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POLY ALTHEA. STRANGE FOREST TREE. TR EE-FERN .
head. Trees of this character are found all over the
Archipelago, and the accompanying illustration (taken
from one which I often visited in the Aru Islands) will
convey some idea of their general character. I believe
that they originate as parasites, from seeds carried by
birds and dropped in the fork of some lofty tree. Hence
descend aerial roots, clasping and ultimately destroying
the supporting tree, which is in time entirely replaced by
the humble plant which was at first dependent upon it.
Thus we have an actual struggle for life in the vegetable
kingdom, not less fatal to the vanquished than the
struggles among animals which we can so much more
easily observe and understand. The advantage of quicker
access to light and warmth and air, which is gained in one
way by climbing plants, is here obtained by a forest tree,
which has the means of starting in life at an elevation
which others can only attain after many years of growth,
and then only when the fall of some other tree has made
room for them. Thus it is that in the warm and moist
and equable climate of the tropics, each available station
is seized upon, and becomes the means of developing new
forms of life especially adapted to occupy it.
On reaching Sarawak early in December I found there
would not be an opportunity of returning to Singapore till
the latter end of January. I therefore accepted Sir James
Brooke’s invitation to spend a week with him and Mr.
St. John at his cottage on Peninjauh. This is a very steep
pyramidal mountain of crystalline basaltic rock, about a
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