NOTES ON SUMATRA. 171 
ing it to their canoes afloat at the edge of the bank; this employment 
was occasionally varied by a chase after some unlucky fish or crab, 
which had strayed into the shallow water. The “agar-agar,” when good, 
is of a cartilaginous texture, colourless, and nearly transparent ; it grows 
chiefly upon the dead and broken coral, and is usually from two to six 
inches long; it has a tolerably dense shrubby habit, the branches terete, 
about two lines in diameter, solid, and thickly covered with blunt tuber- 
cles. I do not know its genus,* and have not seen its fructification ; 
but I know nothing about Ælgæ. When gathered it is carefully picked 
and cleaned, and dried upon mats in the sun; this occupies in fine 
weather about ten days; it is then packed in bags or baskets, and in 
this state sells for about ten dollars per picul of 1334 lbs. 1t is now 
as dirty and disagreeable-looking an article as need be, being shri- 
velled, and of a dingy yellow, with a strong and nauseous marine smell. 
For use it is steeped for several days in fresh water, frequently changed, 
and swells again to nearly its original size; by long boiling it dissolves 
almost entirely into a strong jelly, peculiarly short and brittle in its 
texture when cold: this jelly forms the basis of many dishes, both sweet 
and savoury, and is in great use in China, to which country large 
quantities of the dried weed are exported from Singapore; it is also 
generally liked by Europeans, and might perhaps be introduced with 
advantage into the home trade. 
We now wanted to get to the southward, but the wind was dead 
against us, and after getting clear of the islands, and into comparatively 
open sea, I found that our little boat was not able to face the swell, 
now rising rapidly. After several attempts to face it, and shipping two 
or three heavy seas, I determined to return to Singapore and procure a 
larger boat. I was the rather induced to do this, as I heard at Suygi, 
that the Sumatra rivers were now all in flood, and we should be many 
days in getting up to the interior; not a very pleasant prospect when 
we were unable to sleep dry in the boat. About ten o'clock, therefore, 
we ceased rowing, much to the satisfaction of the crew, and hoisting 
our mat sail to the fair wind, reached Singapore in the evening. 
Banjarmassing, Dec. 19, 1854. 
I wrote thus far at Sourabaya, and on our passage to this place, which - 
has been a long and tedious one. I cannot tell you much about Ban- 
ot very far removed in 
* Plocaria candida, Nees, or some allied species ; and n 
nature and habit from the Caragene of Ireland, Chondrus erispas. 
