Note 2 — Chapter XXVIII · The Picturesque Philippines
Reading edition
It is a common thing for temporary residents in the Philippines to quote the foolish saying that the flowers are without odour and the birds without song. There is no more delicious fragrance than that given off in the evening by the shrub known as dama de noche.2 The perfume made from ilang-ilang flowers goes all over the world. That extracted from the blossoms of the champaca brings fabulous prices. Jasmine is produced in abundance. If one wishes a heavier odour, tuberoses furnish it, while many species of trees make the whole forest fragrant when in flower.