CHAP, XXX. J 



NOBIE TREE FERNS, 



435 



seen, tlie Malay and Papuan appear to be as widely sepa- 

 rated as any two human races that exist, being distin- 

 gnished by physical, mental, and moral characteristics, till 

 of the most marked and striking kind. 



Feh. 5th. — T took advantage of a very fine calm day to 

 pay a visit to the island of Wokan, wliich is about a mile 

 hmn us, and foams part of the "tanna busai'," or main- 

 land of Am. This is a large island, extending from 

 nortli to south about a hundred miles, but so low in many 

 parts as to be intersected by several creeks, which run 

 completely through it, offering a passage for good-sized 

 vessels. On the west sid*5, whei-e we are, there are only a 

 few outlying islands, of which ours (Wamnia) is the 

 principal; but on the east coast are a great number of 

 islands, extending some miles beyond the mainland, and 

 forming the " blakang tana/* or " back country/* of the 

 traders, being the principal seat of the pearl, tripang, and 

 tortoiseshell fisheries. To the mainland many of the 

 birds and animals of the country are altogether contined ; 

 the Bli-ds of Paradise, the black cockatoo, the great brush- 

 turkey, and the cassowary, are none of them found on 

 Wamma or any of the detached islands. I did not, 

 however, expect in this excursion to see any decided differ- 

 ence in the forest or its production-s, and was therefore 

 agreeably surprised. The beach was overhung with the 

 drooping brandies of large trees, loaded with Orchidere, 

 ferns, and other epiphytal plants. In the forest there was 

 more variety, some parts being dry, and vnth trees of a 

 lower growth, while in others there were some of the most 

 beautil'nl palms I have ever seen, with a perfectly strui-^ht, 

 smooth, slender stem, a hundred feet high, and a crown tif 

 handsome drooping leaves. But the greatest novelty and 

 most striking feature to my eyes were the tree-ferns, which, 

 after seven years spent in the tropics, I now saw in per- 

 fection for the first tima All I had hitlierto met with 

 wer€ slender species, not more than twelve feet high, and 

 they gave not the lea^t idea of the supreme beauty of trees 

 bearing their elegant heads of fronds more than thbty feet 

 in the air, like tliose which were plentifully scattered about 

 this forest. There is nothing in tropical vegetation so 

 perfectly beaut i fid. 



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