THE DREARY JUNGLE 243 



they very seldom flower, and the flowers of most of them 

 are so insignificant that they do not attract your 

 attention. 



Occasionally you may see high above your head 

 the white flower of a Dendrohium or the long spike of 

 the gigantic Grammatophyllmn, but I have only once 

 (in a small island on the North coast of New Guinea) 

 seen such a mass of flowering orchids as to make a splash 

 of colour in the view. In the Tropics there is nothing 

 comparable in colour with the blue hyacinths, the fields 

 of buttercups, or the gorse and hawthorns of this 

 country. 



But if there is little that is beautiful in the jungle 

 vegetation, there is a great deal that is curious and 

 interesting. The ubiquitous Rattans, climbing Palms, 

 are a constant source of wonder for their snake-like 

 meanderings through the jungle until they climb to 

 the top of some tree where they end in a bunch of leaves. 

 We found three species of Screw Pines (Pandmms), ^ 

 fantastic trees on stilts, and branching like irregular 

 candelabra. The wood of the Pandanus is very tough, 

 and is used by the natives for making bows and spears ; 

 the long ribbon-like leaves are used for mats and the 

 walls of their huts, and the fruits of some are eatable, 

 but exceedingly hard. One species bears a cluster of 

 small red fruit about the size of a banana ; and another 

 bears a huge melon-shaped fruit of a brilliant scarlet 

 colour and weighing as much as thirty pounds and 

 upwards. 



Equally remarkable are the trees which stand 

 propped on a number of aerial roots and seem, as Mr. 



