AN EXPEDITION TO PENRISEN 263 



for a small wage consented to share our fortunes for 

 the next week or two. One of these men, Latip by 

 name, was a fine specimen of humanity, clean-run, 

 stalwart, and as active as a cat ; another, whom we 

 christened the "lion," on account of his flowing mane 

 of black hair, was inclined to corpulency, and before 

 very long we discovered that he had a rooted objec- 

 tion to hard work, and a very large appetite ; however, 

 he was of an amiable and good-natured disposition, 

 and was a source of constant amusement to our 

 hunters. The Pengara's son also stayed with us, as he 

 was anxious to display his prowess with a new muzzle- 

 loading gun that his indulgent father had given him. 

 After breakfast we decided to explore our surroundings, 

 and dispersed in all directions ; for my own part I 

 did not go far, the immediate vicinity of our camp 

 contained enough interesting material to keep a 

 naturalist happy for a month, and I soon had a fine 

 series of insects of all sorts, including such insignificant- 

 looking creatures as escape the notice of collectors on 

 the hunt for more striking animals. About midday 

 we re-united and the results were not very promising ; 

 none of the birds obtained were different from low- 

 country forms and none of the butterflies were new 

 to me. Cox reported that in his wanderings he had 

 come on a magnificent plateau at a slightly higher 

 elevation than our present camp, it was well supplied 

 with water and commanded a splendid view ; it 

 was evident that our guide had not taken us to the 

 best place, and cross-examining him we found at 

 length that his chief reason for not leading us to this 

 ideal spot was that the Caryota-palm with which our 

 hut was thatched did not grow there in sufficient 



