KLOUWAXG AND ITS CATES. 15-3 



understood, to satisfy the longing which filled us to feel under foot 

 something more solid than the deck of our schooner, which we had 

 not left for ten days. 



Nothing can be imagined so charming and so picturesque as 

 this strand, which the island shelters completely from the fury and 

 raging of the sea. 



At some distance from the shore, which the waters gently caress, 

 is hidden an Achiuese dwelling, in a forest of cocoanut, areca, and 

 other palms, which protect it from the solar rays ; a little further 

 off is a pepper plantation, admirably cultivated, where birds in the 

 greatest variety sing to their hearts' content. As a background to 

 the picture, rises the rocky mass of the island, presenting a vertical 

 wall, cut. or rather torn about, in the strangest fashion, and covered 

 over with a thick curtain of green, which seems to have been fas- 

 tened to the points of the rock by some magician. Here Nature 

 seems to have amused herself by gathering together the greatest 

 variety of shrubs, and the most peculiar plants to be found in the 

 tropical world ; leaves displaying the greatest diversity of shape 

 and colour combine with the rocky points, which here and there 

 crop up. to form a wondrous mosaic. 



A crowd of monkeys of all sizes disport themselves amidst the 

 shrubs, which appear to cling to the rocks only by enchantment, and 

 run along the monkey-ropes which droop in every direction, forming 

 an inextricable net. 



The island is composed chiefly of trachyte, crossed by numerous 

 bands of quartz and porphyry. I noticed also in several places 

 masses of selenite and melaphyre covered by overflows of lava. 



On my return to the vessel, I was shewn enormous black pud- 

 dings, about a foot long ( 0ni,30 de long ) among the coral rocks 

 which skirt the shore ; they are the " holothurion," or sea-leech, 

 called " tripang " by the Malays, who make it the object of an 

 important trade ; it is preserved, and highly appreciated by the 

 Chinese. 



The next morning we made the tour of the island in a boat. The 

 rock, worn by the sea, in some places projects more than fifteen 

 metres beyond its base. Every moment great birds (called in 

 Malay " kaka " ) flew out of the corners in the rock with a great 

 noise ; they were armed with enormous yellow beaks, which seemed 



