36 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. m^ 



tunately, the head man was away at "Jahore ; and some 

 coolies, who expressed their willingness to accompany us^ 

 demanded a sum equivalent to five shillings per day for 

 their services, so we decided to do without them; indeed, 

 the Malays we had with us protested agaiast this extor- 

 tion on the part of the Chinese settlers, and said they 

 would endeavour to carry all themselves. 



We ptJled out of the creek, and proceeded further up 

 the river, finally landing at a place where there is an 

 excellent road, leading through the forest to Kanka Ah 

 Tong. Here we landed all our things ; and our men 

 were fortunate to secure a couple of Javanese wood- 

 cutters, who were fishing, and who were willing to carry 

 part of our gear for a fair payment. We rested a little 

 in a hut heside the road, in which were two men suffer- 

 ing from fever, and another, who had dysentery. We 

 gave them medicine, and pushed onwards. Monkeys 

 were very plentiful on the tall trees beside our path ; 

 and we saw several grey squirrels, and a few birds, in- 

 cluding a curious shrike, and a harbet, which I had 

 never seen before. The trees around us were very 

 tall, and in many cases festooned with rattans, and 

 other climbing-plants. Flowers were not plentiful ; and 

 although we made several detours in the forest, nothing 

 of interest was seen. 



It was very hot in the middle of the day. Our 

 thermometer stood at 93° in the shade ; and nearly all 

 the way our path lay in the open, the sun being very hot 

 overhead. After the first few miles we came to several 

 open plots of'land, under cultivation, gambier and pepper 

 being the principal crops. We stayed at one place, 

 where the raw gambier, or " terre japonica," was being 

 prepared in a low shed. There were several low brick 

 fire-places, over which shallow iron pans were placed ; 



