Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/388

326 drink. We, however, met with none of these beasts of prey.

The Javanese who accompanied us were almost continually on horseback, and did not dismount even in the most inaccessible parts of the forest; but whenever they saw the plant, called in their language kadiarankri, they immediately threw themselves on their feet, and ran as fast as they were able to gather it, trying to outstrip each other. Their eagerness raising our curiosity to know the cause of their valuing this plant so highly, we were informed that the knobs of its roots, dried and reduced to powder, were a powerful aphrodisiac. It appears that these auxiliary medicines are much esteemed amongst this people, as, indeed, they generally are amongst the inhabitants of hot climates. This parasite plant is only to be found upon the trunks of large trees. It was not yet at its period of fructification; however, it appeared to me to be a new species of the pothos.

During these excursions I killed several wild cocks, whose plumage was diversified with a variety of colours of admirable brilliancy. Their crowing, which we often heard in the midst of the woods, led us at first to imagine that we were in the vicinity of some habitation, but we soon learnt to distinguish their note perfectly well