42 VISIT OF THE TRADERS TO THE ARU ISLANDS. 



an immense distance, or they climb up some lofty 

 palm, and embrace it so closely that it dies. Then 

 the curious twisted arms of the ratan are left like 

 so many snakes, turning and twisting and holding 

 each other up. The tree has decayed and gone, 

 and the ratan stems look as though they were 

 embracing the air. 



The dense thickets in the forest are made up a 

 good deal of this creeping, climbing palm. The 

 naturalist who wants to force a way through it, 

 is caught and hooked by the spines, and must have 

 his path cleared with a hatchet. But though so 

 troublesome to the traveller, and, as far as he is 

 concerned, the scourge of the forest, the ratan can 

 be turned to good account. The natives plat it 

 into mats and baskets, and twist it into ropes and 

 cordage. So strong are these natural ropes the 

 cordage, we might term it, of the forest that in 

 some parts of the Tropics bridges are made of them 

 across the rivers and streams. 



With the trepang and the ratan together the 

 native can buy plenty of arrack ; and it is so much 

 the worse for him. He carries it home, calls his 



