134 Sumatra. 



After many inquiries I found that a day's journey by wa- 

 ter above Palembang there commenced a military road, which 

 extended up to the mountains and even across to Bencoolen, 

 and I determined to take this route and travel on till I found 

 some tolerable collecting-ground. By this means I should se- 

 cure dry land and a good road, and avoid the rivers, which at 

 this season are very tedious to ascend, owing to the powerful 

 currents, and very unproductive to the collector, owing to 

 most of the lands in their vicinity being under water. Leav- 

 ing early in the morning, we did not reach Lorok, the village 

 where the road begins, till late at night. I staid there a few 

 days, but found that almost all the ground in the vicinity not 

 under water was cultivated, and that the only forest was in 

 swamps which were now inaccessible. The only bird new to 

 me which I obtained at Lorok was the fine long-tailed parro- 

 quet (Palreornis longicauda). The people here assured me 

 that the country was just the same as this for a very long way 

 — more than a week's journey, and they seemed hardly to 

 have any conception of an elevated forest-clad country, so that 

 I began to think it would be useless going on, as the time at 

 my disjjosal was too short to make it worth my while to spend 

 much more of it in moving about. At length, however, I 

 found a man who knew the country, and was more intelligent ; 

 and he at once told me that if I wanted forest I must go to 

 the district of Rembang, which I found on inquiry was about 

 twenty-five or thirty miles off. 



The road is divided into regular stages, of ten or twelve 

 miles each, and, without sending on in advance to have cool- 

 ies ready, only this distance can be travelled in a day. At 

 each station there are houses for the accommodation of pas- 

 sengers, with cooking-house and stables, and six or eight men 

 always on guard. There is an established system for coolies 

 at fixed rates, the inhabitants of the surrounding villages all 

 taking their turn to be subject to coolie service, as well as that 

 of guards at the station for five days at a time. This arrange- 

 ment makes travelling very easy, and was a great convenience 

 for me. I had a pleasant walk of ten or twelve miles in the 

 morning, and the rest of the day could stroll about and explore 

 the village and neighborhood, having a house ready to occupy 

 withaut any formalities whatever. In three days I reached 



