256 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



the scene, in what direction we were being borne, and we spent 

 several hours of great anxiety lest we should be driven on one 

 of the many sunken tree stems with which the river was 

 studded. 



Four days sail below Pau and past the confluence of the 

 Lamatang, with its complement of water and commerce from 

 Lahat and Muara Enim, we found ourselves in the midst of 

 growing signs of approach to a great centre of activity, making 

 up for the monotony of the landscape through which we had 

 foiia day or two been travelling ; for the low banks had shut 

 out all view, and their distance on both sides, so broad was 

 the river, had precluded me from identifying their vegetation. 

 Large Palembang praus bright in scarlet or blue decorations, 

 began to be met in little fleets, being laboriously poled up 

 stream close under the banks out of the current ; and every little 

 while a gay skiff, propelled by two or three flashing oars, would 

 enliven and glide athwart the picture, and disappearing again 

 leave us to onr plodding way. In the almost dead water we 

 overtook and were overtaken in turn by numberless Eakits, 

 single or in immense strings of from twenty to thirty made 

 fast one behind the other, often nearly half a mile in length, 

 and broad rafts hundreds of yards in length, mostly of laurel 

 wood, for the cabinet makers for whom Palembang is famous. 



At sundown on the 20th of December I moored, not far 

 from the confluence of the Ogan, which brings to the capital 

 the tribute of Muara-dua and Batu-radja, in sight of Palem- 

 bang, amid a curious scene. Below my Eakit there stretched 

 away to a great distance a broad unbroken plain of log rafts, 

 on which a large population of men, women, and children was 

 encamped ; some were under the shelter of a few palm-leaf mats, 

 others, detected by the light playing on their faces, crouched in 

 small groups here and there round little fires, the whole, in the 

 dying light of the still evening, forming a rather weird scone. 



It was indeed with feelings of regret that I found I had 

 arrived within sight of the end of a journey wliich will always 

 remain in my memory as one of the deepest enjoyments of my 

 life. Crowned by the last month of river-life, with its varying 

 impressions and sensations, it had been full of the intensest 

 gratification, and still is when I recall that long panorama- 

 like picture. 



