JACK'S LETTERS TO WALLICH, 1819-1821. 193 



little diminished at present, by Sir S. having put me on a com- 

 mittee 101 to inquire into the state of society among the natives 

 under this establishment; a tremendous subject, and unfortunately 

 the greater part of the burden of it falls on me. 



The marine plant 102 No. 271 which I sent you in my last dis- 

 patch, I again found on the Coral Eeefs at Eat Island, and having 

 got better specimens, discover that is the Stratiotes acoroides, 

 figured in one of the last vols, of Rumphius. Have you any idea 

 what the plant is that is figured in Bumph. vol. 3, t. 26, and very 

 well described at page 47, by the name of Lignum Emanumf I 

 do not find it quoted anywhere, and am extremely puzzled what 

 to make of it ; can it have any relationship to Taxus ? I found 

 the plant at Singapore, and am not sure whether you have had 

 specimens of it: in case you should not I enclose one in this. 163 

 If it has separate male flowers, I have never met with them, and 

 Eumph. seems to have been equally ignorant of them. 



I have again met with the Sago, in still more perfect condi- 

 tion, and hope soon to be able to give you a full account of it. 

 I find that it is absolutely hermaphrodite; it sems to be Eumphius's 

 Sagus Icevis. There is also here a spinous species, whose fruit I 

 have not yet procured. 104 



The Morinda with umbellate flowers (spec. 77) 165 which you 

 in one of your letters observe to be new, seems to agree very exact- 

 ly with the Pada-vara, Rheed. H. Mai. 7 p. 51, t. 27, and as it does 

 not appear that the said figure has ever been quoted, I think there 

 can be little question of its novelty. If it is to remain a Morinda, 

 it may be called M. tetrandra " pedunculis umbellatis terminalibus, 

 corollis 4-fidis, intus hirsutis, foliis lanceolatis." 



161. Raffles thus writes to William Wilberforce under the date of 

 September 1819. "In our chaplain, the Rev. Charles Winter, I found 

 every disposition to extend the sphere of usefulness, and by associating 



him in a Committee of gentlemen I found the means of effective 



superintendence. The enclosed printed copy of the proceedings of this 

 committee will place you in full possession of the principles in which we 

 have proceeded, and of the particulars of what has been done towards the 

 establishment of schools at Bencoolen. In the last report of the Committee 

 with which this paper concludes, you will perceive some interesting obser- 

 vation on the condition of society, the character and usages of the people, 

 and the facilities generally extending the plan of educating the whole of 

 the native population" (Memoir of Sir Thomas Stamford Baffles, p. 47). 

 And again (on p. 49), "I am in a particular manner indebted to a member 

 of my family, Mr. Jack, for the ardour and ability which he has infused 

 into the researches of the Committee. ' ' 



162. Enhalus Koenigii, Rich. Miquel in his "Sumatra, zijne Plan- 

 tenwereld," Amsterdam, 1862, only records this for Tapanuli; but it must 

 be common all down the coast. 



163. Podocarpus Rumphii, Blume, differing in small points from P. 

 neriifolia, Don, which Jack had found in Singapore. See note No. 172. 



164. Probably not a distinct species. 



165. A Penang specimen. It was Morinda tetrandra, described by 

 Jack in the Malayan Miscellanies, i. (1820 p. 13), now united to M. 

 umbellata, Linn. : and Wallich distributed specimens collected by Jack. 



R. A. Soc, No. 73, 1916. 



