JUNGLE HUNTER 247 



leave barely more than sitting room for the helms- 

 men, in a total boat length of twenty feet. It has 

 by far the best lines of Malayan boats, and is as 

 graceful and speedy as any of the very graceful 

 and speedy boats in Far Eastern waters. It is the 

 craft in which Malay pirates, of a time not so long 

 gone, were accustomed to steal out, from the many 

 indentations of their shore-line, upon the unsus- 

 pecting and sluggish-moving coaster; it was the 

 troop ship of the old days when feuds carried a 

 Malay chief and his fighting crew from one river 

 to another. It is fast under its square sail, and 

 will come safely through pretty roughish going. 

 A few of these boats are used at Singapore as 

 passenger carriers from wharf to steamer, and 

 here they are pulled (or rather pushed) by oars 

 and manned by Tamils ; but on the rivers of Malay 

 and of Sumatra the prau, when not under sail, is 

 invariably paddled. 



The crew of our prau knew slightly more about 

 the Kampar River than did Uda and I. They 

 were to land us at a little settlement near its 

 mouth, beyond which they knew nothing ; and here 

 we were to organize our party for a rhino hunt in 

 the up-river country. 



The limited knowledge of natives concerning the 

 country immediately surrounding them I have 

 always noted on my various ventures into wilder- 



