248 LOMBOCK. [chap. x. 



and has great attractions for many birds, from the white 

 cockatoos to the little yellow Zosterops, who feast on the 

 crimson seeds which are displayed when the fruit bursts 

 open. The great palm called " Gubbong " by the natives, 

 a species of' Corypha, is the most striking feature of the 

 plains, where it grows by thousands and appears in three 

 different states — in leaf, in flower and fruit, or dead. It 

 lias a lofty cylindrical stem about a hundred feet high and 

 two to three feet in diameter ; the leaves are lame and fan- 

 shaped, and fall off when the tree flowers, which it does 

 only once m its life in a huge terminal spike, on which are 

 produced masses of a smooth round fruit of a green colour 

 and about an inch in diameter. When these ripen and fall 

 the tree dies, and remains standing a year or two before it 

 falls. Trees in leaf only are by far the most numerous, 

 then those in flower and fruit, while dead trees are scat- 

 tered here and there among them. The trees in fruit are 

 the resort of the great green fruit pigeons, which have been 

 already mentioned. Troops of monkeys (Macacus cyno- 

 molgus) may often be seen occupying a tree, showering 

 down the fruit in great profusion, chattering when dis- 

 turbed and making an enormous rustling as they scamper 

 off among the dead palm leaves ; while the pigeons have a 

 loud booming voice more like the roar of a wild beast than 

 the note of a bird. 



My collecting operations here were carried on xmder 



