34 



UALAN. 



of which are sometimes an inch thick, nowhere show, at least about this season, 

 leaves or branches, but run through the whole forests like so many ropes ; they are 



ship. Highly picturesque are their numerous twists, and the chains and plaitings 

 which they form amongst themselves. All these leafless creepers, as far as we 

 could see them, were of a dark chocolate or dusky colour, generally full of 

 sap, and extremely tough and flexible. Amongst the forest trees the already 

 mentioned Nuhn (Myristica sp. nov.) occupies a prominent place, and, on account 



of the peculiar formation of the branches, its foliage arrests attention ( 15 A A 



fine Eugenia, the flowers of which (here ripe fruit) grow out of the stem, belongs 

 to the characteristic plants of this upper region. In that below, near the sea, it 

 occurs but rarely, and is of diminutive dimensions. Unfortunately I had no time 

 to draw a fully developed specimen, and have therefore been obliged to con- 

 tent myself with introducing a rather weak one ; the plant attains much greater 

 height and thickness. The fruits, either isolated or picturesquely grouped, look 

 somewhat like cherries, but are larger and either white or red. They are fleshy, 

 but hard and inedible.* Two monocotyledons, already incorporated in the 



last view, could not have been left out here, Dvaccena terminalis^ (10 | 11 J 



growing in small groups amongst the creepers, and a Maranta (14 | 15 - 



Close by the latter generally flourishes a species of Costus (4 h). The slender 

 palm (13 | 14 k) is apparently a young specimen of a very fine species, rather 

 common, though isolated, in the higher mountain regions of this island. Its very 

 straight trunk attains a considerable height, enabling one from the sea to dis- 

 tinguish their crowns above the general level of the forests in the mountains. 

 Want of time prevented us from forcing our way through the jungle as far as that 

 locality, but lower down this splendid plant, termed " Kutuar " by the natives, 

 does not seem to be found. I remember having only been near it when, led 

 by native guides, we were on a road, steep and difficult to trace, which led through 

 the interior of the island to the Bay of Lala. The first specimen met with on 

 that mountain road is the one introduced ; I have drawn it as carefully as time 

 would permit. A second and much finer one was encountered after having de- 



* Possibly the fruit may not have been quite a red and a white variety. — Berthold Seemann. 

 ripe, and hence appeared inedible ; otherwise the f Probably an allied, but different species. — 



description here given may be reconciled with Berthold Seemann. 

 Eugenia or Jambosa Malaccensis, of which there is 



especially attached to the crown of old trees, and quite tight, as in a well-trimmed 



