BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS. 73 



The Malay plant is not the same as a Tacca similarly used in the 

 Pacific Islands, of which Mr. Nuttal"^ has pointed out the 

 differences. Ellis in his " Polynesian Researches "f says that 

 the " Pia or Arrowroot, Chailia Tacca, grows on the high sandy 

 banks near the sea or on the sides of the lower mountains." 

 The starch is obtained by rasping with a board on which coai'se 

 coir twine is wound. The pulp is washed with sea-water and 

 strained, the sediment formed into balls, dried in the sun for 12 

 or 24 hours, then broken and reduced to powder, which is left in 

 the sun to dry. This detail is given as one of many points of 

 contact, domestic as well as linguistic, between the Malay and 

 Polynesian races. 



Cryptogams. — In such a moist and warm climate, with dense 

 shady forests, ferns, mosses, lichens and fungi must be abundant. 

 Every rock and every foot of forest ground, the dead timber 

 especially, and the roots and stems of the tall trees are, so 

 to speak, muffled and enshrouded with this kind of vegetation. 

 It is marvellous sometimes to see how deeply the ground is covered 

 with this growth. To step aside off the narrow beaten tracks 

 into the tangled thicket of branches and dead wood causes one 

 frequently to disappear into as much as five, ten, and even fifteen 

 feet of a mass of ferns, mosses, vines, rattans and decaying vege- 

 tation. Or when one attempts to peer through the almost vaulted 

 roof of branches with which the forest glades are so thickly covered, 

 one sees a rich and varied aerial growth which quite impedes any 

 extensive view. Bird's-nest Ferns (Asplenium nidus) and Stag's- 

 horn Ferns [Platy cerium hiforme) beautifully ornament the lofty 

 branches of the stateliest trees, causing an astounding mass of 

 vegetation to hang as it were in mid-air. The Bird's-nest Fern 

 standing out like a feathered coronet, the Stag's-horn dependent as 

 u, graceful fringe, while the giant Polypody {Folypodium 



* "American Journal of Pharmacy," IX. p. 306. 



t "Polynesian Researches during a residence of nearly eight years in the 

 Society and Sandwich Islands." By the Rev. William Ellis, L, p. 361 (4 

 vols. 12mo. London, 1839). 



