But Near My
Camping Ground A Great Deal Of The Forest Seemed To Be Half Smothered
With Large Thickets Of Bamboo, And Consequently The Larger Trees
Were Rather Far Apart.
There was also a climbing variety of bamboo,
which scrambled up to the tops of the largest trees.
The undergrowth
in places was most luxuriant and consisted of different species of
palms, rattans, tree-ferns, PANDANUS, giant ginger, PIPERS, POTHOS,
BEGONIAS, bananas, CALADIUMS, ferns, SELAGINELLAS and lycopodiums,
and many variegated plants. Growing on many of the trees were some
fine orchids. Chief amongst them may be mentioned a very beautiful
"vanda," which grew mostly on trees in the open grass country, and
which I witnessed in full bloom during my stay here. They presented
a wonderful sight. Out of the large sheaths of fan-like leaves grew
two grand flower-spikes, bearing from thirty to forty large white,
chocolate and crimson flowers. Of these there were two varieties,
and on one large plant I saw fully a dozen flower-spikes. Further
back in the mountains I came across some fine species of PHALAENOPSIS.
I early made the acquaintance of the little Negritos, the aborigines of
these mountains, and during my wanderings I would often stumble across
their huts in small clearings in the forest. They never seemed to have
any villages, and I hardly ever saw more than one hut in one place,
and they were nearly always miserable bamboo hovels. As for the little
people themselves, they seemed perfectly harmless, and from the first
treated me with the greatest friendliness, and would often pay me a
visit at my hut, sometimes bringing me rice and "papayas" or a large
hornbill, which had been shot with their steel-pointed arrows.
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