266 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



possession is marked by one continuous fight against 

 aggression by forest seeds and creepers and weeds of 

 every description, and when, finally, it is abandoned, 

 it is covered within a few months by a dense and 

 almost impenetrable scrub that will eventually grow 

 up to become forest. My only companion was 

 To'Kaya, an important and influential chief of one 

 of the districts of the state, and our following con- 

 sisted of a few Malay boatmen. To'Kaya was a fine 

 specimen of a Malay of the last generation. He was 

 some fifty years old, but time had had little apparent 

 effect upon his wiry agile frame. He was a short 

 man, not more than five feet four inches in height, 

 of neat trim build, with square shoulders and small 

 hands and feet. He had little superfluous flesh, but 

 the curves of his arms and chest showed a muscular 

 development considerably greater than would have 

 been expected. His head was small and well shaped, 

 its poorest feature being a broad and somewhat flat 

 nose. The whole of his scalp was clean shaven, and 

 chin and cheeks were kept free of occasional hairs by 

 the use of tweezers. The striking feature of his face 

 was a small, fierce, closely -cropped moustache of 

 rather coarse bristly hairs, whose almost snowy white- 

 ness afforded a brilliant contrast to the smoothness 

 of his face and head, and to the rich olive -brown of 

 his complexion. His eyes were somewhat sunken, 

 with an expression of suffering and patience, but the 

 crow's feet at their corners often curved into un- 

 expected lines of humour. In every expression the 

 old man showed the quiet dignity and self-respect of 

 the true Malay. 



