“Birds?” cried the doctor.
“Birds, sir? Yes; some of the most beautifully coloured to be found on the face of the earth. Parrots, cockatoos, birds of paradise, sun-birds, something like the little humming-birds of the West Indies and South America. Oh yes; you’ll find as many birds as you want.”
“Butterflies?” asked Jack.
“Yes, and moths, some of them bigger than a cheese-plate.”
“Flies, of course?” said Sir John.
“Oh yes, sir, and beetles too, some of the ugliest you can imagine, and some of them looking as if made of burnished metal. Then of course you’ll have plenty of fireflies and mosquitoes too.”
“Of course we shall get them,” said Sir John. “But what about serpents?”
“Plenty, sir, sea and land; curious lizards too.”
“There will be no animals to shoot,” said the doctor rather regretfully.
“Tigers, elephants, or leopards? No, not unless we make for the mainland. But there is a great deal of unexplored country on the coast of New Guinea and Borneo, and there’s no knowing what we might come across. There are elephants in Borneo, and our old friend the orang-outang.”