When The Entomologist Can Discover
Such A Spot, He Does More In A Mouth Than He Could Possibly Do By
A Year's Search In The Depths Of The Undisturbed Forest.
The next morning we left early, and reached the mouth of the
little river in about au hour.
It flows through a perfectly flat
alluvial plain, but there are hills which approach it near the
mouth. Towards the lower part, in a swamp where the salt-water
must enter at high tides, were a number of elegant tree-ferns
from eight to fifteen feet high. These are generally considered
to be mountain plants, and rarely to occur on the equator at an
elevation of less than one or two thousand feet. In Borneo, in
the Aru Islands, and on the banks of the Amazon, I have observed
them at the level of the sea, and think it probable that the
altitude supposed to be requisite for them may have been deduced
from facts observed in countries where the plains and lowlands
are largely cultivated, and most of the indigenous vegetation
destroyed. Such is the case in most parts of Java, India,
Jamaica, and Brazil, where the vegetation of the tropics has been
most fully explored.
Coming out to sea we turned northwards, and in about two hours'
sail reached a few huts, called Langundi, where some Galela men
had established themselves as collectors of gum-dammar, with
which they made torches for the supply of the Ternate market.
About a hundred yards back rises a rather steep hill, and a short
walk having shown me that there was a tolerable path up it, I
determined to stay here for a few days.
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