CHAP. XI. EXPLORATIONS OF THE FOREST. 283 



each corner of the raised kerb of stones surrounding the 

 hearth, a strong post ten or twelve feet high was fixed in the 

 ground. Four feet above the fireplace the space between 

 the posts was filled by laths or sticks placed across, and about 

 an inch apart ; three feet higher was a second stage of the 

 same kind, and a third at the top of the posts. The natives 

 called this structure over the fireplace sahala, and said it was 

 used as a place for their cooking utensils, as well as a place 

 for dried meat or fish, or any other articles they wished to 

 keep free from damp. 



In the afternoon, as Izaro had gone to some of the neigh- 

 bouring villages in search of rice, and as, on that account, 

 we should not proceed until the morning, I set off in search 

 of plants to the adjacent forest, which extended its tempting 

 covert to within a few hundred yards of the houses. The 

 first object which arrested my attention was what the natives 

 told me was an old tangena, or poison tree, which, though 

 the trunk was decayed, still exhibited vigorous and leafy 

 branches with blossoms and fruit. As I penetrated farther 

 into the forest, I was struck with the profuse and luxuriant 

 vegetation. The trees, though hard-wooded and slow-grow- 

 ing, were high, and their branches interlaced at the top; 

 while the under growth was thick with tangled bushes and 

 creepers, whose stalks, sometimes as large as cables, pre- 

 sented one impenetrable mass. Seeking here and there for 

 gaps made by the bullocks, and cutting and winding my way 

 wherever practicable, attempting to reach every tree that had 

 anything green on its trunk or branches, I saw a number of 

 orchids, but none were new. Ferns were abundant; and 

 amongst them the Davdllia polyantha, which the natives 

 call ampanga mamahily, was flourishing most luxuriantly. 

 The greatest rarity I met with in the forest was a new kind 

 of platycerum much resembling P. stemmaria, growing on 

 the trunks of trees twenty or thirty feet from the ground. 



