VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SIAM AXD MALACCA. 93 



caused moreover much decay in the fields and also in my collectio ii 



In the afteinoon, I walked for about one German mile to- 

 wards the north east of the town, and saw in a garden the coffee 

 tree with fruits. I collected some of the less ripe ones for sowing- 

 purposes, some blossoms I kept for my collection. The way led 

 continually past gardens, where the Chinese plant all sorts of 

 vegetables; their beds were all long, raised, and about two feet 

 Avide, so that the water of the frequent rains could easily flow off. 

 They did not observe any other rules in their gardening than 

 those imposed by necessity. Their houses stood near the gardens 

 and were built upon poles, but the cause of this way of building 

 was not so much the water as the fear of wild beasts. 



Their fences consisted only of thin pieces of wood, standing 

 apart from each other. 



The most frequent shrub here was Melastonia htis. I found 

 the two kinds of European UUicularia, some kinds of new Filivibus 

 which I took home to examine ere it grew dark. 



8. — To-day I found in the garden of a Malay a small Mon- 

 andrist, of the class of Scitamhium, which was in blossom. The 

 plants grew in tufts with knotted twisted roots, and have long 

 beard-like libres at their base. The leaves lie on the ground, 

 they have short stalks and are sheathed one into the other. Be- 

 tween these sheath-like stalks grow the blossoms in small bun- 

 dles sessile near the root. 



The blossoms have a tube of half an inch long, which rea-.-hes 

 over the leaves ; it is double at the top. The outer coi oUa is 

 divided into three very narrow parts ; the inner lobes stand flat 

 and spread out; two of them are club-shaped and stand near 

 together, the third is much wider,^ concave and much stiffer, 

 specially towards the middle, it is again divided into loui parts. 

 The two parts at the side are small delicately olsolete seirated, 

 and round at the ends. Ihe middle one is divided down to the 

 middle, the lobes are club-shaped, the incision is linear and the 

 edge lightly serrated. At the base before the division it is yellow, 

 the edges of the incision are pu pie at iheh tare; all the rest is 

 snowy white. The blossom has the size ol a large pink. The 

 detailed description is to be found among the Munanctrists. It is 

 cultivated in the gardens as a medical plant, and is said to llooni 

 rarely. The root is quite white and has an aromatic taste and 

 smell. 



