THE FOREST. 9 



you that you are alone in the midst of mysterious, 

 hidden things. The feeling that immediately follows 

 this is that these mysterious things are not merely 

 hidden, but are specially hidden from you. The 

 circle that moves with you is the veil built up 

 against you. You could imagine that you were a 

 trespasser, or at all events were regarded as such. 

 Then you have the horrible feeling that from be- 

 hind the tree-trunks watching eyes are looking upon 

 you. It is bad enough at any time if you are alone 

 and all is quiet; it is worse as the sun sinks and 

 light fades; it is worst if by any ill chance you 

 happen to know that you have lost not only your 

 way but your sense of direction. 



At all times you may see things happen of which 

 the reason is hard to divine. Though not a breath 

 of air can be felt to move, a frond of a palm may be- 

 gin to sway gently and rhythmically backwards and 

 forwards while all the other fronds of the same tree 

 remain as motionless as the trees around. You ex- 

 amine the palm to see if there is possibly a rat or 

 some other animal at its base, but can discover 

 nothing. Sometimes one single leaf amidst the 

 numbers on a branch may begin without apparent 

 cause to be violently agitated, and will as suddenly 

 stop. 



The Malays always consider themselves as in- 

 truders when they enter the forest, and never 

 forget their awe of and reverence for it. They 

 seldom go into the forest alone ; and when one man 

 asks another to accompany him, the reason that he 

 is going into the forest is always considered to be 



