[Coco-palms.] It is here too that the coco-palm most flourishes, a tree that supplies not only their food and drink, but also every material necessary for the construction of huts and the manufacture of the various articles which they use.  While the greatest care is necessary to make those growing further inland bear even a little fruit, the palm-trees close to the shore, even when planted on wretched soil, grow plentiful crops without the slightest trouble.  Has a palm-tree ever been made to blossom in a hothouse?  Thomson [56] mentions that coco-trees growing by the sea-side are wont to incline their stems over the ocean, the waters of which bear their fruit to desert shores and islands, and render them habitable for mankind.  Thus the coco-tree would seem to play an essential part in the ocean vagabondage of Malaysia and Polynesia.

[Nipa-palms.] Close to the coco-trees grow clumps of the stunted nipa-palms, which only flourish in brackish waters; [57] their leaves furnish the best roof-thatching.  Sugar, brandy, and vinegar are manufactured from their sap.  Three hundred and fifty years ago Pigafetta found these manufactures in full swing, but nowadays they seem to be limited to the Philippines.  Besides these, the pandanus-tree, from the leaves of which the softest mats are woven, is always found in near proximity to the shore.

[Fertile fields.] Towards the interior the landscape is covered with rice-fields, which yearly receive a fresh layer of fertile soil, washed down from the mountains by the river, and spread over their surface by the overflowing of its waters; and which in consequence never require any fertilizer. [The carabao.] The carabao, the favorite domestic animal of the Malays, and which they keep especially for agricultural purposes, prefers these regions to all others.  It loves to wallow in the mud, and is not fit for work unless permitted to frequent the water.

[Bamboo.] Bamboos with luxuriant leafy tops grow plentifully by the huts in the rice-fields which fringe the banks of the river.  In my former sketches of travel I have endeavored to describe how much this gigantic plant contributes to the comfort and convenience of tropical life.  Since then I have become acquainted with many curious purposes to which it is turned, but to describe them here would be out of place. [58] I may be allowed, however, to briefly cite a few examples showing what numerous results are obtained from simple means.  Nature has endowed these splendid plants, which perhaps surpass all others in beauty, with so many useful qualities, and delivered them into the hands of mankind so ready for immediate use, that a few sharp cuts suffice to convert them into all kinds of various utensils. [Strength.] The bamboo possesses, in proportion to its lightness, an extraordinary strength; the result of its round shape, and the regularity of the joints in its stem.  The parallel position and toughness of its fibers render it easy to split,