THROUGH THE MALAY JUNGLE 41 



extremely minute, and succeed in getting inside in 

 spite of all precautions. Eight were on my legs from 

 this one walk, leaving sores which bled badly ; and 

 others were found to have dropped on us from the 

 trees, and actually crawled down our necks without 

 being felt. Black scars result from the bites, and 

 remain for years. 



Our stay at Padang Sambai soon proved the use- 

 lessness of the trip so far as the shooting was con- 

 cerned, and in fact led us to abandon all idea of 

 going into Pahang ; for day after day the rain poured 

 with a dreary and dispiriting persistency. This 

 great open game-field, with its tall grass, ponds, and 

 marshes, was all marked up with the tracks of wild 

 elephant and seladang. Yet morning and evening, 

 day after day, we waited and watched to no purpose. 

 Every animal, with the exception of a few deer, had 

 effectually disappeared from the country. A few 

 shots at these deer were small recompense, and I 

 found that shooting from the back of an untrained 

 elephant, which at the report of the gun tries to 

 imitate a bucking broncho, is anything but condu- 

 cive to accuracy. 



It was finally decided to build a raft here on the 

 Perak River, and to float down its course instead of 

 crossing into Pahang. Seven natives were put to 

 work, and in a few days had made, with no material 



