310 TIMOR. [chap. xm. 



rivals. Yet no one ever thought for a moment of showing 

 disapprobation of the crime, or even of considering it a 

 crime at all, the husbands in question being low half- 

 castes, who of course ought to make way for the pleasures 

 of their superiors. 



Judging from what I saw myself and by the descriptions 

 of Mr. Geach, the indigenous vegetation of Timor is poor 

 and monotonous. The lower ranges of the hills are every- 

 where covered with scrubby Eucalypti, which only occa- 

 sionally grow into lofty forest trees. Mingled with these 

 in smaller quantities are acacias and the fragrant sandal- 

 wood, while the higher mountains, which rise to about six 

 or seven thousand feet, are either covered with coarse grass 

 or are altogether barren. In the lower grounds are a 

 variety of weedy bushes, and open waste places are covered 

 everywhere with a nettle-like wild mint. Here is found 

 the beautiful crown lily, Gloriosa superba, winding among 

 the bushes, and displaying its magnificent blossoms in 

 great profusion. A wild vine also occurs, bearing great 

 irregular bunches of hairy grapes of a coarse but very 

 luscious flavour. In some of the valleys where the 

 vegetation is richer, thorny shrubs and climbers are so 

 abundant as to make the thickets quite impenetrable. 



The soil seems very poor, consisting chiefly of decom- 

 posing clayey shales ; and the bare earth and rock is almost 

 everywhere visible. The drought of the hot season is so 



