72 VEGETATION AND SCENERY. [1843 



Their ordinary dress is a cloth about the waist, and a 

 perineal band like that of the Dyaks of Borneo. They 

 have pleasing features, and are by no means similar in 

 disposition to the indolent and vindictive races of 

 Malasia. Their houses are rudely built of grass and 

 canes, and display but little taste or comfort in the 

 internal decoration. In their villages, the sheds for the 

 goat and pig, are hardly to be distinguished from the 

 dwellings they use themselves. They clear the ground 

 by firing the grass ; eradicating the stubble afterwards 

 with wooden pegs. 



" In Batan, there is some very beautiful scenery, more 

 especially in the interior of the island. The mountain 

 peaks are verdant to their summits, and in the gullies 

 that groove the hills, run numerous water-courses. The 

 fertile glens are rich with varied stores of useful vege- 

 tables, mingled with wild flowers. Patches of highly 

 cultivated ground planted with yams, batatas, and sugar- 

 cane, interspersed with groves of plantains, bread-fruit, 

 and cocoa-nuts, extend in every direction; and on 

 the naked acclivities of some hill-sides clusters of Or- 

 chideous plants, and wild raspberries are met with in 

 abundance. 



" Add to this, dense grassy brakes, where the Landrail 

 hides ; sunny glades where 



' The butterfly is basking in the paths, 

 His radiant wings unfolded'; 



green shady thickets, where beautiful Snails* are feeding 



* Helix tpeciosa, Jay, and three varieties of a species believed to be 

 new. 



