BARNARD ISLES. 89 



which attain an enormous size^ as in the case of 

 a Hernandaj a Castanospermum, two fabaceous 

 trees^ and others of which neither flowers nor fruit 

 were observed. Two pahns^ Seqforthia elegans, and 

 Livistona inerjnis, also occur here. By far the most 

 remarkable veg'etable productions are the larg'er 

 kinds of climbers. The principal of these^ with 

 a leafless and almost branchless cable-like stem^ 

 sometimes two or three hundred yards in lengthy 

 rises over the summits of the tallest trees^ and 

 connects one with another in its powerful folds^ 

 occasionally descendinp- to the PTound. Another 

 climber^ Lcstibndesia arhorescens^ rises by its slender 

 stems to the tops of the trees, hiding* them in its 

 cascade-hke masses and g-raceful festoons of 

 exuberant foliag'e. Besides several other exogenous 

 woody climbers^ of which a ver}^ remarkable one is 

 a Baukinia, with a compressed stem spirally 

 twisted, round its axis — the most interesting* is 

 Calamus Anstralis, rising' in a clump^ then arching* 

 alono* the o-round and from tree to tree in a similar 

 maner to Flagellar la Indica^ here also abundant. 

 Among* the^^other plants of these brushes, are the 

 curious Dracontium pohjphyllmn^ Avith larg*e simple 

 and fpinnatifid leaves, creeping* hke ivy up the 

 trunks and lower branches of the trees — parasitical 

 LoranthacecEy \\ ith long dependant tufts of rush-like 

 leaves— enormous masses of Acrosficum alcicorne 

 and A. grande^ with an occasional Hoy a carnosa^ 

 DendroUumy or other epiphyte. When the soil is 



