as to its value and the continually increasing demand for the fiber. The luxuriance of plant growth throughout the islands of the Pacific, may yet be taxed to supply the growing demands of the world, for products lavished by nature on these sunny lands. From this same and kindred plants, a great quantity of paper is made, and the fiber is spun and woven alike by the natives into a superior cloth for clothing, or into a heavier material for sails, mats, bagging, etc.

PEPPER (PIPER).

The fruit of the climbing shrub or vine (piper nigrum) is native and cultivated in many of the tropical countries. Although a spice, apparently used in small quantities, yet in the aggregate, thousands of tons of it are produced and exported from the Pacific islands each year.

Java. Borneo, Sumatra, the Phillippines and the Molluccas furnish the little pungent berry in abundance. Where not native in the grand old forests of the islands, or when not supported by trees, the plant is cultivated in a manner very similar to our hop fields. The black and white varieties are the product of the same plant, the latter simply being put through a bleaching process, in water or by chemicals, and results in the white pepper of commerce. Pepper is not at all a product of the South American pepper tree, much used in our country for shade and ornament; the berry produced being similar in appearance to that of the pepper plant, together with the name, the erroneous impression sometimes prevails that the pungent product is from this tree. The effect of the pepper tree berry on the system is somewhat different

from that of the true pepper. Red pepper, also a great island product, is from the plant-genus solanacea, or nightshade family, and is grown in all parts of the world. It is native to tropical countries, and in the islands of the Pacific grows in the greatest luxuriance. After ripening on the plant, it is picked, dried and ground, furnishing the Cayenne pepper of commerce.

GUTTA PERCHA.

Gutta Percha is the name given by the Malays to the tree belonging to the natural order sapotacea, and to the newer genus isonandra, is found in the greatest abundance in the forests of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and, in fact, throughout nearly all of the island groups where the forestry is abundant. The tree ranges from two to eight feet in diameter, and reaches a height of sixty to eighty feet. The timber is of great value, and is used by the Malays in many of their manufactures. The sap from the tree, after being reduced to the form of a gum, with its valuable property of becoming plastic in hot water, so that it can be molded up into any form, retaining the shape when cooled, was known to the Malays probably for ages. This property, from which so many useful advantages have been derived, seems to have remained unknown to our people until about 1842 and '43, when specimens of the gum were forwarded to England, and some time transpired before it was brought into practical use. Gutta percha differs very materially from india rubber (also one of the bounteous products of the islands), in being elastic only in a very slight degree. The plants are very different. The india rubber, although growing a foot or so in diame

PARADISEA PAPUANA.-Bird of Paradise-Young male, emerald throat. From the Island of New Guinea.

ter, grows like a vine, and is often found twined around or clinging to the trees of the great island forests. Again, there is the important difference in the two gums, that rubber requires a chemical preparation with some of the earths, or to be mixed with certain proportions of metallic oxides, to make it harder after heating and molding, before it will retain the shape desired, becoming then vulcanized rubber.

SCREW PINE (PANDANUS).

This tree, much valued in the Pacific, is native to most of the islands, where it grows in the greatest abundance. It is among the first of the plants to appear on newly formed or forming islands, and with its spreading roots, often raised above the ground and supporting the main trunk on their stems, it acts as a dam and barrier to encroaching waves, and performs an important part in collecting and retaining the drift and debris, that assists so materially in the first plant growth of islands. Its leaves, growing generally from the ends of the main branches, spreading from the trunk, grow similar to those of the pineapple, whence its name; but unlike the latter, it is a tree growing from twelve to forty feet high. The many ways that the bark, timber and the strong fiber of its leaves can be used, makes it highly prized by the natives.

RESINOUS GUM TREES.

The great forests of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Celebes, New Guinea, etc., teem with an almost endless variety of trees that furnish the liquid resins so valuable as a base for our varnishes, while the ground itself