commonly credited with perfume; but when it grows in great unmolested
masses its contribution is pleasant, if not very decided. The pretty
terrestrial orchid (CYRTOSTYLIS RENIFORMIS) is delicately fragrant, but
the great showy PHAIUS GRANDIFOLIUS (the tropical foxglove) and the meek
GEODORUM PICTUM (Queensland's lily of the valley) are denied the gift.

The forest, the jungle, the grassy spots, the hot rocks (with hoya and
orchids), and even the sands, with the native sweet-pea, are fragrant. A
lowly creeping plant (VITEX TRIFOLIA), with small spikes of
lavender-coloured flowers, and grey-green silvery leaves, mingles with
the coarse grasses of the sandy flats, and usurping broad areas forms an
aromatic carpet from which every footstep expresses a homely pungency as
of marjoram and sage. The odour of the island may be specific, and
therefore to be prized, yet it gladdens also because it awakens happy and
all too fleeting reminiscences. English fields and hedges cannot be
forgotten when one of our trees diffuses the scent of meadow-sweet, and
one of the orchids that of hawthorn. "Scent and silence" is the phrase
which expresses the individuality of our island, and better "scented
silence" than all the noisy odours of the town.

However showy the flora of the island, the existence of kindly fruits
must be deplored. Immense quantities, alluring in colour and form, are
produced; but not a single variety of real excellence. The raspberries
(two kinds) have but little flavour; the native "Cape gooseberry"
(PHYSALIS MIMIS), which appears like magic when the jungle is felled and
burnt off, is regarded with hostility, though unworthily, even by the
blacks; the" wild" grapes are sour and fiery, and among the many figs
only two or three are pleasant, and but one good. "Bedyewrie" (XIMENIA
AMERICANA) has a sweetish flavour, with a speedy after-taste of bitter
almonds, and generally refreshing and thirst-allaying qualities; the