CH. IV TALISSE ISLASD 71 



ordinary boots on rising groxmd or where it was particu- 

 larly slippery with dried fallen leaves. 



"Work in the mangrove swamps was always rather 

 depressing and disgusting. The damp, stifling, stiuking 

 atmosphere, the muddy slippery ground, and the swarms of 

 ants, flies, mosquitoes, and other abominations, made the 

 work tiresome and annoying. The mixture, however, of 

 marine and terrestrial faunas, and the varied conditions of 

 life the swamp affords, make it an important locahty for 

 the naturaUst. The best swamps on the east coast of TaHsse 

 — that is to say, those that were the broadest and most luxu- 

 riant — are situated opposite the southern point of Kina- 

 bohutan Island, and about half-way down the coast between 

 Koa and Tiudela Straits. The best place, as far as numbers 

 go, to collect orchids is the sandy beach on the shore side 

 of the swamp, where there are usually a number of young 

 or stunted forest trees, beariog parasitic ferns and orchids 

 which are not beyond the reach of a good long pole or rake. 

 Of the many heart-rending disappointments it was my fate 

 to undergo, I think that my experience as an orchid collector 

 was the chief. When I first arrived, and was well enough 

 to search for such things, there were few orchids — in ac- 

 cessible places, at any rate — in flower. The only one I 

 obtained was a species of GrammatophyUum. I set to work 

 to collect a number of the biilbs to send to England. 

 Now, collecting orchid bulbs in the region of the swamps 

 may be an entertaining amusement to other people who are 

 looking on, but it is an unpleasant sport for the naturalist ; 

 so disagreeable is it, indeed, that Manuel, after one day s 

 experience of it, refused to help me any fm-ther. The 

 reason is that, as one pulls away the orchid from the 

 tree to which it chngs, numbers of large red ants, which 

 are always running over them, turn round and fiercely 

 attack the would-be orchid collector. 



