10b THE E.KDAU AND ITS TEIBTJTA11IES. 



affirming that the Dutch could never do much harm so long as the 

 Battaks supported the Achinese : they could furnish them all sorts 

 of supplies, including gunpowder, and the blockade was useless ; 

 while he Aveiit on to add that if the Battaks should decide upon 

 giving the Achinese active assistance, the Dutch would have 

 seriously to look to themselves : for, in his opinion, if the Battaks 

 chose to set to work, they could drive the Dutch clean out of the 

 country, such a high estimate had he formed of their resources 

 and warlike capabilities, not to mention the very large population 

 of the country. 



This trader accompanied me up the river, in order to get the 

 labour of the Jakuns on their return trip, after leaving me. I 

 found one or two Jakuns here suffering from what must have 

 been rheumatism, or the results of ague, and left sal volatile and 

 quinine with them. On the morning of the -1th got off at last, had 

 to stop half an hour on account of the rain, and, after an hour and 

 twenty minutes' progress, entered on our left a channel connecting 

 the Madek with the Kahang, the passage of which into the Madek 

 took us about 20 minutes. A heavy shower detained us at Pengkalan 

 Durian, and we prevailed upon one of the Jakuns to get the honey- 

 comb from a bees' nest in a tree close by ; it was rather old and 

 dry, but I got half a cup of honey from it of a rather peculiar fla- 

 vour, which my Chinese boy appreciated more than I did ; Ave 

 moored for the night opposite Padang Jcrkeh. 



About an hour and a half before stopping for the night Ave had 

 put on shore a couple of men with dogs to hunt pelandok,{ x ) as they 

 call the ndpoli, Avhich is Avhat they mostly catch, and is a size 

 larger than the pelandok. Our men succeeded in securing a young 

 ndpoli. A good lot of snags to-day, and river very winding, banks 

 high a great part of the Avay. Caught a frog perched on a log in 

 the stream, the A T ariety of kdtak called buak, from the noise 

 he makes probably — a high soprano — " Avak, Avak, AA^ak," A\drick con- 

 trasts curiously with the deep notes of some of his relations ; I 

 measured him and found his dimensions as foiloAvs : body 4 inches 

 long, 1J inches broad, head across the eyes 1J inches ; forelegs 3 

 inches long at stretch ; hind legs 6 inches long at stretch. His 



( x ) "Pelandok " seems to be used generically oft ener than spe- 

 cifically. 



