chap, xiil] COUPJNG. 289 



neighbourhood. In the spring of 1861 I spent four 

 months at Delli, the capital of the Portuguese possessions 

 in the eastern part of the island. 



The whole neighbourhood of Coupang appears to have 

 been elevated at a recent epoch, consisting of a rugged 

 surface of coral rock, which rises in a vertical wall between 

 the beach and the town, whose low white red-tiled houses 

 give it an appearance very similar to other Dutch settle- 

 ments in the East. The vegetation is everywhere scanty 

 and scrubby. Plants of the families Apocynacese and 

 Euphorbiaceae abound ; but there is nothing that can be 

 called a forest, and the whole country has a parched and 

 desolate appearance, contrasting strongly with the lofty 

 forest trees and perennial verdure of the Moluccas or of 

 Singapore. The most conspicuous feature of the vegetation 

 was the abundance of fine fan-leaved palms (Borassus 

 flabelliformis), from the leaves of which are constructed 

 the strong and durable water-buckets in general use, and 

 which are much superior to those formed from any other 

 species of palm. Erom the same tree, palm-wine and sugar 

 are made, and the common thatch for houses formed of the 

 leaves lasts six or seven years without removal. Close 

 to the town I noticed the foundation of a ruined house 

 below high -water mark, indicating recent subsidence. 

 Earthquakes are not severe here, and are so infrequent 

 and harmless that the chief houses are built of stone. 



vol. I. u 



