VOYAGE FKOM INDIA TO SIAM AND MALACCA. 167 



aim being" to find a specimen of the Granatum Littoruem 

 in bloom*, and I succeeded and found it pretty frequently, also 

 good ripe seed of the Cesalpinia nuga, and some other seeds, and 

 moreover fruits from the tree, which I have already described 

 in Tringuemalle ; the one v/hich I first thought to be a Flernandia. 



On my return to the ship I made a description of the above- 

 mentioned tree ; its wood is considered here to be the best for 

 building' purposes. 



7. — We sailed out of the harbour and had fine weather and 

 very favourable wind, but w^e could not obtain a pilot to pass a 

 bank, and therefore we had to cast anchor four English miles 

 from the mouth of the river. 



8. — The pilot came on board to-day, but by ill-luck we 

 stranded on a mudbank of about German mile's length, and we 

 were told that we should have to remain there patiently until 

 the next new-moon. 



9. — We certainly were settled there beautifully firmly, and 

 as the tide was about one foot lower to-day than yesterday, all 

 attempts to get the ship afloat w^ere useless. 



I obtained to day a stem, roots, and a few branches of the 

 Radix Dei para. The odour of the fresh root is very sweet and 

 agreeable ; the stem had a white-grey rough back ; the branches 

 had prickles underneath the leaves. The leaves were like the 

 drawing Rumph gives of them, long in shape. They dried quickly 

 and were hard to the touch, harder than those of the Ginelina 

 asiattca, therefore Mr Burmann must have been wrong in what 

 he says, as Gmelina amitica has smooth, fleshy leaves. 



11. — However much trouble they took to get us out, of the 

 mud, it was all in vain, and moreover by their using strong wind 

 glasses and cast the big anchor, we were in dangler of being wreck- 

 ed on the sandbank lying before us. I obtained some of the soil 

 which had been brought up by the big anchor; it consisted of.: a 

 grey kind of drifting' sand, intermixed with much mica and a 

 little clay, but it had a strong odour of .the Bitumen. 



12. — This afternoon I took an opportunity to g'O back to the 

 land, and had the good luck to have favourable wind, so that- I 

 reached the custom station about five o'clock, and one hour and a 

 half after that I got another boat, with which I went on to the 

 town this evening'. Before sunset I botanized a little and found 

 * Carapa moluccana, L. 



