chap, viii.] LOBO RAMAN. 195 



sprinkling of forest, I determined to remain a short time, 

 and try the neighbourhood. Just opposite the station 

 was a small hut deep river, and a good bathing-place ; 

 and beyond the village was a fine patch of forest, through 

 which the road passed, overshadowed by magnificent trees, 

 which partly tempted me to stay ; but after a fortnight 

 I could find no good place for insects, and very few birds 

 different from the common species of Malacca. I there- 

 fore moved on another stage to Lobo Hainan, where the 

 guard -house is situated quite by itself in the forest, nearly 

 a mile from each of three villages. This was very agree- 

 able to me, as I could move about without having every 



3 O «/ 



motion watched by crowds of men women and children, 

 and I had also a much greater variety of walks to each 

 of the villages and the plantations around them. 



The villages of the Sumatran Malays are somewhat 

 peculiar and very picturesque. A space of some acres is 

 surrounded with a high fence, and over this area the houses 

 are thickly strewn without the least attempt at regularity. 

 Tall cocoa-nut trees grow abundantly between them, and 

 the ground is bare and smooth with the trampling of many 

 feet. The houses are raised about six feet on posts, the 

 best being entirely built of planks, others of bamboo. The 

 former are always more or less ornamented with carving 

 and have high-pitched roofs and overhanging eaves. The 

 gable ends and all the chief posts and beams are soine- 



o2 



