7A^ JAVA. 



77 



from tlio eraption of Kmkatoa, in 1883, overwhelmetl its sea- 

 board and washed so many: of their fellows to destruction. 



NotwEtbstamliiig the bad season, l)y hunting fur and wide 

 my herbarium grew slowly in biiik, fur, thougk the great 

 trees were in a very destitute condition, berbiiceoua plants 

 were abundant, and not a few of the smaller shrubs and trees 

 had begun to recover somewhat. Among the most attractive 

 shrubs were the species of figs, of which there was an endless 

 variety. The wliule group of the Artocarpem is remarkable 

 f(»r beauty of foliage and fruit — as the hollow receptacle in 

 whiL'h their minute flowers and true fruits are developed is 

 often popidarly called— for their striking liabit and for their 

 useful products. Some of tliem,tts tlic india-rubber producing 

 warijigins^aud kawats species of Urosti(/ma {U, mwi-oearptim, 

 and mnsoeiatuHiJ, are among the giants of the vegetable world, 

 and its most relentless parasites an<l tyrants. Brought by 

 some wandering bird or fruit-eating quadruped to the cleft of 

 a high tree, the seed germinating drops down all round its 

 host long tendril -I ike roots, which in a few seasons become 

 indissoluble bonds that interlace, grow together, and close up 

 the tree-stem that gave it its support, till its life is choked 

 out, and only here and there, before it tiually disappears, can it 

 be seen through latticed apertures, like an Inquisition martyr 

 built into the wall. The young kawat grows, shoots upward 

 its tcjp and 



" spreads her arms, 

 Branchirig so broad and long, that oa lue groand 

 ThtJ beniletl twiyn take roiyl ; ainl datigbttrd grow 

 About the motlier-trt'e, a pillarcU sLade.'* 



Less stately bui uot less beiiutiful are the shrub forms, the 

 species of jlamjda^ {Fwus 7iuerocar}.kti mtpIaSf and politona) 

 whose rough leaves provide the natives with ready-made sand- » 

 paper; the Fietts cordifolmj the Amismata (Fieits aspera),'^' 

 and the Kihedjo — a bushy shrub, whose Iruit, always in 

 pn>tiision along its branches, is when ripe of a rich purple 

 hue, and unripe of the brightest vermilion or carmine colour, 

 in brilliant contrast to its dark foliage; while the semi- 

 parasitic climbing Fieug rodkans delights to cling to the 

 tallest trees of the forest. Its fruit, which is as large as an 

 lUHUge, is put forth throughout the whole extent of its stem in 



