to preserve. Their frantic leaping, splashing and yelling
m the little stream and on its banks also frightened
away many birds before we could get within range, while
anything like remonstrance was so much labour thrown
away. White and green paroquets flew screaming overhead
as they left the tall trees near the coast, where
they had evidently roosted for the night, and were now
most probably on their way to their feeding grounds,
the fruit trees in the forest further inland. We crossed
several cultivated patches, and growing in clumps near
the native houses we saw quantities of Musa textilis
cultivated here, and also in the Philippines, the fibre
being used for cordage, and it is also largely imported
into this country under the name of “ manilla hemp.”
On waste places beside the river, Quisqualis indica
was very abundant, forming bushes about four feet
in height, its slender branches being literally borne
down to the ground by the weight of its flowers,
which hung in immense clusters from the points of its
branches.
On our return we made a detour to the right and came
upon several graves, a few of which were fenced in with
bushes and had rude headstones, or a post to mark the
spot. Other graves were neglected and overgrown with
weeds. Here a variety of the “ Frangipane ” {Plumieria
acuminata), was very lovely, hearing immense clusters of
its waxy flowers which exhale a most delicious odour.
These flowers are white with a yellow centre, and are
flushed with purple behind. This plant, or, as seen here
in Sulu, small tree, is common throughout the Malay
region, and is by the natives esteemed as a suitable decoration
for the graves of their friends. Its Malay name of
“ Bunga orang sudah mati,” meaning literally, “ Dead
man’s flower.” We returned to the river near the
market-place and obtained a nice cool bath previous to
returning for breakfast on board. About two o’clock we
all returned, and leaving the boat in a creek a little
beyond the headman’s house, we bore across the plain to
the right through an orchard-like grove of teak-trees. I
had stopped to load my gun before starting, and when I
hastened on to rejoin my friends, I found them at the
foot of a dead teak-tree, where they had kindly awaited
my coming to point out a pretty pink-flowered orchid
which was clinging to the naked branches right in the
blazing sunshine, and flowering most profusely.
We at last came to an undulating plain of coarse
“ lallang ” grass four feet in height, while the soil at our
feet was thickly paved with vitrified slag or scoriae, the
product of the island during its volcanic epoch. It was
very hot, and the walking over the sharp stones, hidden
as they were in the tall grass, was, to say the least of it,
very troublesome. We had expected to find deer 01* wild
pig in the patches of thick jungle which occur here and
there, but the dogs were too wild and did not hunt the
ground well. Along the edge of a bit of old forest we
obtained an occasional shot at a bird or two, and amongst
others we secured a golden oriole with black wing, tips
and tail, a small hawk, and a large greenish paroquet,
together with several pigeons. The black and white and
large blue pigeons were extremely plentiful here, as also
were white paroquets, but these last were too wary to
allow us within range.
I made several dips into the patches of old forest in
search of plants, but nothing of interest was seen. Orchids
appeared to be very rare, and with the exception
of a dingy yellow-flowered cleisostoma which grew rather
plentifully on the teak trees, nothing more was seen.
We had had a long and wearying walk, and it was about