34 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. m. 



After our morning walk we looked over the saw-mills, 

 and then returned with the manager to breakfast. We 

 afterwards visited Mr. Hole at the Istana, and found that 

 he had already obtained guides and boatmen, so that we 

 at once had our baggage transferred to the boats, and 

 prepared to start on our journey. Some delay arose, 

 however, owing to the man having to purchase stores, 

 and so it was after four o'clock before we bade Mr. Hole 

 adieu on the steps of the Istana jetty and got fairly off. 

 All our heavy baggage was stowed in a native boat, 

 manned by four Malays, while we ourselves and our 

 stores occupied a Chinese sampan. Our craft was 

 pulled, or rather pushed, by its owner, a stalwart 

 celestial; and as he had never been up the Scudai river 

 before, we had an old Malay sitting on the prow to 

 act as pilot, the stream being very narrow in places, 

 with numerous snags and shoals. Notwithstanding this 

 precaution, however, we were aground twice, and the 

 boat heeled over in the current rather uncomfortably. 

 " Johnnie " had to plunge out into the mud of this alli- 

 gator's paradise to push our craft into deep water again. 

 These were trifling discomforts, however, not worth a 

 thought amid much that was novel and interesting. We 

 ate our dinners in the boat just at dusk, and enjoyed the 

 cool breeze which swept over the water as we glided up 

 stream. 



The silence of the night was unbroken, save by the 

 regular dip of the oars ; and as darkness increased, the 

 tiny lamps of the fire-flies became visible here and there 

 among the vegetation on the banks. As we glided on- 

 wards their numbers increased, until we came upon 

 them in thousands, evidently attracted by some particular 

 kind of low tree, around which they flashed simulta- 

 neously, their scintillating brilliancy being far beyond 



