100 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



mincing appearance, from which the Malays borrow a 

 simile to express the affected walk of the damsels of 

 their country. 



But when a leech sees the object of its search there 

 is no further delay no more bowing and curtseying ; 

 it races towards its goal. The head is thrust out as 

 far as it will reach, and the mouth seizes hold of what- 

 ever it may touch, a leaf or blade or the bare soil. 

 The body is bent into a great loop that brings the 

 tail up to the head. Then the long body straightens 

 again, and the head is thrust forward once more. Each 

 step is the full length of the body, and the leech 

 covers the ground in graceful sinuosities that remind 

 one of galloping greyhounds. 



And when the leech gets on to you it wastes no 

 time. Should there be no opening at the top of your 

 boot, and should the folds of your putties afford no 

 entrance, it climbs until it reaches the place where 

 your knickerbockers button at the knee. This is the 

 place where it generally finds access. But it is im- 

 material to the leech where it gets at you : get at you 

 it will. If every other opening is unavailable, it will, 

 if not picked off sooner, climb until it reaches your 

 neck. The sense of smell seems to be strongly 

 developed in these pests, for when your blood begins to 

 flow after a leech has dropped off you, gorged and pear- 

 shaped, all the leeches that get upon you subsequently 

 make their way to the one place. Sometimes you may 

 pick off a handful of leeches that hang in a cluster, all 

 clotted with gore and slime, round the side of your 

 knee, and find that you have only three or four other 

 leeches on the whole of the rest of your body. 



