SUMATRA 179 



caulaceae are better rejDresented here than in Java, and in 

 the highlands of the north Pinus Ilerkusii occurs — the 

 only other locality for it in the archipelago being the 

 island of Luzon in the Philippines. The island is speci- 

 ally rich in its forest trees, which Mr. Forbes mentions 

 as being larger than any he had ever seen ; and that the 

 species are very numerous is evident from the fact that 

 the Central Sumatran Expedition collected specimens of 

 some 400 kinds of timber. 



It has often been remarked that, from a variety of 

 circumstances, the flowers of tropical regions are less 

 conspicuous, or at least form less showy masses of colour, 

 than those of the temperate zones, but exceptions to this 

 rule are not infrequent in Sumatra, as may be realised 

 from Mr. Forbes's descriptions of the descent of the upper 

 reaches of the Palembang Piiver : — " Very many trees 

 were in flower and fruit — tall Melettias hung with 

 immense pods, and wild nutmeg trees with their pretty, 

 drop-like fruits. The oaks were one mass of white 

 inflorescence, and formed a characteristic feature of the 

 vegetation of the banks ; while bushy Sterculiaceous trees 

 made a greater show of colour in the rich pink of their 

 young foliage and the bright scarlet of their fruits than 

 in their inconspicuous flowers. Between these more 

 outstanding trees dark-foliaged figs and slender bamboos 

 gracefully bending over the bank filled up the ranks 

 shoulder to shoulder. Tall Sialang trees, with lightning- 

 conductor-like stairs up their white stems, by wdiich the 

 wild bees' nests are reached, and Pangiums, bearing six to 

 seven hundred brown velvety fruits, each several pounds 

 in weight, so that one marvels that the branches are able 

 to sustain the load, marked the vicinity of villages. . . . 

 Every lifeless stem, to the very tips of its withered arms, 

 was festooned with dark foliaged climbers, yellow and 



