64 VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SI AM AND MALACCA. 



together. Its sword shaped leaves, which are provided with sharp 

 thorns at their edges and their back, do not allow anyone to 

 penetrate ; but the drawback in these hedges is, that they take 

 up a great amount of room and that their stems and their shoots 

 being partly descending roots, form larger or smaller cavities 

 wherein all bad vermin finds shelter ; viz : the Ichneumon * 

 Canis aureus, "f and very often Coluber naja. \ They were 

 just in bloom, but there were only male blossoms to be found, 

 whose scent filled the whole air with its sweetness ; I have 

 given a description of them repeatedly and omit doing so 

 here ag-ain, because Mr. Arch. v. Linne thinks there is a good 

 description of it by Messrs Solander and Banks. The sandy 

 and little overgTown places were almost entirely covered by. 

 the Indif/otea gratissima which as one walks on fills the air 

 with delicious perfume. I have already described it ; it resem- 

 bles very much the blossom of Indifjofera enneaphylla, rarely 

 (having) more than two blossoms ; its stalks lie also on the 

 ground, but are red and slightly hairy ; its leaves are three to 

 five in number, they are mostly oval and unequal in size. 



The open field was entirely covered with leaves, resembling 

 those of the lily. Amongst them were some I did not know, but 

 most of them were those of the Indian lily, a new plant, which is 

 difficult to find, because it blooms in x\pril and May without 

 producing any leaves, and only when all has ripened and dried 

 away, do its long narcissus-shaped leaves shoot out. I discovered 

 what it was with certainty by planting the bulb in a garden, where 

 I had the opportunity of watching what I have described the 

 blossoms are not remarkable, this circumstance may be the reason 

 why one has not introduced the plants into gardens. The 

 second kind of the above mentioned leaves was those of 

 OrnitJiogalwn Zeylonicum. § It blows at about the same times but 

 has its leaves when blooming. The third kind is a peculiar 

 specimen of Melanthium. I have in my description called it 

 radicans, because the tips of the leaves, as soon as they can touch 

 the ground, produce new bulbs ; in the Hortus Malabaricus of 

 Eheede is a good drawing of the leaves. He has not had the 

 blossoms drawn because they are but rarely seen. All the hulbs 

 of these plants are called without any distinction Xari Wanjaram 



* Mongoose J Cobra 



t Jackal § Probably a Chi orophy turn. 



