WE STRIKE INLAND 
but blissful, yet Nature, according to her law, offers 
her compensations, even in the primeval forest. 
About the elevation that we were traversing there 
grows a particular kind of palm, peculiarly grateful to 
the native when he is hungry—a not infrequent occur- 
rence—and at such moments of stress they discard 
their loads, search out this palm and cut it down. 
At the top, just below the crown of the palm, the 
last shoot, about six feet long, remains green. It is 
opened lengthways, and is peeled until the inside 
layers are reached. These layers are straw-coloured, 
like asparagus, and to the taste are sweet, slightly 
dashed with acid. Europeans, as well as natives, can 
eat great quantities of this wholesome and en- 
joyable food with impunity. It is excellent also for 
quenching thirst, for which it is often most convenient, 
as it grows in waterless regions. 
The gloom of the forest was diversified by the 
colours of its extraordinary orchids. One of these 
(grammatophyllum speciosum), which had made its 
home on a lofty tree, was of almost incredible luxuri- 
ance, and could the whole plant have been secured, 
it would not have weighed less than half a ton. I 
despatched one of my native boys to climb the tree 
to see if he could secure a specimen. He went about 
his task in the native fashion. ‘The climber stands 
with his face to the trunk, which, as well as his 
body, is encircled with a hoop of rattan cane. This 
hoop he holds in each hand, and his ankles are tied 
together. First, he leans back until his body has 
purchase on the hoop, and then at that moment, by 
the leverage of his ankles, he makes an upward 
ve 
