LETTER FROM MR. MACGILLIVRAY. 355 



Papuans. I shall not however trouble you with any account of my 

 personal adventures, or the customs, etc., of the people, or the zoology, 

 but pass at once to some botanical scraps in my journal. 



Being anxious to see the Sandal-wood tree growing, I was taken by 

 an intelligent boy to the thickets on the low grounds behind the beach, 

 where several were pointed out to me. Unfortunately all were of small 

 size, and none had either flowers or fruit. The first which I saw was 

 a small spreading bush, with smooth grey bark, having dark longitudi- 

 nal broad streaks and dots, and small, glossy, elliptical, revolute, and 

 slightly carinate leaves. At a subsequent period I was more fortunate 

 in getting flowering specimens of the plant. ... In the stores I was 

 shown a large quantity of Sandal-wood recently procured from an island 

 which, until very lately, was not known to produce it. The locality 

 was confidentially communicated to me, and Mr. Underwood kindly 

 promised to procure flowering specimens of it for me, as I think it may 

 prove a new species. The Isle of Pines and the Aneiteum Sandal- 

 wood trees are specifically distinct, and differ from S. Freycmetiamim of 

 the Sandwich Islands. • . . Near Hill's I showed Milne some small 

 plants of the Sandal-wood tree, which he attempted, but in vain, to dig 

 up ; for they were merely suckers, the parent tree having long ago been 

 cut down to the very roots. . . . Having found a fine Sandal-wood 

 tree in a thick scrub, where it had fortunately escaped the observation 

 of the natives, I procured for Milne a very good section of it, for the 

 usual consideration of pipes and tobacco. This tree was about 25 feet 

 in heisrht, with a diameter below of 6 inches, of which the inner vellow 

 scented portion, alone of any value, occupied 2^ inches. In preparing 

 Sandal-wood for the market, the bark and outer white wood are cut 

 away with an axe, reducing the billets to a small diameter j and those 

 taken from about the root — considered the most valuable, because most 

 highly scented — are very irregular in form. Thousands of tons of this 

 valuable wood have from time to time been furnished by this little 

 island, and the supply has now almost completely ceased. 



In this bushy tract of country, the number of beautiful running and 

 climbing plants was considerable. Among the most remarkable is a 

 scarlet -blossomed Disemma {D. coceinea), and three or four Ipo7nce^, 



one with very large and handsome blue flowers, and another with 

 equally large white ones. Close to a small village I saw some cleared, 

 imfcnced ground, where the Taro, Yam, Pumpkin, Gourd, and Sugar- 



