ch. xiii.] Pretty Weeds. 26 



j 



Kiau. The road lies by the sides of the river most of the 

 •vray until the turn to the left is taken up the open rice- 

 fields, which lie below the last-named village. We crossed 

 this river thirteen times to-day, and some of the crossings 

 were deep and rapid. Met troops of natives — male and 

 female — mostly laden with large baskets of tobacco, which 

 they were taking down to the villages nearer the coast to 

 barter for cloth, knives, and other goods, as no traders 

 appear to venture further inland than the first Dusun 

 villages. Most of the men were armed with a long slender- 

 shafted spear, which is especially useful to them in ford- 

 ing the streams. In addition they had the "parang," a 

 sort of scimetar-shaped sword, having a good keen edge. 

 This is slung to a broad belt worn sash-wise over one 

 shoulder, the part which crosses the breast being orna- 

 mented with cowrie shells sewn on very thickly. I was 

 very glad when we reached the little farms of the Kiau 

 villagers, and could see their dwellings and palm-trees in 

 the distance. In some of the clearings the crimson- 

 leaved dracama (D. terminalis) was conspicuous. It has 

 here slender stems five or six feet in height, each termi- 

 nated by a tuft of bright coloured leaves. Going up the 

 hill slowly, I made a little collection of the weeds found 

 among the rice and kaladi crops. Among these were two 

 pretty little plants of the daisy family (Compositce), the 

 one with purple and the other with yellow florets. A 

 tiny species of torenia formed spreading tufts of purplish 

 leaves and stems, and bore rather pretty purple and white 

 flowers. A woolly-leaved gnaphalium attaining a foot in 

 height, and bearing dense clusters of yellow immortelle- 

 like flowers, was especially noticeable. There are numer- 

 ous springs of cool water, clear as crystal, in this hillside, 

 and these are brought down to the path in tiny troughs or 

 aqueducts of bamboo, so that one has only to stoop very 



