IN SUMATRA. 237 



pendence and will ; they seemed too meek ever to act on the 

 offensive. One cannot help feeling that they are harmless 

 overgrown children of the woods. Within the memory of the 

 chief of the village in which I first met these Kubus, have they 

 only come to possess a sense of shame ; formerly they knew 

 none, and were the derision of the villagers into whose neigh- 

 bourhood they might come. 



Eain having fallen very heavily in the north-west hills for 

 some time, the path across country to the borders of Djambi 

 was rendered so impassable, that it became necessary for me 

 to descend the Rupit to its junction with the Rawas river 

 at Muara Rupit, and then ascend the latter by a road fol- 

 lowing the river for a great part of the way — a far longer 

 journey. I had therefore a couple of substantial rafts made, 

 in one of which I had fitted a covered seat, with a long raised 

 platform behind it on which to prepare a herbarium, as the 

 river traversed much virgin forest specimens of which my 

 mode of travel would enable me to collect and arrange while 

 sailing down. The river below the village was broad, and, 

 except at a few places, of considerable depth. 



1 started early on the 25th of October, just as the sun 

 was tipping the trees, streaming through the morning mist 

 changing it into a golden haze. High overhead the pale 

 blue of the sky betokened a bright sunny day. The morning 

 was delightfully fresh and invigorating ; even the phlegmatic 

 Malay felt it so, for the men who piloted my rafts pranced 

 on their poles as they shoved along, and when they came to 

 spots where more vigorous exertion had to be put forth, 

 they shouted and hallooed in the exuberance of their spirits. 

 Nothing could be more pleasant than our gentle gliding 

 down, enjoying without fatigue the ever-varying pictures 

 presented at each bend of the river — its abrupt corners, its 

 deep rotating frothy pools ; now the shade of some stupendous 

 tree, now the shooting an arch of some half-fallen giant 

 busked with pendant ferns and orchidaceous Vandas. Very 

 many trees were in flower and fruit — in fact till then for 

 several years there had been little blossom — tall Melettias 

 hung with immense pods, and wild Nutmeg trees with their 

 pretty drop-like fruits. The oaks were one mass of white 

 inflorescense, and formed a characteristic feature of the 

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