VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SI AM AND MALACCA. 65 



by the natives of Malabar, even the Pancratium Zeylonicum and 

 Mexicanum, and only in some cases they use Cathe-Wail, Mallec, 

 etc., according' to where the flower is found, they call them, 

 wood, field, mountain, etc., Teckchabs, (bulbs being the transla- 

 tion of this word). Their roots have been used intermixed by 

 the French surg-eons with Squills, and amongst them Crinum 

 asiaticum and the AmarijUis Zeylonica. * The French are neither 

 experienced in botany, nor conscientious in their cures, a proof 

 for this being' that they call the tendrils of the A hrus jwecatorius, 

 Liquiritia. f 



Amongst these lily leaves I found some beautiful specimens 

 of Opluoglossum vulgar e. In a little pool I saw an Ardea Gazetta^ 

 holding- a meal with several ravens. My curiosity made me in- 

 vestigate why these two guests, so very different in nature, 

 should be together here, and I found that in this pool there 

 were many small fish, young frogs still retaining their tails, and 

 millions of shelled monoculi, J which were now exposed without 

 water. On my return I saw near a pond some birds pick- 

 ing up worms in the damp grass, and by the chattering noise 

 they easily betrayed themselves to belong' to the family of the 

 Gracula rook. Their head, back, wing's and tail were black, 

 above their ej^es there was a white line, reaching as far as the 

 neck, the breast was quite white, the beak yellow, at the base 

 red, their feet were pale red, and when they flew I saw some 

 white feathers in their wings. The size was that of an ordi- 

 nary European black-bird, 1 am in doubt whether they were 

 the Gracala Saularis; the short time I spent here did not give 

 me an opportunity to catch one. I saw the Phoenicopterus,^ being' 

 kept by the Europeans in their gardens for show. 



15. — I went across an arm of the stream to a village, which 

 was very prettily situated, and where many big boats and 

 some ships of several hundred tons were being repaired. The 

 boat in which we crossed the river was a palm tree dug out 

 with the root and then made hollow inside ; this kind of boats is 

 the only Cottmenous (Catamaran ?) sort of raftboat used here. 

 The root end of the tree is several times thicker than the other 

 end and is almost quite round by nature, except where the 



* Crinum latifohum. % Cypris. 



t Liquorice. §. Flamingo. 



