168 LOMBOCK. 



tic breeds of poultry — were among the birds that chiefly at- 

 tracted my attention during our stay at Labuan Tring. 



The most characteristic feature of the jungle was its thorn- 

 iness. The shrubs were thorny, the creepers were thorny, the 

 bamboos even were thorny. Every thing grew zigzag and 

 jagged, and in an inextricable tangle, so that to get through 

 the bush with gun or net or even spectacles was generally not 

 to be done, and insect-catching in such localities was out of the 

 question. It was in such places that the Pittas often lurked, 

 and, when shot, it became a matter of some difiiculty to secure 

 the bird, and seldom without a heavy payment of pricks and 

 scratches and torn clothes could the prize be won. The dry 

 volcanic soil and arid climate seem favorable to the produc- 

 tion of such stunted and thorny vegetation, for the natives as- 

 sured me that this was nothing to the thorns and prickles of 

 Sumbawa, whose surface still bears the covering of volcanic 

 ashes thrown out forty years ago by the terrible eruption of 

 Tomboro. Among the shrubs and trees that are not prickly 

 the Apocynacese were most abundant, their bilobed fruits of 

 varied form and color, and often of most tempting appearance, 

 hanging everywhere by the waysides as if to invite to destruc- 

 tion the weary traveller who may be unaware of their poison- 

 ous properties. One in jiarticular, with a smooth shining skin 

 of a golden orange color, rivals in appearance the golden ap- 

 ples of the Hesperides, and has great attractions for many 

 birds, from the white cockatoos to the little yellow Zosterops, 

 who feast on the crimson seeds which are displayed when 

 the fruit bursts open. The great palm called " gubbong " by 

 the natives, a species of Coryj^ha, is the most striking feature 

 of the plains, where it grows by thousands, and appears in 

 three different states — in leaf, in flower and fruit, or dead. It 

 has a lofty cylindrical stem about a hundred feet high and two 

 to three feet in diameter ; the leaves are large and fan-shaped, 

 and fall off when the tree flowers, which it does only once in 

 its life in a huge terminal spike, on which are produced mass- 

 es of a smooth round fruit of a green color, and about an inch 

 in diameter. When these ripen and fall the tree dies, and re- 

 mains standing a year or two before it falls. Trees in leaf 

 only are by far the most numerous, then those in flower and 

 fruit, while dead trees are scattered here and there among 



