42 LETTERS FROM JAMES MOTLEY, ESQ. 
ing in the hand, to the state of the specimen sent you, which I got 
prepared for your Museum before my eyes. The powder of the leaves 
is infused in boiling water, exactly like tea, though in much larger 
quantities ; it produces a dark-brown liquid, looking like coffee, smelling 
like green tea, and certainly tasting very much like a mixture of the two; 
it is very pleasant however, and refreshing after a hard day in the sun, 
and I can understand these people being passionately fond of it, as they 
certainly are. The curious part of it is, that while theine, caffeine, 
and theobromine have been found (nearly identical as they are in com- 
position and properties) in use in three distinct parts of the world, and 
valued for the same exhilarating qualities, here is a people little raised 
above savages, using also in an independent manner one of these very 
plants, being evidently uninstructed, as otherwise they would certainly 
have used the berry as their teachers did, finding out for themselves 
its qualities and uses. 
. I saw, in my trip up these rivers, a great number of interesting 
plants, including many Palms; how very numerous must this splendid 
family be here! With very few exceptions, those seen were all different 
. from my old acquaintances at Labuan; a good many of them, two of 
. those whose seeds I send, were very slender and elegant Rattans. I 
saw many eatable fruits new to me, of which species of Nephelium 
were very abundant, as also Meliaceous plants, allied to the Lansat, 
one of the most delicious of fruits. The Durian is here in almost 
incredible quantities, forming in the season certainly by far the largest 
proportion of the food of the natives; the quantity they eat of it is 
erfectly astounding. Among other things worth notice, I observed a 
1 very frequently proliferous from the axils of the pinne of its 
ds; I send two or three specimens of such as I could preserve, 
‘Thad only a note-book of small size to dry them in. Though 
comparatively valueless from my ignorance of the names of plants, I 
roposed sending you a copy of my Journal, but have not had time 
o write it since my return. I shall however do so in a few days, and 
will send it to you; but in the meantime I thought it best to send the 
seeds as fresh as possible. 
There seems to be a great mystery about the Gutta Percha trees; 
was in the heart of their country, and yet could get nobody to show 
me a single tree. I think the fact is that they have all been long ago 
ae down within any reasonable distance of the settlements. I saw 
