THE FLORA OF JAVA. 
161 
THE FLORA OF JAVA. 
Our earlier readers and those interested in the culture of 
exotic plants will, we doubt not, be pleased to hear we have re¬ 
ceived intelligence of our old and respected correspondent, Mr. 
J. Henshall, who left England in July, 1845, for Java, in pursuit of 
new plants and other objects of natural history. From his ac¬ 
count of the island generally, we learn, as might be expected 
from the exceedingly warm and moist character of the climate, 
that vegetation there is altogether of the most luxuriant descrip¬ 
tion. In the neighbourhood of Batavia he enumerates the fol¬ 
lowing as very prevalent: Poinceana pulcherrima, Costus speciosa, 
Justicia speciosa, J. picta , J. guttata , Russellia juncea , Ixora 
coccinea , Bracena terminalis, Plumbago capensis, Hoya carnosa 
and Pottsii, Acacia lophayitha (?), A. decurrens (?), A. catechu , 
several Ipomceas, Clitoria fulgens, Musas ; and on the Cocoa and 
other trees the following Orchids, growing with a vigour which 
in many cases completely envelops their support, and not unfre- 
quently, by their great weight, throwing the trees to the ground : 
Bendrobium moschatum , of an enormous size; B. cruminatum, 
B. secundum , very large; Renanthera coccinea , scrambling in all 
directions. Aerides odoratum, various species of Pleurotkallis, 
and, by the sides of the canals and corners of the roads, Bletias 
and Calanthes grow and flower surprisingly. 
The country near the coast is inhabited chiefly by Chinese and 
Malays; the latter are a vindictive, treacherous race, addicted to 
thieving from their infancy. The Javanese of the interior are 
far more peaceful and decorous in their demeanour, hospitable 
to strangers, and of some mechanical skill. In the provinces of 
the native princes, who continue in their original independence, 
governing the country by their own laws, and observing their 
own religion and customs, he was received with the greatest 
kindness. ‘Travelling through the unexplored parts appears to 
be a work of much trouble and no little danger, as it frequently 
happens that they have to cut a way through some miles of 
jungle, the abode of tigers, snakes, and boars. He says : 
“This at first rather alarmed me, especially at night, when the 
ii. 14 
