CHAPTER VIII 

 IN THE EYE OP DAY 



The Lost Seladang of Noa Anak. 



NOT in many places on the globe is early 

 morning so entrancing as in up-country 

 Malay. The coolish, faintly stirring air, the dark, 

 fragrant forests, the rakishly topped cocoanut 

 palm, and the gracefully disheveled bamboo sil- 

 houetted against a grayish sky, compose a picture 

 of beauty and of inspiration as rare to the tropics 

 as it is fleeting— for with sunup comes sultry heat, 

 enervating everywhere, but on the plains intol- 

 erable. Always there is the eternal green of the 

 hills and the shifting, moisture-laden clouds that 

 pour daily benefaction upon the respondent, luxu- 

 riant growth below. And in all Malay nowhere 

 are the mornings so attractive as in Jelebu town, 

 with its natural setting choice as that of an Orien- 

 tal gem. Jelebu district is jungle and primeval 

 forest running up hill and down dale over to the 

 higher ground, locally called " mountains," which 

 divide the State of Negri Sembilan from Selangor. 

 But Jelebu town is valleys of heavily laden, bril- 

 liantly colored, padi fields, and isolated hillocks, 



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