The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

294 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.were left for me ; and as the whole of the remaining furniturein the house consisted of a little ci'ockery and a few clothesboxes,it was not much trouble for the owners to move into thehouse of some relatives, and thus obtain a few silver rupees veryeasily. Every foot of ground between the houses throughout thevillage is crammed with fruit trees, so that the sun and air haveno chance of penetrating. This must be very cool and pleasantin tlie dry season, but makes it damp and unhealthj' at othertimes of tlie year. Unfortunately I liad come two months toosoon, for the rains were not yet over, and mud and water werethe prominent features of the country. About a mile behindand to the east of the village the hills commence, but they arevery barren, being covered with scanty coarse grass and scattei'edtrees of the ^Melaleuca cajuputi, from the leaves of whichthe celebrated cajeput oil is made. Such districts are absolutelydestitute of interest for the zoologist. A few miles further onrose higher mountains, apparently well covered with forest, butthey were entirely uninhabited and trackless, and practically inaccessibleto a traveller with limited time and means. It becameevident, therefore, that I must leave Cajeli for some better collectingground, and finding a man who was going a few mileseastward to a village on the coast whex'e he said there were hillsand forest, I sent my boy Ali with him to exj^lore and report onthe capabilities of the district. At the same time I arranged togo myself on a little excursion up a river which flows into thebay about five miles north of the town, to a village of the Alfuros,or indigenes, where I thought I might perhaps find a goodcollecting ground.The Eajah of Cajeli, a good-tempered old man, offered toaccompany me, as the tillage was under his government ; andwe started one morning early, in a long narrow boat with eightrowers. In about two hours we entered the river and commencedour inland journey against a veiy powerful current.The stream was about a hundred yards wide, and was generallybordered witli higli grass, and occasionally bushes and palmtrees.The country round was flat and more or less swampy,"wnth scattered trees and shrubs. At every bend we crossed theriver to avoid tlie strength of the current, and arrived at ourlanding-place about four o'clock, in a torrent of rain. Here wewaited for an hour, croucliing under a leaky mat till the Alfurosarrived who had been sent for from the village to carrymy baggage, when we set off" along a path of whose extrememuddiness I had been warned before starting.I turned up my trousers as high as possible, grasped a stoutstick to prevent awkward falls, and then boldly plunged intothe first mud-hole, which was immediately succeeded by anotherand another. The mud or mud and water was knee-deep, withlittle intervals of firmer ground between, making progressionexceedingly difficult. The path was bordered with high rigidgrass, growing in dense clumps separated by water, so that