CHAP. XXVI.] AN EXCURSION. 127 



town, to a village of the Alfuros, or indigenes, where I 

 thought I might perhaps find a good collecting groiind. 



The Eajah of Cajeli, a good-tempered old man, offered to 

 accompany me, as the village was under his government ; 

 and we started one morning early, in a long narrow boat 

 with eight rowers. In about two hours we entered the 

 river, and commenced our inland journey against a very 

 powerful current. The stream was about a bundred yards 

 wide, and was generally bordered with high grass, and 

 occasionally bushes and palm-trees. The country round 

 was flat and more or less swampy, with scattered trees and 

 shrubs. At every bend we crossed the river to avoid the 

 strength of the current, and arrived at ovir landing- 

 place about four o'clock, in a torrent of rain. Here we 

 waited for an hour, croiiching under a leaky mat till 

 the Alfuros arrived who had been sent for from the 

 village to carry my baggage, when we set off along a 

 path of whose extreme muddiness I had been Avarned 

 before starting. 



I turned up my trousers as high as possible, grasped a 

 stout stick to prevent awkward falls, and then boldly 

 plunged into the first mud-hole, which was immediately 

 succeeded by another and another. The mud or mud and 

 water was knee-deep, with little intervals of firmer ground 

 between, making progression exceedingly difficult. The 

 path was bordered with high rigid grass, growing in dense 



