368 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



On the shores of Little Ke Island I found on the beach, 

 above the ordinary reach of the waves, a large mass of the 

 pseudo-bulbs of an epiphytic orchid with its roots complete. 

 It was partly buried at the foot of a tree and seemed quite 

 lively. It had evidently been washed up in a storm. At 

 Malanipa Island, off the coast of Mindonao Philippines, I found 

 a young Sago Palm, which was just beginning to form a stem, 

 washed up just above the ordinary beach line, and firmly rooted, 

 though in an inclined position, and growing vigorously. Several 

 authors have described the large quantities of floating vegetable 

 matter to be met with in the Malay Archipelago and neighbour- 

 hood. Chamisso remarked on the quantity of floating seeds off 

 Java, and the casting up of Barringtonia, Aleurites triloba, and 

 Nipa Palm seeds on the shores in germinating condition.* 



These large drifts from the forests have a further interest, in 

 that they let drop their remains to the bottom of the deep sea, 

 thereby not only serving as food to the deep-sea animals, but 

 leaving their husks to be preserved as fossils in deep-sea 

 deposits. I shall refer to this latter point in considering deep- 

 sea questions in the sequel. 



We anchored off the town of Dobbo, not in the least altered 

 in the few years since Wallace's visit, with its line of Macassar 

 trading vessels drawn up on the beach ; its " prau " builders at 

 work, and a crowd assembled to gaze at us. We were visited by 

 Malay notables in their finest dresses of coloured silks, and by 

 Dutch half-caste missionaries who came in tail coats and tall 

 hats. 



The sun was excessively powerful at Aru, and I felt the 

 glare on the white sandy beach more severely than anywhere 

 else during the voyage. In wading in search of seaweeds on the 

 coral shore platform, I positively found the water much warmer 

 than was pleasant to my legs. The water was very shallow, 

 only half way up my knees, and was heated by the reflections 

 from the white bottom. 



various seeds will resist the action of sea- water, in the " Origin of Species," 

 6th Ed., 1876, pp. 324, 325. 



* Chamisso, " Bemerkungen auf einer Entdeckungs-Reise, 1815-1818," 

 p. 366-401. Weimar, 1821. 



