AN EXPEDITION TO CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 147 



Nephr odium truncatum and there were abundance of the blue 

 crab with white claws Cardisoma camifex. This crab is only 

 to be met with round these freshwater streams, and their 

 presence shows the proximity of water. I found some however 

 in the forest about a quarter of a mile from the Waterfall, 

 where no water was visible above ground but there was said to 

 have been a stream there at one time. This is the only crab 

 eaten by the natives, who often bring baskets of them into the 

 Settlement and even take them as far as Singapore. Leaving 

 the wood I went along the coast for a considerable distance 

 and found two more streams similar to the first. In many 

 places the pandans which fringed the coast had been burnt 

 evidently by fishermen to get at the sea cliffs for fishing, and 

 they were often replaced by patches of the saltgi'ass. At one 

 spot was quite a grove of fine Arengas, the ground beneath 

 being almost bare of vegetation. Epiphytic plants are much 

 scarcer in these shore woods than further inland. A few 

 Saccolabiums only were seen. The grass Ischaemum foliosum 

 so abundant on the cliffs of the North part of the Island, is 

 very scarce on the East and South Coast. 



On the following day I started with the Plant Collector 

 for Steep Point, a great vertical cliff to the south, being 

 especially desirous of finding " Asy stasia coromandeliana " 

 said to have been collected by Andrews there. As this plant 

 commonly cultivated in Singapore occurs wild only in Africa 

 and India it seemed highly probable that there was a mistake 

 in the identification of Andrews' plant. I was quite unable 

 to find a scrap of it wild or cultivated anywhere in the Island, 

 but a very distinct species of the genus is abundant on the 

 shore terraces near Waterfall and elsewhere. Having walked 

 to the Whitebeach we made our way along the coast over the 

 sharp pinnacles of coral reef to a stream bed coming down 

 over basalt rocks but quite dry at that time. The rocks were 

 covered with the prostrate fleshy-leaved Pemphis with tussocks of 

 Fimbristylis cymosa in the hollows. Then we pushed through 

 a very bad bit of thick scrub which had grown up since 

 the whole of this place had been burnt about a year and a half 

 previously. After climbing up a steep rock face on to a spur 



B.'A. Soc, No. 45, 1905. 



