HUNTING IX THE INTERIOR OF SELANGORE. 317 



some dense jungle and one or two clearings, and presently reached 

 Batu, on the Klang Eiver, our joui-ney's end. And right there 

 ■we did the most foolisli thing we could possibly have done, for 

 attempting which we both deserved to have our necks broken. 

 There is a nan-ow foot-bridge across the river, a single hue of 

 planks a foot wide, supported on posts about eight feet high over 

 the bed of the river, and without any railings whatever. IVIr. Syers 

 asked if we should ride our ponies over the bridge instead of ford- 

 ing, and I told him to do as he liked, and I would follow. Fool that 

 he was, he started to ride across the bridge, "just for a lark," and, 

 fool that I was, I followed. The least nervousness, or a mis-step 

 on the part of either pony, wotdd have thrown us all over pell-mell, 

 and, considering eveiything, it is a wonder we got safely over. Not 

 satisfied with this, and to tempt fate still farther, we presently re- 

 crossed in the same way. The next day we were amazed at our 

 folly, and ascribed our safety to the Providence which watches over 

 fools and drunken men. 



At Batu there ars four Malay houses and two Chinese. The 

 headman was absent in Klang, but his wife proved herself a woman 

 capable of meetiug an emergency, and forthwith had one of the 

 Malay families vacate their residence, which stood a f^ood distance 

 away from the others in a very pretty grove of durian trees on the 

 high bank of the river. The family moved out, bag and baggage, 

 in twenty minutes, and we moved in with quite as much furniture 

 and general luggage as the dispossessed. The floor was of bamboo 

 slats, tied down to the sleepers, an inch apart, and raised on posts 

 five feet above the ground. The walls were of bark, and the roof 

 of attap. The principal room, in which ]\Ir. Syers and I hung 

 our hammocks, was cool and comfortable, but rather dark from lack 

 of windows. In the other room were quartered our companions, 

 consisting of two Malay policemen, one of them a smart, active 

 young fellow named Yahop — a keen sportsman withal ; my boy 

 Francis, Syers' Chinese boy, Cat's Face, cook and sen'ant, and also 

 his Malay horse-keeper, a good servant at all times. The ponies 

 were stabled very comfortably underneath the house. 



The jungle all around Batu, although swampy in places, was so 

 open that one could go through it on foot with tolerable ease. 

 Here and there were patches of low and thin forest, broken occa- 

 sionally with fine grassy glades, such as large animals love to %isit 

 for a sight of the sun and sky. But we soon found that beyond 

 this fine ground lay a vn.de tract of swampy forest, very difl&cult 



