Naturc's Wonderland. 11 



ever, about the durian, and that is, tlie odor 

 belies its taste, for tlie odor suggests dc- 

 cayed limburger cheese, And yet the peo- 

 ple say it is the best fruit that grows. 



Amougst these fruit orchards is a wide 

 variety of the bird life of the island. Here 

 are to be found Aocks of cockatoos (Malay 

 "kakatua," mcaning "old sister''), scarlet 

 lories, green parrots, and an occasional 

 beautifi.il bird of paradise, with tai) feathers 

 lourteen inches long; and above ail perfcct 

 showers of little paroquets in incessant 

 motion, little balls of glistening greeu dart- 

 ing from branch to branch, throwing a 

 ceaseless shuttle of color amougst the trees. 



A little lower down, where watcr may be 

 brought into use for irrigation, in the val- 

 leys are to be found the great ricc rlelds 

 which support thc population of Java, aud 

 the sugar cane, producing the sugar which 

 for so long a tiine was a commodity of 

 great prorit to the Dutch Governmcnt, but 

 which in these later days of subsidized 

 beet-root sugar industrics in other lands 

 only makes the government revenues still 

 more difficult. The rice rlelds present to 

 the eye at the proper season one of the 



