158 A NATUBAIJSrS WANDERINGS 



the tapir, mid liigh \ip the wallowing liolos of the rhinoceros, 

 and footprints of the rare mountain antelope {Antihcarpa siima- 

 trana) ; the intermittent low booming note of the large fruit- 

 pigeons {Carpoi)liaga hadla) answering eaeh other at roost, and 

 the chattering cries of Hocks of Babblers (Garrulax palliatus) 

 at play in the distant tree-tops, filled the woods, but they 

 never approached near enough to afford a chance of securing 



them for specimens. 



The night was very disagreeable, for our hut of branches 

 and leaves leaked freelv, and the dense smoke wliich issued 

 from the wet wood fire, round which my boys crouched with 

 chattering teeth, was painful to eyes and throat. I have often 

 been surprised that the native, who, in the. low grounds, goes 

 about and even sleeps in all weathers nearly naked, when I 

 With my European clothing have felt it quite chilly, almost 

 at once succumbs to the low temj^erature in the mountain 

 heights, and often actually dies before he can descend. A 

 few hours round a blazing fire after a hot jorum of coffee re- 

 invigorated them somewhat, and for into the night the woods 

 resounded to the weird monotonous chant of one of those 

 epics to which the Lamponger is never tired of listening, and 

 which his country is famed for, such as the Herculean exploits 

 of that gr(3at hero, Anak Dalom, who, miraculously escaping 

 from the interior of a bamboo, played the part of another 

 -^neas along these shores. At length, when one by one they 

 dropped off to doze, with their chins on their knees, their 

 heads buried in their sarongs, the intense silence of the forest 

 reigned, which even the moaning of the trees and the shrill 

 screaming of the cicads could not disturb. 



Eesuming our ascent, I found that at 5800 feet the Bipteris 

 horsfieldi increased in abundance, while lichens and mosses 

 padded every stone, tree-trunk, and lower branch with a thick 

 springy cushion of moss, among which everywhere the elegant 

 flagons of the Pitcher-plants were embedded or swayed grace- 

 fully from projecting twigs. Here also, amoi 

 on the fallen trees, a pretty Cf/mhidhim^ an epiphytic orchid 

 with dark-green crisp foliage, carpeted in profusion the hol- 

 lows and knolls. The w^hole mountain above 5800 feet seemed 

 as if intentionally laid out in a gigantic rockery, up which the 

 path wound under moss-padded arches, and over boulders on 



o 



