CHAPTER XVn. 



PALEMBANG, BANC A, AISTD SINGAPOEE. 



Maij Mil. — At 7 A. M. I bade my host, the confro- 

 leur, good-by, and began to glide down tlie Lima- 

 tang for Palembang. 



It was a cool, clear morning, and I enjoyed a fine 

 view of Mount Dem^io and the other high peaks near 

 it. The current at first was so rapid that the only 

 care of my men was, to keep the boat from striking 

 on the many bars of sand and shingle. To do this, 

 one stood forward and one aft, each provided -with a 

 Ions: bamboo. We soon shot into a series of foamino; 

 rapids, and here the river bent so abruptly to the 

 right and left that I thought we should certainly be 

 dashed against a ragged, precipitous wall of rock that 

 formed the right bank at that place, but we passed 

 safely by, thou*::]! the stern of the boat only passed 

 clear by a few inches. My boat was about twenty 

 feet long and five broad, flat-bottomed, and made of 

 thin plank. Its cential part was covered over with 

 roof of atap, like the sampans in China, and on this 

 was another sliding roof, which could be hauled for- 

 ward to protect the rowers from rain or sunshine. 

 From Lahat to the mouth of the Inem River relays of 



