CHAPTER II 



THROUGH THE MALAY JUNGLE 



JUR object in planning an expedition 

 into the interior of the Malay penin- 

 sula was twofold ; first, the big-game 

 shooting for which, from the accounts 

 of others, the peninsula seemed to be a veritable 

 paradise ; then, to see this rapidly developing coun- 

 try before the hand of British progress should have 

 opened up its last hidden corners to the light of 

 civilization. 



In the first respect we were destined to be wholly 

 disappointed. The time chosen for our trip, al- 

 though unavoidable, had brought us into the jungle 

 at the height of the rains, the worst possible time of 

 year; the rivers were in flood, the salt licks sub- 

 merged, and although continual signs of wild ele- 

 phant and seladang were to be seen in the lowlands, 

 all the great quantity of game which must have been 

 there but shortly before our arrival had disappeared 

 into the hills and the depths of the jungle where 

 tracking was impossible. Only once, as I shall nar- 

 rate, did we come on a fresh seladang track; but 



