422 



A NATUEALIST'8 WANDEHJNGS 



liTeliness and by the saowiness of their plumage. One very 

 bold visitor we could not bring ourselves to destroy even to 

 add to our collection, the lovely scarlet Myzomela vuhierata, 

 which, when we were quiet, often hopped down even on the 

 rail of our verandah from Us favourite perch on the top of 

 a gnm-tree close by. A Mus^mnda fron^osa bush, and the tall 

 grass-stems on the other side of the path trom our hut were 

 constantly resorted to by several species of Finch, the pigmy 

 Amadma insuIariSf the Munia paUkIa, and the Edrelda 

 Jlamdivetdns. 



My own hunting grounds were the sloj^es above our but, 

 where the vegetation was very different from that which I had 

 kitherto been accustomed to in the richly-clad western islands 

 or in the humid Moluccas. I can scarcely say that we had 

 any true forest, for the trees rarely entwined their crowns over- 

 head, and the ground was covered with sparse grass sufficient 

 to giVe it a park-like look. The precipitous ravines afforded 

 the only really dense vegetation that existed whei-e out I laid 

 the foundation of a promising herbarium. My means of dry- 

 ing the specimens, however, were very limited, as I could not 

 manage at that time to requisition more labour to erect a 

 drying-house ; and unless in these regions plants are dried 

 by fire heat, they become mouldy in a very short time even 

 with the most careful attention, and are then a terrible heart- 

 break to the collector. 1 was specially gratified in gathering 

 on the bare hot clayey face of the mountain a lovely little 

 8un-dew (Drmera himia) growing luxuriantly in extensive 

 patches. Accustomed to gather its kin at home in boggy 

 heaths, I was surprised to find it flourishing in so dry an 

 exposure ; but on digging it up I found it held a store of 

 moisture against hard times in the tuberous roots with which 

 it was provided- This was a characteristic of not a few of the 

 herbaceous plants growing on these arid slopes. Another 

 plant, also of a home-family, one of the Vacdniaeem afibrded 

 us a rare pleasure, like a breath from home every time we 

 ascended t^) 2000 feet. This shrub, of an undescribed sjw^cies 

 I am delighted to find, grew in the ravines in the form of a 

 tall bush, and has an open tross of rich scarlet waxy bells. Its 

 low habitat in so hot a region is somewhat surprising; but 

 the amount of "grey beard" lichen with which, like the rest 



