390 CELEBES. [chap. xvii. 



cocoa-nut palm still produces fruit abundantly, but is 

 said to be deficient in oil. Oranges thrive better than 

 below, producing abundance of delicious fruit ; but the 

 shaddock or pumplemous (Citrus decumana) requires the 

 full force of a tropical sun, for it will not thrive even at 

 Tondano a thousand feet lower. On the hilly slopes rice 

 is cultivated largely, and ripens well, although the tem- 

 perature rarely or never rises to 80°, so that one would 

 think it might be grown even in England in fine summers, 

 especially if the young plants were raised under glass. 



The mountains have an unusual quantity of earth or 

 vegetable mould spread over them. Even on the steepest 

 slopes there is everywhere a covering of clays and sands, 

 and generally a good thickness of vegetable soil. It is 

 this which perhaps contributes to the uniform luxuriance 

 of the forest, and delays the appearance of that sub-alpine 

 vegetation which depends almost as much on the abun- 

 dance of rocky and exposed surfaces as on difference of 

 climate. At a much lower elevation on Mount Ophir in 

 Malacca, Dacrydiums and Ehododendrons with abundance 

 of Nepenthes, ferns, and terrestrial orchids suddenly took 

 the place of the lofty forest ; but this was plainly due to 

 the occurrence of an extensive slope of bare granitic rock 

 at an elevation of less than 3,000 feet. The quantity of 

 vegetable soil, and also of loose sands and clays, resting 

 on steep slopes, hill-tops and the sides of ravines, is a 



