290 NOTES WRITTEN ON A VOYAGE 
with them like a cloud ; they bit through trousers, stockings, and jacket 
like gauze. At last I put on a pair of long hunting-boots, and two 
thick flannel shirts, and wrapped up my head in a coarse towel; even 
then I could not sleep. The men had not this protection, and, though 
very much tired, they preferred pulling on to attempting to go to rest. 
No one who has not felt it, can conceive the misery and irritation 
‘caused by these insects when they are really bad; and the Malays, 
who generally have skins almost invulnerable to them, say that the 
rivers on this coast are the worst in the world for them. After seve- 
ral hours’ pulling they became more tolerable, and we made fast for the 
night. The night was foggy, and I had just put my rifle into its bag, 
to save it from damp, when a tiger showed himself on the beach, but ~ 
. he went away before I could again get at the gun. 
80th. We were off very early this morning. The river is visibly 
narrower, and the stream stronger, but still there are no signs of a hill, 
or even a bank, We passed another island today, called Pulu Lys: it 
is covered with large jungle, and was formerly a burial-place for the 
Europeans who died here, while the Dutch had an establishment at 
Indragiri. A little higher up are the remains of the house of the 
Resident, who was removed a few years ago, chiefly, I believe, on 
. account of the extreme unhealthiness of the place in the dry season. 
. We are now evidently approaching the haunts of men: the jungle 
generally has been cut, and, instead of trees, the river is bounded by 
- large floating beds of luxuriant green grass and reeds, sometimes fifteen 
: or eighteen feet high ; behind are rice-fields, extending a mile or two 
— from the river, which again are backed up by the long, dark line of 
primeval forest. Here and there, wallowing and splashing through the 
water, are droves of ungainly-looking buffaloes, with their never-failiug 
apa ions, the white egrets, or padi-birds, perched upon their backs. 
There are now also a good many houses near the river, with a few 
Plantains, Kaput (Eriodendron), and Drabas (Psidium), about them. 
"The people seem to make great use, for fishing, of small rafts constructed 
of the Musa stems, which are very buoyant. Bamboos, up to this point 
rather uncommon, begin now to form a feature in the landscape; the 
commonest are the yellow-stemmed Bamboo gading, and a very bushy, 
rny, and crooked kind, which would make excellent fences. At 
