96 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



loose boulders that strewed its bed. Though the 

 stream was not more than a few yards wide, the 

 passage was in the darkness that our lamp but feebly 

 pierced far from easy or even safe. At last we stood 

 upon the farther bank, dripping and miserably shiver- 

 ing. Our path continued through the plain for some 

 little way, and then we re-entered the forest. A 

 short walk took us to another plain, which was the 

 place where we might expect to find the sladang, 

 We were slightly before our time. There was a grey 

 light in the east, but it was still so dark that an object 

 at a distance of more than a few yards was invisible. 

 The light increased momentarily, and as it spread 

 higher and wider through the sky the grey grew clear 

 and pure and ivory-like in a seeming transparency. 

 The birds awoke to shake themselves and to utter their 

 first morning twitterings, and among the tree-tops a 

 family of gibbons called to one another in melancholy 

 piercing cries. The nightjars, that had sat silent for 

 the hours since midnight, bestirred themselves to 

 swoop and circle, uttering their plaintive call, for a 

 few minutes before they sought a shady shelter for 

 the day. We could soon discern the line of forest 

 that surrounded and shut in the plain. The ivory 

 grey of the sky quickly turned to saffron, and the 

 saffron to yellow. The yellow turned to gold, and 

 then we could see the extent of the plain that lay 

 before us. A light mist rose from the open expanse. 

 It broke up into curling flocks, which blew lightly 

 away with the first gentle breeze of morning, fading 

 as they rolled over the tree -tops into thin steam- 

 like streaks. 



