I Gathered Five In The Hope Of
Finding One Free From Insects, But The Cups Of All Were Full Of
Dried
flies and ants, looking much as flies do when they have been clutched
for a few days by the
Hairs of the "sun-dew." The lid has a quantity of
nectar on its under side which attracts insects; but below the rolled
rim of the cup, which is slightly corrugated, the interior is as smooth
as glass, and the betrayed flies must fall at once into the water at
the bottom and be drowned. As these ingenious arrangements are made for
their destruction, doubtless the plant feeds upon their juices.*
[*I have since learned that this is an ascertained fact, and that
nepenthes are among the insectiverous plants.]
We went first to a very large tin mine belonging to a rich and very
pleasant-looking Chinaman, who received us and took us over it. The
mine is like a large quarry, with a number of small excavations which
fill with water, and are pumped by most ingenious Chinese pumps worked
by an endless chain, but there are two powerful steam pumps at work
also. About four hundred lean, leathery-looking men were working,
swarming up out of the holes like ants in double columns, each man
carrying a small bamboo tray holding about three pounds of stanniferous
earth, which is deposited in a sluice, and a great rush of water washes
away the sand, leaving the tin behind, looking much like "giant"
blasting powder.
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