Amboyna side of the isthmus there is a small river
which has been continued by a shallow canal to within thirty yards of
high-water mark on the other side. Across this small space, which is
sandy and but slightly elevated, all small boats and praus can be easily
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