130 Report of a Journey .hound the World. 



I came to this port in 1866 on board the "Clara Morse", a good 

 ship with a good master, I was taken to the garden as the thing 

 most likely to interest me ; and it certainly did ; it was the first 

 tropical botanical garden I had ever seen, and I well remember a 

 fine jackfrnit tree {Artocarpus integrifolia) standing near the en- 

 trance ; I looked in vain for it now ; it is not a very long-lived tree, 

 and other interesting trees had taken its place ; driveways had in 

 the same way taken the place of the paths formerly existing, and 

 we were Philistine enough to wish the old paths back even if we 

 should have to leave the motor outside. Before it was Nature 

 (and tropical at that) almost unadorned, but now it was both 

 adorned and dressed up, and the very interesting rubber planta- 

 tions with the accompanying sheds gave a commercial tone not 

 wholly agreeable. However, Mr. Thompson's explanation of the 

 whole process of tapping and collecting the milk-sap was not only 

 instructive but pleasant, and I picked up a few of the many seeds 

 scattered on the ground, which were considerably larger than ours 

 on Hawaii of the same genus, and brought them home for experi- 

 ment. The orchid growths in the open ground were fine. 



To return to the Raffles Museum, as we did the next day, 

 the name is most appropriate, commemorating as it does one of 

 the most remarkable Englishmen that ever made a mark in the 

 East Indies. As to the aim of a part of this museum I am to 

 quote from the guide to the zoological collections, which is well 

 illustrated, and makes one wish that the ethnological part was also 

 done in the same way: 



"The zoological collections of the Raffles Museum are practi- 

 cally restricted to the Malay region, so that this book, besides 

 being a 'Guide to the Museum', is a popular introduction to the 

 study of the Malay fauna. In fact, it would have been more 

 correct to entitle the book an Introduction to the stud}- of the Fauna 

 of the Malay region as illustrated by the specimens in the Raffles 

 Museum, especially as no attempt has been made in its pages 

 actually to guide the visitor from case to case and shelf to shelf. 

 The visitor is expected to use his eyes, and if here and there he 

 should experience a little difficulty in finding a particular bird or 

 insect, he will also, when successful, partake of the joy of the 



numerous collectors who brought the specimens together. 



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