ch. v.] We Engage Guides. 97 



especially by the boys and young girls who crowded on 

 the pathway just in front of where we lay. When we 

 extinguished our lamp and turned into our blankets the}- 

 soon became quiet, the people of the house retiring to 

 their private apartments, and the others to their houses 

 in the village. It was a wet night, and we felt chilly, but 

 slept well. Our first task after breakfast in the morning 

 was to overhaul all our stores, arranging those we wanted 

 on the mountain so that they could be easily carried, and 

 packing the rest so that they could be left with safety. 

 Our stock of rice was so low that we were rather alarmed, 

 but " Musa " assured us that he should be able to buy 

 some in the village. After re-arranging all our things, 

 we took our guns and walked over the hill. We saw 

 very few birds, nor were the plants we discovered of any 

 particular interest, with the exception of a large white- 

 flowered arundina, having a rich amethyst-coloured lip. 

 We saw some immense gingerworts, having leafy stems 

 ten or twelve feet in height : also large ferns of the 

 angiopteris type, while Mikania volubilis overran the 

 bushes along our route. 



Returning to the house, we engaged Boloung and 

 Kurow, the acting head men of the village, and six of 

 their followers, to take us up the mountain on the 

 morrow. "Musa" and Pangeran Raman did most of 

 the bargaining on our side, and at length concluded the 

 matter by paying over the amount of cloth and brass 

 wire as agreed. Next morning we selected sixteen of 

 our men and started for the mountain. In a rich bit of 

 shady forest on the other side of the Kiau ridge we found 

 the evergreen Calanthc macroloba, bearing spikes of white 

 flowers much larger individually than those of C. veratri- 

 folia. A foliage plant marked with silvery blotches above 

 and crimson beneath was also collected. Our road was a 



B 



