THE NUTMEG TREE. 381 



that plants indeed have feeling ; and tempting you to ex- 

 claim with the poet Wordsworth, 



" It is my faith that every flower 

 Enjoys the air it breathes." 



The Nutmeg tree (Myristica qfficinalis, Linn.) appears 

 to thrive equally as well in this island as at Pulo Penang; 

 and everywhere around you, if you wander a little to 

 the back of the town, you will perceive plantations of 

 these valuable trees, which, disposed in clumps, have a 

 very pretty appearance, particularly when the large green 

 fleshy pear-shaped fruits have burst, and the crimson 

 aril, or mace, shows ruddy through the fissure in the 

 rind. The bark abounds in a yellow juice; the long 

 shining oval leaves are powerfully aromatic when bruised; 

 and the inflorescence consists of axillary racemes of 

 small green flowers, the males having thick, cup-shaped 

 calices, and the filaments united together, and the 

 females possessing a solitary pistil, with a very short 

 style. The oval seeds, or nutmegs, are stripped, like ripe 

 walnuts, of their fleshy valves ; the aril or mace is care- 

 fully removed, and spread on mats to dry ; and the nuts, 

 with their hard oval shells, are placed in lofts, under 

 which fires are kept burning; but are not steeped in lime- 

 water for the purpose of protecting them from insects, as 

 is done in some countries. A few Clove trees (Caryo- 

 phyttus aromaticus, Linn.) seem to thrive tolerably well, 

 but they have not been very extensively introduced. In 

 an excursion into the woods of the interior, I had an 

 opportunity of observing the tree which yields the material 

 called Gutta Percha, although properly speaking, the first 

 word should be written " Gatah," which is the Malay 



