The Stein Was Not Thicker Than My Wrist, Yet It Was
Very Lofty, And Bore Clusters Of Bright Red Fruit.
It was
apparently a species of Areca.
Another of immense height closely
resembled in appearance the Euterpes of South America. Here also
grew the fan-leafed palm, whose small, nearly entire leaves are
used to make the dammar torches, and to form the water-buckets in
universal use. During this walk I saw near a dozen species of
palms, as well as two or three Pandani different from those of
Langundi. There were also some very fine climbing ferns and true
wild Plantains (Musa), bearing an edible fruit not so large as
one's thumb, and consisting of a mass of seeds just covered with
pulp and skin. The people assured me they had tried the
experiment of sowing and cultivating this species, but could not
improve it. They probably did not grow it in sufficient quantity,
and did not persevere sufficiently long.
Batchian is an island that would perhaps repay the researches of
a botanist better than any other in the whole Archipelago. It
contains a great variety of surface and of soil, abundance of
large and small streams, many of which are navigable for some
distance, and there being no savage inhabitants, every part of it
can be visited with perfect safety. It possesses gold, copper,
and coal, hot springs and geysers, sedimentary and volcanic rocks
and coralline limestone, alluvial plains, abrupt hills and lofty
mountains, a moist climate, and a grand and luxuriant forest
vegetation.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 57 of 412
Words from 15075 to 15331
of 111511
