UNTOUCHED FOREST. 45 



Nov. 15. — We set off this morning with a single 

 attendant each, and one to carry my barometer, in 

 order to visit the shore of the southern sea, which 

 was not more than about ten miles distant. We 

 passed through partially cultivated ground for three 

 or four miles, and then got out on a small open plain 

 of a barren appearance, on which were large spaces 

 of bare lava pebbles and volcanic sand, brought down 

 apparently by the floods of a considerable brook, 

 which came from the direction of Semiru. This 

 brook wandered over the plain towards the east, 

 without any regular bed. Beyond this plain, the 

 road passed for nearly a mile through a portion of 

 forest, apparently untouched, the primitive forest 

 and jungle of the country. This was very mag- 

 nificent. The road leading through it looked like 

 an avenue, and although of a good width, probably 

 twenty yards, was completely over-arched by the 

 lofty boughs. Stately forest trees, of great height 

 and size, and of many varieties, with straight un- 

 broken stems and broadly-spreading branches at 

 top, were matted below into an almost impenetrable 

 thicket of underwood, one mass of varied foliage, 

 while great creepers wreathed their festoons from 

 tree to tree, hanging here and there like ropes 

 twined round with leaves. Graceful palms, of 

 several species, rose among the woods, and drooping 

 tufts of parasitic ferns clung to the branches of the 



tive, and trust the reader, to whom they may be familiar, will 

 excuse my prolixity, for the sake of those to whom the country 

 and the people may be as novel as they were to myself. 



