NOTICES OF SERIALS. 
31 
consider it to contain more nourishment than the other kinds, which I think probable, 
as it has more of the fecula. Just at dark we passed a small island, called Pulu 
Kamudi. As night came on, the mosquitoes arrived, and in such numbers as I 
have never seen before or since; the air was filled with them like a cloud ; they 
bit through trousers, stockings, and jacket like gauze. At last I put on a pair of 
long hunting-boots, and two thick flannel shirts, and wrapped up my head in a 
coarse towel; even then I could not sleep. The men had not this protection, and, 
though very much tired, they preferred pulling on to attempting to go to rest. ISJo 
one who has not felt it, can conceive the misery and irritation caused by these 
insects when they are really bad; and the Malays, who generally have skins invul¬ 
nerable to them, say that the rivers on this coast are the worst in the world for 
them. After several hours’ pulling they became more tolerable, and we made fast 
for the night. The night was foggy, and I had just put my rifle into its bag, to 
save it from damp, when a tiger showed himself on the beach, but he went away 
before 1 could again get at the gun. 
30th. We were off very early this morning, The river is visibly narrower, and 
the stream stronger, but still there are no signs of a hill, or even a bank. We 
passed another island to-day, called Pulu Lys : it is covered with large jungle, and 
was formerly a burial-place for the Europeans who died here, while the Dutch had 
an establishment at Indragiri. A little higher up are the remains of the house of 
the Resident, who was removed a few years ago, chiefly, I believe, on account of 
the extreme unhealthiness of the place in the dry season. We are now evidently 
approaching the haunts of men : the jungle generally has been cut, and, instead of 
trees, the river is bounded by large floating beds of luxuriant green grass and reeds, 
sometimes fifteen or eighteen feet high ; behind are rice-fields, extending a mile or 
two from the river, which again are backed up by the long, dark line of primeval 
forest. Here and there, wallowing and splashing through the water, are droves of 
ungainly-looking buffaloes, with their never-failing companions, the white egrets, 
or padi-birds, perched upon their backs. There are now also a good many houses 
near the river, with a few Plantains, Kaput (Eriodendron), and Drabas (JPsidium), 
about them. The people seem to make great use, for fishing, of small rafts con¬ 
structed of the Musa stems, which are very buoyant. Bamboos, up to this point 
rather uncommon, begin now to form a feature in the landscape; the commonest 
are the yellow-stemmed Bamboo gading, and a very bushy, thorny, and crooked 
kind, which would make excellent fences. At two p. m. landed at a small cam- 
pong, called Seligi: here there was a considerable quantity of a small, pink- 
flowered Indigofera , which gives a good dye, but in small quantity.” Notes on the 
Cultivation of Cotton in the Yoruba Country, Western Coast of Africa, by the 
late Dr. G. Irving. The Voyage of H. M. S. Herald. Second General Report of 
the Government, Botanist of Victoria, on the Vegetation of the Colony. In con¬ 
cluding this most interesting report, Professor Mueller says: “ Looking finally to 
our future prospects, as afforded us by the enjoyment of the serenest climate and 
by the extensive fertility of the soil, I venture to say that no praise too high 
can be bestowed in a general view on the productiveness of our adopted country. 
We possess, in the Southern Hemisphere, what the ancients in the Northern 
called “ regiones felices,” those happy latitudes of a warm temperate zone 
in which nature, with a prodigal hand, offered prominently, amidst so many other 
gifts, the Cerealia, the Olive, and the Vine, and to which we here have added 
from the far East, the Orange and the Tea ; from India, the Rice; and from the 
New World, the Maize, Cassava, Arrow-root, Tobacco, and so many other 
treasures of the vegetable world, on which mankind now rely for luxury and 
support. All these may here be successfully produced, along with those which 
we enjoyed in the country of our youth, and will, I trust, with the mighty resources 
of our mineral wealth render this country one of the most delightful and pros¬ 
perous in the world.—Botanical Information; Extracts from the Jurors’ Reports 
on some of the Vegetable Products of the Madras Exhibition of 1855. Plants 
of Madeira. Notices of Books. Natural History of Ferns. Ferns of Great 
Britain, nature printed. 
No. 82, November:—Observations on Gleicheniacese andCyatheas of Java, by 
Mr. J. K. Hasskarl, communicated in a letter from Java, dated July, 1855. 
