cocoa-nut palm still produces fruit abundantly, but is
said to be deficient in oil. Oranges thrive better than
below, producing abundance of delicious fru it; but the
shaddock or pumplemous (Citrus decumana) requires the
full force of a tropical sun, for it will not thrive even at
Tondano a thousand feet lower. On the hilly slopes rice
is cultivated largely, and ripens well, although the temperature
rarely or never rises to 80°, so that one would
think it might be grown even in England in fine summers,
especially if the young plants were raised under glass.
The mountains have an unusual quantity of earth or
vegetable mould spread over them. Even on the steepest
slopes there is everywhere a covering of clays and sands,
and generally a good thickness of vegetable soil. It is
this which perhaps contributes to the uniform luxuriance
of the forest, and delays the appearance of that sub-alpine
vegetation which depends almost as much on the abundance
of rocky and exposed surfaces as on difference of
climate. At a much lower elevation on Mount Ophir in
Malacca, Dacrydiums and Rhododendrons with abundance
of Nepenthes, ferns, and terrestrial orchids suddenly took
the place of the lofty forest; but this was plainly due to
the occurrence of an extensive slope of bare granitic rock
at an elevation of less than 3,000 feet. The quantity of
vegetable soil, and also of loose sands and clays, resting
on steep slopes, hill-tops and the sides of ravines, is a
curious and important phenomenon. I t may be due in
part to constant slight earthquake shocks, facilitating the
disintegration of rock; but would also seem to indicate
that the country has been long exposed to gentle atmospheric
action, and that its elevation has been exceedingly
slow and continuous.
During my stay at Rurukan my curiosity was satisfied
by experiencing a pretty sharp earthquake-shock. On the
evening of June 29th, at a quarter after eight, as I was
sitting reading, the house began shaking with a very gentle,
but rapidly increasing motion. I sat still enjoying the
novel sensation for some seconds; but in less than half a
minute it became strong enough to shake me in my chair,
and to make the house visibly rock about, and creak and
crack as if it would fall to pieces. Then began a cry
throughout the village of “ Tana goyang! tana goyang!”
(Earthquake! earthquake!) Everybody rushed out of their
houses—women screamed and children cried—and I
thought it prudent to go out too. On getting up, I found
my head giddy and my steps unsteady, and could hardly
walk without falling. The shock continued about a minute,
during which time I felt as if I had been turned round
and round, and was almost sea-sick. Going into the house
again, I found a lamp and a bottle of arrack upset. The
tumbler which formed the lamp had been thrown out of
the saucer in which it had stood. The shock appeared to