400 THE JRU ISLANDS. [chap, xxxiii- 



by the sul^idence of the great plain which formerly con- 

 nected them with it. 



Pei-sona who have fomed the usual ideas of the vegetation 

 of the tropics- — who picture to themselves the abundance 

 aud briUiaiicy of the flowei's, and the magnificent appear- 

 ance of hunflreds of forest trees covered with masses of 

 coloured blossouis, will be surprised to hear, that though 

 vegetation in Aru is highly lux^Driant and varied, and 

 would afford abimdance of fine and curious plauta to 

 adorn our hothouses, yet bright and showy flowers are. 

 as a genei-al rule, altogether absent, or so very scarce 

 as to produce no effect whatever on the general scener^'. 

 To give particulars : I have visited five distinct locali- 

 ties in the islands, I have wandered daily in the forests, 

 and have passed along upwards of a handled milea 

 of coast and river during a period of six months^ much 

 of it vury line weather, and till just as I was about to 

 leave, 1 never saw a single plant of striking brilliancy 

 or beauty, hardly a shrub L'(|ual to a hawthorn, or a 

 cliiuber equal to a hc*neysuckle ! It camiot be said 

 that the flowering season had not arrived, for I saw many 

 herbs, shrubs, and forest trees in flower, but all had 

 blossoms of a green or greenish-white tint, not superior to 

 our lime-trees. Here and there on the river banks and 

 coasts ai'e a few Oouvolvulacefe, not equal to our garden 

 Ipomaeas, and in the deepest shades of the forest some 

 fine scarlet and purple Zingiberacexe, but so few and 

 scattered as to be nothing amid the msiss of green and 

 flowerless vegetation. Yet the noble Cycadacea and 

 screw-pines, thirty or forty feet high, the elegant tree ferns, 

 the lofty palms, and the variety of beautiful and curious 

 plants which everywhere meet the eye, attest the warmth 

 and moisture of the tropics, and the fertility of the soil 

 It is true that Aru seemed to me exceptionally poor in 

 liowers, but this is only an exaggeration of a general 

 tropical feature ; for my whole experience in the equa- 

 torial regions of the west and the east has con\'inced me, 

 tliat in the most luxuriant parts of the tropics, flowers are 

 less abundant, on the average less showy, and are far lesa 

 ell'ective in adding colour to the landscape than in tempe- 



