CITAP. XT. 
EXPLORATIONS OF THE FOREST. 
283 
the posts was filled by laths or sticks placed across, and about 
an inch apart; three feet higher was a second stage of the 
same kind, and a third at the top of the posts. The natives 
called this structure over the fireplace sahala, and said it was 
used as a place for their cooking utensils, as well as a place 
for dried meat or fish, or any other articles they wished to 
keep free from damp. 
In the afternoon, as Izaro had gone to some of the neigh¬ 
bouring villages in search of rice, and as, on that account, 
we should not proceed until the morning, I set off in search 
of plants to the adjacent forest, which extended its tempting 
covert to within a few hundred yards of the houses. The 
first object which arrested my attention was what the natives 
told me was an old tangena, or poison tree, which, though 
the trunk was decayed, still exhibited vigorous and leafy 
branches with blossoms and fruit. As I penetrated farther 
into the forest, I was struck with the profuse and luxuriant 
vegetation. The trees, though hard-wooded and slow-grow¬ 
ing, were high, and their branches interlaced at the top; 
while the under growth was thick with tangled bushes and 
creepers, whose stalks, sometimes as large as cables, pre¬ 
sented one impenetrable mass. Seeking here and there for 
gaps made by the bullocks, and cutting and winding my way 
wherever practicable, attempting to reach every tree that had 
anything green on its trunk or branches, I saw a number of 
orchids, but none were new. Ferns were abundant; and 
amongst them the Davallia polyantha, which the natives 
call ampanga mamahily, was flourishing most luxuriantly. 
The greatest rarity I met with in the forest was a new kind 
of platycerium much resembling P. stemmaria , growing on 
the trunks of trees twenty or thirty feet from the ground. 
On emerging from the forest, I passed along the edge of 
a hill thickly overgrown with a large kind of heath, called by 
the natives anzayidy, and frequently a couple of feet higher 
than our heads. The blossom had been abundant; but I 
