562 
VARIETIES. 
it  is  really  worth  telling  you.  I  had  previously  tried  hot  water,  but  that 
made  the  specimens  mouldy ;  then  a  hot  iron,  but  that  is  tedious,  and  it 
spoils  the  flowers  ;  pricking  the  leaves  all  over  with  a  pen-knife  or  a  fork, 
so  as  to  let  the  water  escape,  is  a  great  assistance  to  the  drying  of  Orchidae 
and  Hoyas,  but  the  specimens  look  unsightly  after  it;  and  chloride  of 
calcium  paper  is  too  much  trouble,  except  for  an  occasional  pet  specimen. 
I  now  simply  put  the  plants  into  a  large  bottle  with  weak  spirit  for  one  or 
two  nights ;  this  effectually  kills  them,  and  an  endosmosis  goes  on  in  the 
tissues  which  breaks  them  up,  and  makes  them  dry  almost  as  quickly  as 
other  plants. 
The  wood  of  the  Kayu  Oulin,  or  Iron- wood  of  Borneo,  is  perhaps  the 
strongest  in  the  world.    I  tested  a  piece  of  it,  one  inch  square,  and  forty- 
two  inches  between  the  supports,  and  it  bore,  suspended  from  the  centre, 
338  lbs.  before  it  gave  way  :  its  deflection  was  then  about  eight  inches.  I 
believe  this  is  the  greatest  strength  recorded  of  any  wood.    The  wood,  when 
fresh  cut,  is  light-brown,  but  becomes  of  a  deep  reddish-black,  and  finally 
quite  black  when  old.    It  is  used  here  by  the  natives  almost  universally 
for  boats  and  houses,  though  very  heavy.    It  is  now  becoming  scarce,  and 
difficult  to  procure  in  large  pieces,  except  from  the  interior  of  the  country, 
where  it  must  exist  in  large  forests.    The  trees  are  large  and  majestic,  the 
trunk  very  straight  and  the  bark  thin  and  scaly.    This  wood  appears  to 
be  almost  indestructible.    A  sort  of  paling  or  stockade  which  surrounds 
the  Sultan's  house  at  Martapora,  is  known  by  undoubted  evidence  to  have 
been  standing  a  hundred  and  thirty  years,  without  even  the  protection  of 
paint,  and  it  shows  no  signs  of  decay ;  and  the  old  Kraton,  or  palace,  is 
still  older.    It  is  built  entirely  of  Oulin,  and  the  enormous  posts  and  beams 
are  all  over  elaborately  carved,  and  have  been  formerly  painted  and  gilt 
in  arabesque  ;  but  this  magnificent  room  is  now  neglected  and  disused,  ex- 
cept on  great  occasions.    All  over  the  padangs  or  great  grassy  plains  of 
this  country,  the  Oulin  clumps  stand  up,  white  and  ghastly  mementos  of  the 
vast  forests  which  once  covered  the  whole  district,  and  of  which  the  oldest 
natives  have  no  recollection  ;  the  stumps  were  there  when  they  were  young, 
and  to  all  appearance  will  be  there  for  a  hundred  years  longer.    In  many 
cases  they  are  hollow,  and  then  a  large  tree  has  frequently  grown  in  the 
centre,  and  by  its  gradual  increase  split  the  Oulin  into  three  or  four  pieces. 
In  some  places  the  padangs  are  covered  with  trees,  which  thus  look  as  if 
they  grew  in  huge  flower-pots,  and  whose  roots  squeeze  themselves  in 
strange  shapes  through  the  cracks  of  their  ancient  pedestals,  which  have 
preserved  them  when  young  from  the  fires  which,  in  the  dry  season,  sweep- 
roaring  and  cracking  across  the  padangs,  destroying  every  living  leaf. 
The  trees  chiefly  seen  in  the  padangs  are  Vilex  tomentosa,  Emblica  offi- 
cinalis, and  some  two  or  three  others,  whose  bark,  being  very  full  of  sap, 
resists  the  fire  for  a  moment  or  two.  That  is  enough,  for  the  tempest  of 
flame,  fed  only  by  grass,  is  gone  in  an  instant ;  and  when  a  tree  has,  by- 
one  accident  or  another,  survived  three  or  four  years,  it  is  safe  from  such 
