AN EXPEDITION TO CHRISTMAS' ISLAND. 145 



In the afternoon I went with Kassan through the woods 

 along the shore to the south towards Steep Point, and after 

 passing through a mass of lofty and picturesque rocks, found a 

 fisherman's track which ran along a projecting point of rocks 

 and ended in a very pretty little bay, with a white coral beach 

 beyond which the big rollers broke over great masses of coral 

 reef, where were many of the splendid large blue fishes which 

 seem constantly to haunt the broken water on the reefs. On 

 the right of the bay facing the sea the rocks were low and 

 broken up into sharp pinnacles, troublesome to walk over. 

 Tournefortia, Scoevola and a curious form of Pemphis acidula 

 were the characteristic plants. The Pemphis formed large 

 shrubs more or loss erect except where exposed to heavy winds, 

 where they were quite prostrate covering the rocks with a close 

 mat of twigs and foliage, but the most remarkable point about 

 this form was the very thick fleshy leaves, quite unlike those 

 of the common form round Flying Fish Cove, which had the 

 usual rather hard and dry leaves. Its appearance, especially 

 that of the prostrate form, was so different that I took it at 

 first for a distinct species, but the flowers and fruit are identical 

 with those of the ordinary form. A few seaweeds and some 

 fine cowries were obtained on the reef, and then we ascended 

 the higher promontory on the North side of the bay by a 

 fisherman's track. It was covered in part with a mass of the 

 yellow flowered composite Wedelia, with bushes of Tournefortia, 

 Pandanus, etc., but the terminal portion of this promontory 

 consisting of the same brown pinnacles of rock as on the other 

 side produced only the pink-flowered fleshy plant Sesuvium 

 portulacastrum not previously recorded from Christmas Island. 

 An old Javanese woman at the Waterfall told us that the 

 Sepit as she called it was delicious when cooked and that she 

 was a great hand at cooking it. Though abundant so close 

 to the Waterfall she had no idea that there was any to be got. 

 A day or two later we collected a quantity and had it boiled. 

 It was indeed excellent, tasting like something between 

 French beans and spinach. It requires howeFer a good deal 

 of washing previously as otherwise it is very saline. The 

 plant is one of very wide distribution and occurs on most 



E. A. Soc, No, 45, 1905. 



