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 and 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 Rurukan.
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 seeing on the low grounds, both probably
attributable to the almost perpetual moisture that here prevails.
Abundance of a tasteless raspberry, with blue and yellow
composite, have somewhat of a temperate aspect; and minute ferns
and Orchideae, 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
Orchideae, Bromeliae, 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 cocoa-nut palm still produces fruit abundantly, but is
said to be deficient in oil.
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