40 AN ACCOUNT OF A BOTANICAL EXPEDITION 



ful orange coloured Saccolabium S. miniatum citrinum infuH 



liower. As it was now past mid-day we retraced our steps 

 and returned across the rice fields heavily loaded with spoils. 



Going through the forest we heard the Wawa, (Hylobatcs 

 (((/His), and saw tracks of wild pigs, but no other animals of 

 any size seem to occur here. There were a few leeches in 

 this forest, but they seem to be rare in this region. 



March 2. I went with Mat and Hussein to explore the 

 hill called Bukit Hangat Besih, standing in the rice fields north 

 of Kanga village. A very characteristic rice field tree is Do- 

 lichandrone Rheedii (Bignoniaccae). This is typically a tidal 

 river tree of a low bushy t\pe, but here in the paddy fields, 

 it grows in the form of a rather shabby poplar ; the stem is 

 stout 2 feet or more through and the branches tall and erect 

 with few leaves, giving it a ragged appearance. This is so 

 to say somewhat atoned for by its flowers. They are white 

 with a long tube, and a spreading circle of petals, and very 

 fragrant, scenting the air deliciously in the early morning. 

 The flowers are nocturnal, apparently opening after dark 

 and commencing to fall by seven o'clock in the morning. 

 The tree is about 60 feet tall, and is the commonest one in 

 the paddy fields. Doubtless it is one of the relics of the 

 time when the whole of this country was a tidal swamp, 

 gradually filling up after the disappearance of the sea which 

 overlay all this area. There are several more seashore plants 

 still scattered over the paddy-fields such as the sand-spurge, 

 Euphorbia Atoto. 



At the foot of the rocks we came upon a young monitor 

 lizard, or Biawak (Varanus salvator) which had been just 

 killed by some animal. The head had been eaten off, part of the 

 back torn and the tail bitten off. It was quite fresh and the 

 blood was still liquid. It was probably killed by a wild cat, 

 which had fled at our approach. 



We clambered up the hill to near the top following the 

 tracks of wild pigs which seem to climb these rocky hills 

 with ease. The flora proved very barren. A toft. Sterculia 

 like S.foctida, a small leaved Eugenia, a Mcmccylon and the 



Jour. Straits Branch 



