OF THE OLD WORLD. 327 



flowering shrubs, whilst here and there were 

 scattered chimps of stately forest-trees, from which 

 hung festoons of the pusivel creeper {Entada j)ur- 

 swtha) with its gigantic pods nearly six feet in 

 length, and other blooming parasites. 



Chineah and the people were not long in con- 

 structing two huts (one for us and the other for 

 themselves) by sticking bamboos into the ground, 

 bending their tops together, which they fastened 

 ■with creepers so as to form an arch, and wattling 

 the sides with twigs. A trench Avas then dug, the 

 earth heaped up all round, and the whole covered 

 with a combley which was well pegged down, 

 making an impervious shelter. In our tent a 

 carpet w^as spread over a bed of dry leaves, a rest 

 for our rifles constructed, and a bull's-eye lanthorn 

 hung up ready for lighting. 



I was accustomed to make myself at home and 

 comfortable when in the jungle, being always very 

 careful in the selection of my sleeping-place, for 

 although, after many long years' campaigning, my 

 constitution has become more hardy and less suscep- 

 tible of injury from cold and damp, still I have seen 

 so many fine fellows succumb to dysentery and 

 fever, the seeds of which diseases were laid by care- 

 less exposure to the night air, after extreme heat 

 and exhaustion, that I always take care of myself ; 

 besides which it is wretched beyond description to 

 be shivering beneath a scanty covering, and feel the 

 niffht air cut throuirh one until the life-blood is 



