AN ELEPHANT 227 



is a trunk with limbs and foliage at the top only, 

 while in Sumatra one finds more trees in the jungle 

 with limbs below the very top, though that of the 

 Peninsula is the prevailing type. One rather pe- 

 culiar jungle freak I observed in Sumatra was a 

 tree supporting midway down its trunk a great 

 clump of earth from which were growing small 

 ferns and palms— a kind of aerial swinging gar- 

 den. Every tree trunk is loaded, sometimes liter- 

 ally hidden, with creepers and vines, cane and 

 rattan, hanging in great and manifold festoons 

 from tree to tree, so that the entire forest is linked 

 together. There is much less bamboo than in 

 Siam. Under foot is a network of smaller cane, 

 rattan and every kind of tough bush, springing 

 from earth covered with decaying vegetation and 

 sending out its dank fever-making odor; underly- 

 ing this, a muck into which I often sank to my 

 knees. 



Finally, however, there came a day toward the 

 end of a week's travel when we fell on fresh 

 tracks and for six hours followed them into the 

 densest jungle yet encountered. Through a forest 

 of huge fern-like undergrowth, standing fully 

 eight feet high and so thick as to be impenetrable 

 to the eye, we squirmed and twisted; and now 

 there were no bird notes or monkey cries ; no sound 

 of any kind save the squashing of our feet in the 



