bitants. This system works very well, and I believe is
at present far better for the people than free-trade would
be. There are also large rice-fields, and in this little
village of seventy houses I was informed that a hundred
pounds’ worth of rice was sold annually.
I had a small house at the very end of the village, almost
hanging over the precipitous slope down to the stream,
and with a splendid view from the verandah. The thermometer
in the morning often stood at 62° and never rose
so high as 80°, so that with the thin clothing used in
the tropical plains we were always cool and sometimes
positively cold, while the spout of water where I went
daily for my bath had quite an icy feel. Although I
enjoyed myself very much among these fine mountains
and forests, I was somewhat disappointed as to my collections.
There was hardly any perceptible difference between
the animal life in this temperate region and in the torrid
plains below, and what difference did exist was in most
respects disadvantageous to me. There seemed to be
nothing absolutely peculiar to this elevation. Birds and
quadrupeds were less plentiful, but of the same species.
In insects there seemed to be more difference. The
curious beetles of the family Cleridse, which are found
chiefly on bark and rotten wood, were finer than I have
seen them elsewhere. The beautiful Longicorns were scarcer
than usual, and the few butterflies were all of tropical
species. One of these, Papilio blumei, of which I obtained
a few specimens only, is among the most magnificent I
have ever seen. It is a green and gold swallow-tail,
with azure-blue spoon-shaped tails, and was often seen
flying about the village when the sun shone, but in a very
shattered condition. The great amount of wet and cloudy
weather, was a great drawback all the time I was at
Rurdkan.
Even in the vegetation there is very little to indicate
elevation. The trees are more covered with lichens and
mosses, and the ferns and tree-ferns are finer and more
luxuriant than I had been accustomed to see them on the
low grounds, both probably attributable to the almost
perpetual moisture that here prevails. Abundance of a
tasteless raspberry, with blue and yellow Compositse, have
somewhat of a temperate aspect; and minute ferns and
Orchidese, with dwarf Begonias on the rocks, make some
approach to a sub-alpine vegetation. The forest however
is most luxuriant. Noble palms, Pandani, and tree-ferns
are abundant in it, while the forest trees are completely
festooned with Orchidese, Bromelite, Araceae, Lycopodiums,
and mosses. The ordinary stemless ferns abound; some
with gigantic fronds ten or twelve feet long, others barely
an inch high; some with entire and massive leaves,
others elegantly waving their finely-cut foliage, and adding
endless variety and interest to the forest paths. The