148 THE TROTTING RHINO 



States and form the upper part of the Malay Pe- 

 ninsula between lower Siam and the protected 

 States. There were no roads for us to follow, and 

 off the rivers no other way of penetrating the 

 Malayan jungle, the densest on earth, than over 

 the narrow footpaths used by the natives. And 

 it must be a great saving of distance when the 

 Malay takes to the jungle, for he much prefers to 

 paddle. 



We made pretty fair time along the rivers, but 

 in the jungle we averaged not much more than two 

 miles an hour. The footing was muddy and slip- 

 pery, though the carriers had not more than about 

 sixty pounds each in the long packing basket 

 which, strapped on their backs, extended from 

 above their heads quite to their hips. I took no 

 tent, and our supplies consisted chiefly of rice and 

 maize and roasted leaves of the coffee bush, from 

 which a kind of tea is made that the Malayans use 

 often in preference to the berry ; and we lived on 

 yams, maize, rice, and a very toothsome curry 

 made from the tender shoots of the bamboo. The 

 Malays also ate several kinds of roots and leaves 

 which they gathered in the jungle ; some of which 

 I must say were really palatable. Now and then 

 we had fish. In trying to get one trophy with good 

 tusks, I shot several wild pigs, and you should 

 have seen the eyes of Bun Bin Sum moisten in 



