TREES YIELDING CAOUTCHOUC. 383 



which produces the Dernerara and Surinam caoutchouc, 

 and the Bastard Manchineel tree (Cameraria latifolid), 

 which is common in Cuba, and other West Indian 

 Islands. In the plantations about Singapore you will 

 see the Jatropha Manihot, with its white, brittle, warty 

 stems, and large, deeply-divided, heart-shaped leaves ; a 

 plant which yields, at the same time, a dangerously 

 poisonous juice, and a wholesome fecula, which, in South 

 America, forms an important article of diet, under the 

 name of Cassava ; the useful Gomuti Palm, and graceful 

 Plantain, the elegant, feathery Bamboo, the Betel, and 

 the climbing Yam, mingled with Papayas, Citron, and 

 Lime trees, and various useful Scitamineous plants, as the 

 Turmeric and the Ginger, may be also mentioned ; nor 

 must that very important Cinchonaceous plant, the 

 Uncaria Gambir, which yields the substance named Terra 

 Japonica, a kind of Catechu, be omitted ; the extract 

 being most extensively employed by the Malays, mixed 

 with Betel leaf, Areca nut, and Lime, as a masticatory. 

 At Singapore, the Malay fishermen make a very strong 

 cordage out of the leaves of the Pandanus laems ; and 

 here, as elsewhere, among the Eastern Islands, the leaves 

 of the Nipa fruticans are universally used for thatching 

 their primitive and fragile dwellings. The island, more- 

 over, abounds in Pine Apples of several varieties, the 

 common sort, in my opinion, being the best flavoured ; 

 the long, red, conical ones being the next in esteem ; and 

 those with variegated leaves being the worst of all. 



Among the dry, withered leaves that strew the ground, 

 hundreds of large, brown, shining Lizards rush about 

 with the greatest velocity, reminding the timid of the 



