760 ON THE VOLCANO OF TAAL, 



88. Acacia farnesiana, Willcl. This species is a tree which 

 covers much of the slopes of the volcano, or rather did so cover 

 them at the time of my first visit, for afterwards every vestige of 

 vegetation was burnt away. I was quite astonished at the 

 abundance of this particular kind of plant, and I had never seen 

 anything like it before except in one or two volcanic stony slopes 

 in Java. The tree had a familiar aspect to me also on account of 

 its being not an uncommon bush in troi)ical Queensland. The 

 species is very common in the tropical countries of the whole 

 world, and is really an ornamental shrub from the curious and 

 large-sized thorns with which it is covered, its pretty orange 

 blossoms, their fragrant perfume so much richer than any other 

 Acacia and different in aroma, and its pretty foliage. It is 

 cultivated on the Genoese coast. To perfumers it is a most 

 valuable assistant, possessing a fragrance which is not found else- 

 where. Ir beai'S some resemblance to the perfume of violets, but 

 much stronger, and is used to fortify that scent which is naturally 

 weak. The yield of flowers is from one to twenty pounds from 

 each plant. The blossoms are gathered after sunrise. A very 

 strong oil and pomade is obtained by maceration. In Africa, 

 principally in Tunis, an essential oil of Cassie as it is called, is sold 

 at about 80s. per ounce. The French and Italian flowers are not 

 sufliciently powerful for perfumers. 



89. Arachis HYPOGiEA, L. Katjang-goreug, Malay ; Ti-tau, 

 Chinese; Togin-mame, Nankin-mame (Foreign-bean, Nankin-bean), 

 Japanese. A plant, the original home of which was long contro- 

 verted, but probably according to De Candolle, American. See the 

 whole argument in " The Origin of Cultivated Plants." Much 

 iised in India and China as food, and for the production of an oil 

 as serviceable as olive oil, being clear, limpid, and not turning 

 rancid easily. 



90. Albizza procera, Bentham. Widely distributed over 

 India and the Archipelago as far as Australia. Grown for the 

 sake of its gum. Ki-hiang, Sundanese. 



