210 PLANTS. 



the course of the week we procured 78 tons with 

 less trouble than had been anticipated. I afterwards 

 repeatedly visited the watering' creek^ and a brief 

 account of the productions of its neighbourhood 

 may here be given as a popular contribution to the 

 natural history of the little known Louisiade 

 Archipelago. 



The rock is scarcely ever exposed on the banks of 

 the river except at the rapid before alluded to. 

 Though still mica-slate, it is there of much greater 

 hardness and denser texture than on Pig and Round 

 Islands, and stretches across the stream hke a dyke, 

 running nearly north and south T\ith a westerly dip 

 of about 60°. Elsewhere, along the shores of Coral 

 Haven, this mica-slate is of a leaden hue and 

 glistening lustre, yielding to the nail, with a shght 

 greasy feel, especially in some pieces of a shining 

 ash-grey, acted upon by salt water. From hand 

 specimens alone it is difficult to assign a name to 

 this rock, as it partakes more or less of the characters 

 of mica, chlorite, and talc-schists. 



Among the botanical productions Nepenthes 

 destillatoria, the famous pitcher-plant of the East, 

 deserves mention. It grows abundantly among the 

 tall grass on the skirts of the jungle, and the 

 pitchers invariably contained a small quantity of 

 limpid fluid of a shghtly sweetish taste, with small 

 insects floating on its surface. The finest of the 

 tree-ferns (Hemitelium) grew alone near the 

 watering-place, and was cut down to furnish speci- 



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