108 VOYAGE FROM INDIA TO SIAM AND MALACCA. 



the stem was not much thicker than a thumb and had also raised 

 parts in ring-shape like the common kinds. The leaves grew in 

 bundles growing far from the next ; they are attached to the stem 

 and grow upwards. I only found fruits which were almost ball- 

 shaped ; the female blossom was prickly. To-day I got some fruits 

 of another kind ; they grew on a stalk, which was one foot long 

 and as thick as a finger, it curved, was smooth, and woody ; 

 near the end there are four or five round, pointed, long, and 

 woody styles, close together. The fruits are prickly, blood-red, 

 and of the size of a full-grown apple. The fruits are sessiles, 

 alternate and do not grow close together. The stigma grows 

 at the side of the styles and is a long slit. I could not obtain 

 the male blossoms yet. But as I had some male blossoms of the 

 first species, one of them nearly always being in bloom, but 

 generally only one at a time, I described that. There are indeed 

 many varieties ; the bracts of the one smell deliciously, and the 

 Portuguese and Chinese put the blossom among their clothes ; 

 while the anthers have a somewhat sickening smell and produce 

 a great amount of white dust. 



A second kind does not smell at all, therefore the Malays 

 call this kind by a different name. I do not know the fruit of the 

 unscented one ; the leaves are only slightly different in the two 

 kinds. 



There is another kind here, treasured by the Chinese on 

 account of the lovely smell of its leaves. This is specially strong- 

 Avhen one cuts the leaves into strips and dries them ; the scent 

 then surpasses that of the bracts of the first-mentioned kind. 

 The stem is exactly like that of the other, but the leaves, though 

 sword-shaped, are almost quite flat; it has no prickles, either on 

 the edges nor at the back, but everything is smooth and much 

 more dehcate. The point of the leaves is quite short. There is 

 a general idea prevailing that it never has blossoms in the gardens, 

 but that it has both blossoms and fruits in the jungles, but it has 

 no smell there ; this gives rise to the belief that there must be a 

 different species still. I have already mentioned before that I 

 have seen such a little tree in Kar Nicquebar, and that it had 

 no prickles. The Malays call it Pandang. 



12. — The frequent rain, which falls now almost daily, 

 hindered me from making any botanical excursion. I got how- 

 ever some Epidendra of a tree, the front part of which was 



