ch. ii.] A Tropical Island. 21 



four miles from town ; and unpleasant rumours are 

 afloat that some have lately been seen in Sirangoon 

 and Changhie." 



Much fruit is grown ; and there are cocoa-nut, 

 gambir, pepper, indigo and gamboge plantations on a 

 small scale. Vegetable crops here, as in San Francisco, 

 are a monopoly of the thrifty Chinese gardeners. The 

 trade in economic products of the soil of the neighbour- 

 ing islands is an important one, and, ere long, when 

 cultivation extends more fully into Jahore and Perak, 

 this will be much increased. Some of the planters 

 from Ceylon have already commenced extensive clearing 

 operations in Jahore ; and if these succeed, the rest is 

 but a question of time. A few rare and interesting plants 

 yet linger in the jungle, notably, the curious pitcher 

 plant (Nepenthes Raffiesiana), which, singularly enough, 

 is one of the first plants to spring up after a jungle fire. 

 Gleichenia dichotoma clothes some of the hill-sides here 

 as freely as the common brake-fern at home. 



One of the most singular of native plants, however, is 

 that known as Amorphophallus campanulatiis, a relative 

 of the " Lords and Ladies " of our English woods; but 

 this tropical species is of Titanic dimensions, producing 

 a lurid spathe, nearly two feet in circumference, and 

 exhaling the most fetid and repulsive of odours. 



In rambling about the island one comes across fertile 

 little gardens and groves of mangoes, mangosteen, and 

 other fruit trees, the tenants being generally Chinamen. 

 The bye-streets of the town present some novel sights to 

 a stranger, being tenanted for the most part by Chinese 

 artizans and shopkeepers, the workshops being generally 

 quite open to the street. Blacksmiths, tin-workers, 

 tailors and shoemakers, carpenters, coopers, and basket- 

 makers here ply their callings, and turn out excellent 



