IN THE SWAMPS 183 



covers all signs of attempted reclamation. On the 

 edges of such country are favorite ranges for wild 

 pig, which, after feeding at night, find here the thick 

 scrub near soft ground, where they can wallow 

 and lie up during the day. Thus in Malay hunting 

 boar becomes a matter of beating them out of these 

 thick jungle patches, and the native dogs, though 

 serviceable after deer for which the Malays train 

 them, lack the courage needed to dislodge a stub- 

 born or pugnacious boar. English residents have 

 experimented quite a bit in breeding for a good 

 dog; but nothing very notable has evolved, and 

 the most dependable one seems to be got by cross- 

 ing a pariah (mongrel) bitch with an imported 

 harrier. 



As a collection of mongrels, the dogs Aboo Din 

 got together for our pig hunt were unbeatable ; as 

 a pig pack they were untrained and fickle, though 

 not useless— for running deer, however, they had 

 quite a reputation. 



For a greater part of four days' travel inland 

 from the coast we moved through ankle-deep 

 swamp and multitudes of sago and cocoanut palms y 

 seeing now and then on higher, dryer ground the 

 traveller, most beautiful of all the smaller palms. 

 Insects were troublesome, not to mention the omni- 

 present leech, and the heat very oppressive, espe- 

 cially in the close-growing lalang; yet the sur- 



