226 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



them cast off their fruit before it is ripe. Sucli good 

 service do the tall canaris render in this way, that 

 they are j^lanted everywhere, and when the island is 

 seen from a distance, their tops quite hide the nut- 

 meg;- trees from view. The roots of this canari are 

 most remarkable. They spring off from the trunk 

 above the ground in great vertical sheets, which are 

 fi'equently four feet broad where they leave the tree, 

 and wind back and forth for some distance before 

 they disappear beneath the soil, so that the lower 

 part of one of these old trees might well be fancied 

 to be a huge bundle of enormous snakes struggling 

 to free themselves fr'om a Titanic hand that held 

 them firmly forever. 



As we leisurely strolled along the crest of Lon- 

 tar, with a thick foliage over our heads that effect- 

 ually shut out the direct rays of the sun, we occa- 

 sionally caught distant views under the trees of the 

 blue sea breaking into white, sparkling surf on the 

 black rocks far, far beneath us. 



Soon we came to the " Lookout," kno^\Ti here, 

 however, by the Malay name Orang Datang, " The 

 people come," for it is a peculiarity of that language, 

 instead of naming a place like this subjectively^ as we 

 do, that is from one's own action, to name it objective- 

 ly^ that is, from the result of that action. The look- 

 out is placed on the edge of the interior wall, and is 

 about six hundred feet above the sea. From this 

 point most of the Bandas are distinctly seen in a 

 single glance, and the view is undoubtedly one of 

 the most charming to be enjoyed among all the isles 

 of the sea. Before us was Banda Neira, with Neira 



