evening entered a river on the main island of Batchian (Langundi,
like Kasserota, being on a distinct island), where some Malays
and Galela men have a small village, and have made extensive
rice-fields and plantain grounds. Here we found a good house near
the river bank, where the water was fresh and clear, and the
owner, a respectable Batchian Malay, offered me sleeping room and
the use of the verandah if I liked to stay. Seeing forest all
round within a short distance, I accepted his offer, and the next
morning before breakfast walked out to explore, and on the skirts
of the forest captured a few interesting insects.

Afterwards, I found a path which led for a mile or more through a
very fine forest, richer in palms than any I had seen in the
Moluccas. One of these especially attracted my attention from its
elegance. 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.