WCP4277

[1]¹ [p. 305]

"Awaiya, Ceram, Nov. 26, 1859.

"I have nothing particular to say now, except that Ceram is a wretched place for birds. I have been here a month, and have got literally not a single pretty or good bird of any kind, except the small Lory I sent before from Amboyna; and, what is more, neither European residents nor natives know of a single handsome bird in the country, except one or two Lories and Pigeons, which I have not yet got or seen. When Mr. Gould and others talked about the very fine birds of Ceram, you should have asked them to specify them, that I might know what to inquire or look for. My only hope is now in the eastern part of the island; but I cannot expect there anything but one or two fine Lories. In [2] [p. 306] Coleoptera and Butterflies I shall do better, though almost all are the same as at Amboyna. I am at present confined to the house from the bites of an Acarus,² which produces inflamed sores on the legs, though it is invisibly small. My three best men have all left me — one sick, another gone home to his sick mother, and the third and best is married in Ternate, and his wife would not let him go: he, however, remains working for me, and is going again to the eastern part of Gilolo."