I could wade across this river without getting much above my
knees, although I would sometimes slip off a rock and go into a
hole up to my waist, and about twice a week I went across it in
order to explore the forest. Unfortunately there were no paths
here of any extent, and it did not prove very productive either
in insects or birds. To add to my difficulties I had stupidly
left my only pair of strong hoots on board the steamer, and my
others were by this time all dropping to pieces, so that I was
obliged to walk about barefooted, and in constant fear of hurting
my feet, and causing a wound which might lay me up for weeks, as
had happened in Borneo, Are, and Dorey. Although there were
numerous plantations of maize and plantains, there were no new
clearings; and as without these it is almost impossible to find
many of the best kinds of insects, I determined to make one
myself, and with much difficulty engaged two men to clear a patch
of forest, from which I hoped to obtain many fine beetles before
I left.

During the whole of my stay, however, insects never became
plentiful. My clearing produced me a few fine, longicorns and
Buprestidae, different from any I had before seen, together with
several of the Amboyna species, but by no means so numerous or,
so beautiful as I had found in that small island. For example, I
collected only 210 different kinds of beetles during my two
months' stay at Bourn, while in three weeks at Amboyna, in 1857,
I found more than 300 species: One of the finest insects found at
Bouru was a large Cerambyx, of a deep shining chestnut colour,
and with very long antennae. It varied greatly in size, the
largest specimens being three inches long, while the smallest
were only an inch, the antenna varying from one and a half to