f its long arms. It
appeared to be about three feet high, while its arms were between five
and six feet across, and by them it was swinging itself along among the
trees at a rapid rate. Although at first I thought I could catch one, I
soon found that it could escape me as well as the monkeys had done.

We now packed up to proceed on our journey. I should like to describe
more particularly some of the trees of the wonderful forest through
which we passed. In the lowlands near the shore were groves of
cocoa-nut palms, of which I have already spoken. Near them was the
curious pandanus or screw-pine. My uncle said he always called it a
trunk with branches growing at both ends. There were two species of it.
The one we saw had fragrant flowers. Its leaves are manufactured into
mats and baskets. Its fruit is of a spherical form, from four to six
inches in diameter, the surface being exactly divided by projections of
a pointed, pyramidal shape. I have already described the bamboos. As
we proceeded higher up we found ourselves among lofty fig-trees. Here
the number of orchidaceous plants greatly increased, hanging down from
the boughs of nearly all the trees, clinging to them so closely that
they often appeared to belong to the tree. The ferns, too, were in
great variety; among them were many curious pitcher-plants. Thirsty
from our walk, we were looking about for water, when my uncle went up to
one of these remarkable productions of nature. Each pitcher contained
about half a pint of water. Some were full of insects, but in others it
was perfectly limpid, and thankfully we drank it off. Though it was not
so cool as the juice of the cocoa-nut, still it served to quench our
thirst. Thus we found how God has so bountifully provided this region
with the greatest necessary of life, guarding with a thick shell the
produce of the palm on the lower lands, and allowing the cool breeze of
the mountains to temper the water collected in the cups of the
pitcher-plant.

Instead of ascending the mountain--a task which the young ladies at all
events could not accomplish--we proceeded round it, towards a
curious-looking rock which rose up on one side. We made our way without
much difficulty to the gap, when we found ourselves on the summit of a
cliff, and looking down into a wonderful circular basin surrounded
entirely by precipitous rocks, while another gap beyond seemed to open
into a smaller lake at a lower elevation. It