ch. iv.] Native Dancers. 5 1 



was particularly noticeable in the case of one of the 

 performers, who waved a handkerchief about during the 

 dance, changing it from one hand to the other, until 

 eventually it vanished from sight altogether ; still the 

 arms waved, and the fingers, in their ever slow changing 

 movement, resembled tentaculse groping for their prey 

 as they were slowly waved through the air in every 

 possible direction, presumably in quest of the lost article, 

 the ultimate recovery of which terminated the dance. 

 The only light in the apartment was the lurid nickering 

 of a dammar torch, and its reflections on the faces and 

 slightly-draped forms of the performers and lookers-on 

 produced a weird effect, which was intensified by the 

 silence of all present. 



The next day " Bongsur," a well-known bird-hunter of 

 the district, and a party of natives, undertook to guide us 

 to the forest we wished to explore, and we set off up one 

 of the largest creeks in a canoe, followed by two or three 

 others containing our men and guides. After paddling 

 about a mile we landed, and after walking through 

 several clearings in the hot sun, the primaeval forest was 

 at length reached, where it was much cooler and more 

 pleasant, the sun's rays being screened from us by the 

 masses of leaves, epiphytes, and flowers overhead. After 

 mountain climbing, and the wonders of the sea, perhaps 

 nothing suggests one's own littleness more forcibly than 

 a walk through the old forests which exist in tropical 

 lowlands. There is a comparative dearth of undergrowth, 

 — but a hundred feet or more overhead the birds, insects, 

 and flowers enjoy the bright light and warmth denied to 

 all below. The monkeys and birds too find their favourite 

 fruits aloft, and fling the husks below at your feet. 



Nothing can possibly be of more interest to lovers of 

 exotic plants generally, than to be able to form some 



