166 A KATUnALIST'S WAXDEIilXOS 



comiiii;, Tlie villaiifo 



people in these districts complained of the constant ravap:es 

 done by tlicm in their fields and popper gardens, ^vliile the 

 forest everyAvberc abonnded Avith their tracks. Of tlic rhino- 

 ceros, on the other hand, I saw traces only a few times. 

 ' Some miles on in the forest we came npon a lar^e stone by 

 the side of the path, supposed to possess some innuence over 

 things terrestrial, for, as each of the porters passed it, he 

 plucked a handful of leaves and, placing them on the stone," 

 prayed for a dry day and good luck.* Whether it was through 

 the influence of the stone or not we got a dry day, and I 

 only wished that we had met with it somewhat sooner. All 

 that day we pushed on by the side of the Semangka, which 

 glided past us deep and noiselessly through a level plateaxi, 

 crossing more than once from the one side to the other by 

 some giant tree that had fallen from bank to bank, through 

 dense forest in a sombre winding lane, beyond which we 

 could see nothing but blinks of the sky, except where now 

 and tlien it opened out on pretty sandy beaches which swarmed 

 with species of metallic tiger-beetles and sand-bees, and where 

 Sulphur (Terias) and Swallow-tailed butterflies (Charaxes and 

 Apjnas), in gyrating flocks played on the damp ground by the 

 water's edge. 



Towards evening, emerging from the forest, our eyes were 

 delighted by the sight of a small cluster of houses, the village 

 of Bumi-padang, ''the field of the world,'' lying a mile off, in 

 a large open alluvial amphitheatre. But, the path suddenly 

 giving out, presently we found ourselves floundering to the 

 thighs at every step in a deep morass swarming wath enormous 

 leeches, out of Avhich we could not extricate ourselves, as it 

 seamed to stretch in every direction except behind us. On 

 observing us the head of the marga and his chieflings, with 

 the usual crowd following, came out to welcome and attend us 

 . back to the village. They came to the edge of the bog and 

 sat down to await us; and doubtless the si^ht of our scattered 

 cavalcade floundering in the slough afforded them not a little 

 amusement — it was ludicrous enough to ourselves. 



Here I dismissed the porters brought from the coust, and 

 with a new retinue pressed forward with the break of day. 



* Sec below in the closing Chapter of this book. 



