52 MALACCA. [chap. hi. 



which it dwells, and render it very inconspicuous. All 

 the specimens sold in Malacca are caught in snares, and 

 my informant, though he had shot none, had snared 

 plenty. 



The tiger and rhinoceros are still found here, and a few 

 years ago elephants abounded, but they have lately all 

 disappeared. We found some heaps of dung, which 

 seemed to be that of elephants, and some tracks of the 

 rhinoceros, but saw none of the animals. We, however, 

 kept a fire up all night in case any of these creatures 

 should visit us, and two of our men declared that they did 

 one day see a rhinoceros. When our rice was finished, and 

 our boxes full of specimens, we returned to Ayer-Panas, 

 and a few days afterwards went on to Malacca, and thence 

 to Singapore. Mount Ophir has quite a reputation for 

 fever, and all our friends were astonished at our reckless- 

 ness in staying so long at its foot ; but we noue of us 

 suffered in the least, and I shall ever look back with 

 pleasure to my trip, as being my first introduction to 

 mountain scenery in the Eastern tropics. 



The meagreness and brevity of the sketch I have here 

 given of my visit to Singapore and the Malay Peninsula 

 is due to my having trusted chiefly to some private letters 

 and a note-book, which were lost ; and to a paper on 

 Malacca and Mount Ophir which was sent to the Koyal 

 Geographical Society, but which was neither read nor 



