CHAPTER XXYII. 



HUNTING IN THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE. 



A Trip to the Interior. — Road to Kwala Lumpor. — The Town. — " The Cap- 

 tain Cheena." — A Bonanza in Champagne. — Snngei Batu. — A Foolish 

 Feat. — Our House. — Feasting on Durians. — A Jacoon House and Fam- 

 ily. — Resemblance to the Dyaks.— -An Impromptu Elephant Hunt. — At- 

 tack in a Swamp. — Death of a Young Tusker. — Plague of Flies. — Another 

 Elephant Hunt. — A Close Shave and a Ludicrous Performance. — Discov- 

 ery and Exploration of Three Fine Caves — Cathedral Cave. — Mammals. 

 — Visit to a Tin Mine. — Chinese versus Malays. — Political Condition of 

 Selangore. — Statistics. — Snakes. — Good-by to Klang. — Mr. Robert Camp- 

 bell, my Good Genius. 



On again reaching lOang I found there Captain Douglas, the Brit- 

 ish Eesident, who, much to my advantage, was kind enough to 

 interest himself in the object of my visit. Through his co-opera- 

 tion Mr. Syers obtained fourteen days' leave of absence for the trip 

 we had planned to take into the interior, and, on the evening 

 of June 27th, we started up the river in Mr. Syers' boat. Four 

 Malays pulled the boat, while we lay down and slept comfortably 

 until we reached Damensara, eighteen miles up, where we tied up 

 till morning. From the PoUce Station at that point a good car- 

 riage road leads east seventeen miles to Kwala Lumpor, the largest 

 town in the territory, in the centre of the mining district. 



After our cup of coffee at the police station, I hastily skinned a 

 Macacus nemestrinus (broque monkey), which I bought alive of one 

 of the policemen, and then we started for the other end of the 

 road. Mr. Syers had his two ponies in readiness, and we rode 

 them, leaving our luggage to follow on a cart. 



The road lay through very dense, high forest, composed of 

 large and very lofty trees (among which the camphor was often 

 noticed), growing vei-y thickly together, while the ground under- 

 neath was choked with an undergrowth of thorny palms, rattans 

 and brush so thick it seemed that nothing larger than a cat 

 could get through it. Nowhere was there the smallest opening in 



