102 VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SIAM AND MALACCA. 



A third kind was only half as big and was called Rang-ostan .* 

 The fruits were not quite round and covered with long green 

 fibrils, which were very much like prickles. The peel was red, 

 the fleshy part of the inside like that of the others ; they were 

 not much thought of and only eaten by common people. There 

 was still another kind of fruit with a peel like the second kind I 

 mentioned, mangostan or Garcinia celebis ; the fleshy part was 

 the same only it had no divisions and only one seed, which was 

 round, compressed with a big style at one side ; it had a chest- 

 nut-coloured peel. 



In the afternoon I went out in spite of the rain, but could 

 make very few reseaches on that account. The only remarkable 

 thing I found was a Sijngenesia, the calyx of which resembled 

 that of a Clirysocoma ; the blo?soms themselves were reddish, 

 obversely oval, with serrated edges, it was a shrub of about half 

 man's height and grew in marshy soil.f I found there also two 

 Cyperi which were new to me, and the Leonurus with the divided 

 leaves ; Cassia occidentalis grew frequently along the hedges. 



The governor Abester, who was supposed to go to Tranque- 

 bar, and whom we thought already lost on the coast of Coroman- 

 del, had happily arrived herewith his family and belongings ; they 

 had contrary wind on their way, which had detained them. He 

 was obhged to stop here on account of the rainy season on that 

 coast. 



25. To-day I paid my first calls on the surgeons, who are 

 the only doctors here and are all Germans. I wanted specially to 

 see Mr. Werth, who has lived here already twenty years, and 

 was well acquainted with these parts, therefore asked him 

 about the dragon's blood, and he assured me that it was often 

 made from a kind of reed bearing red blossoms, which frequently 

 grows in Sumatra, specially in a place where the Dutch have an 

 office and a district called Liat. He told me that the sago was 

 not made here but was brought hither from other places, especi- 

 ally from the island (missing in M. S.) and from Sumatra, 

 but that there were also some sago trees in the wood of this 

 neighbourhood. The best mangosteen trees grow in the wilder- 

 ness, specially in mountainous parts; in the gardens they lose 

 their delicious taste. 



* Eambutan. f Pluchea indica. 



