chap, xvii.] RATTAN PALMS. 421 



this is what is considered by some travellers as one of the 

 savage " instincts," whereas it is merely the result of wide 

 general knowledge. The man knew the topography of 

 the whole district; the slope of the land, the direction 

 of the streams, the belts of bamboo or rattan, and many 

 other indications of locality and direction ; and he was thus 

 enabled to hit straight upon the hut, in the vicinity of 

 which he had often hunted. In a forest of which he knew 

 nothing, he woidd be quite as much at a loss as a European. 

 Thus it is, I am convinced, with all the wonderful accounts 

 of Indians finding their way through trackless forests to 

 definite points. They may never have passed straight 

 between the two particular points before, but they are well 

 acquainted with the vicinity of both, and have such a 

 general knowledge of the whole country, its water system, 

 its soil and its vegetation, that as they approach the point 

 they are to reach, many easily-recognised indications 

 enable them to hit upon it with certainty. 



The chief feature of this forest was the abundanoe of 

 rattan palms, hanging from the trees, and turning and 

 twisting about on the ground, often in inextricable con- 

 fusion. One wonders at first Low they can get into such 

 queer shapes ; but it is evidently caused by the decay and 

 fall of the trees up which they have first climbed, after 

 which they grow along the ground till they meet with 

 another trunk up which to ascend. A tangled mass of 



