JX SUMATIiA. 



207 



scarlet M^chjfuanthes^ and occiisionally a gorgeous asclepiad. 

 The varied forms and colours of the foliage, however, ofreatly 

 relieved the geueml want of flowers. From the broad leaves 

 of the Ginger family and the tangled thickets of palms, to 

 the gnicefal fronds ofAhopMla, C'yii^Amaud creepitig DavaUiu^ 

 to the pandans and aroids which embrace the tree trmiks and 

 clothe the leafless coils of the liaues, there is a perpetual and 

 refreshing variety. Hf^re I found a curious species of Fieusj 

 whose long stem- branches penetrated undergrount], where the 

 figs were produced with their orifices only above the surface. 



Nothing could be finer than many of the crowns of flowers 

 of the giant trees that I was constantly felling. One of these, 

 a species of Stijrax (S, subpamculatmn), was a mass of blossom 

 which scented the region of the mountain for days after I felled 

 it, and often beguiled me aside to admire even its fading beauty. 



At 4800 feet I gathered the first ericaceous plants, as 

 climbing slirnbs on the tops of the highest trees ; and some 500 

 feet higher the grountl was strewed with great blossoms four 

 to five inches in diameter, from the Qardonia escelsa^ a giant of 

 the Ternstroeniaceie, or Tea family. At 6000 feet the region of 

 troublesome and irritating rattans and of Pijchospenna palms 

 was passed, and I entered a forest of more slender trees, 

 with still many grand fern-loaded sjwcimens among them, 

 especially belonging to the Myrtle liimLly as their fallen 

 corollas indicitted. At 7000 feet, near the half-way camp 

 I had erected, a patch of tall Pandau trees occurred on the 

 sides of a gorge, but nowhere else on the mountain. Here, 

 flitting over the fallen logs, I stalked a pretty little brown 

 hill- wren (Pmepiftja pimlla)^ which started on the slightest 

 motion into a hole or crevice, and when at last wounded it 

 took refuge in a burrow two yar<ls long, whence it htwl to be 

 dug out» This species was kno^ra hefore only from the 

 Himalayas and Tenasserim till it was discovered in this island 

 on the Padang mountains by Dn Beccari ; but my Dempo 

 specimen was the first that had been seen in England. 

 Besides herds of elephants, an occasional Siamang, and 

 many tigers, mammalian life di(^show itself on the mountain, - ' 

 The long grey-beard Hehens now covering the trees were an 

 indication of the dampness of the atmosphere. Here a red- 

 stemmed Begonia grew in the utmost luxuriance, intermingling 



