70 NOTES ON THE SIAMESE PROVINCES OF KOOWI, &C. 



The Jungle Covering. 



Jungle forest sweeps evenly over the Provinces of Koowi 

 and Bangtaphan, but is interrupted in Pateeo by a large tract 

 of grass country — of most interesting origin — but occurs 

 again in Champoon although of a much less primitive nature 

 than that in the two northern provinces. Rather stunted 

 trees, surrounded by and supporting numerous twining and 

 climbing shrubs, cover the hills with a thick, almost impene- 

 trable undergrowth. In the valleys, near the backbone ridge, 

 on the other hand, grow lofty trees affording valuable timber, 

 shading a damp green undergrowth of sapling-like shrubs. 

 In the plain, at the foot of the smaller hills, are large tracts of 

 bamboo forest, while the jungle extending over the plain is 

 much the same as that occurring in the valleys. Various 

 species of figs are extremely common, and fine gum-dammar 

 trees occurs all over these provinces and are farmed out for 

 their oil. The oil exudes into small wells dug out of the 

 trunk some four feet from the ground, and the exudation is 

 at times stimulated by setting fire to the oil in the well. It 

 is mostly used for making torches ; bast is dipped in the oil, 

 wrapt into a banana leaf, the whole tied up with pieces of rat- 

 tan constituting a torch — one of the principal articles of export. 



In the month of December, the leaves begin to fall, so that 

 by the beginning of March, just before many of the trees 

 burst into bloom, large tracts of the drier jungle are compara- 

 tively leafless. In many of these trees this shedding of the 

 leaf is likely due to some physiological adaptation ; in others 

 that bloom while in this leafless condition, it may be to in- 

 crease the display and attractiveness or facilitate the means 

 for fertilization ; and in some possibly it may be a bequest 

 from some distant ancestor that grew in a temperate climate. 



Competition for life is keen in the jungle, and although I 

 have no statistics to offer, I believe there is a high rate of 

 mortality amongst the jungle trees. Tottering trees infested 

 with white ants abound, the fig trees are everywhere making 

 victims, and after a slight gale many trunks lie prone with 

 tons of soil upturned with their roots. When the trunk has 



