358 FLOWERS. 



for the troops ; the situation is considered salu- 

 brious. There is also a fine building at this 

 place, used as the state-rooms for the governor, 

 and some part of it for government offices ; op- 

 posite to this building, in the centre of the square, 

 is a small column surmounted by a lion, erected 

 in commemoration of the battle of Waterloo. I 

 was much gratified during the drive with the 

 neat appearance of the houses, most of which 

 were surrounded by gardens, rendered both bril- 

 liant and fragrant, by tropical trees and shrubs, 

 gay with the vivid colouring imparted by their 

 blossoms ; and as evening closed, the powerful 

 and delicious odour of the tube-rose (which 

 bears the appellation of " Intriguer of the 

 night" among the Malays) communicated to us 

 the information that those simple white liliaceous 

 flowers were growing not far distant.* 



In a few of the gardens I remarked that curi- 

 ous, large herbaceous plant, called the " Tra- 

 veller's-tree ; (from a refreshing stream of limpid 

 water gushing out from the stem when cut ;) 



'*^ Tliis plant emits its fragi-ant smell powerfully after sun- 

 set, and has been " observed in a sultry evening, after 

 thunder, when the atmosphere was highly charged with 

 electric fluid, to dart small sparks, or scintillations of lucid 

 flame, in great abundance from such of its flowers as were 

 fading."— £V///?. Philos. Jonrnal, vol. iii. p. 415. 



