EXPEDITION INTO INTERIOR OF SUMATRA, 49 
a Malay, who two years previously had been banished from his 
megart on account of leprosy. Ten sowké of rice had 
been set apart for him, and he had betaken himself in this 
direction provided with an axe, a chopper, a wallet contain- 
ing tobacco and sirth, and a flint and tinder. Thus equipped, 
he had begun to climb the ereat mountain, the Peak of Ko- 
rintji in order to seek a mong the mountain-spirits a cure for 
his frightful malady.* He may, perhaps, have reached the 
summit, but it would seem that the spirits did not grant his 
wish. Though 1b may seem inhuman to treat fellow creatures 
in this way, we must remember that the instinct of preserva 
tion, in countries where the population is too often Cachrae 
ed by epidemics, leads easily to measures of this kind. ee 
perched the skull, blanched by the alternate action of air ai 
water on the end of a pole by ihe » riverside, so as to find it 
easily on our return, feeling sure that no one would come in 
the interval to disp ate with us ae strange product of the 
soil. We followed the path which led from the stream 
towards the mountain slopes, and which was nothing but a 
broad track formed Py elephants and rhinoceroses. ‘This 
brought us at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon to Timbouloun. 
There, we found such an exe ellent resting place for the 
night, amidst a conglomeration of proje ecting volcanic rocks, 
that we resolved not to push on further, and all the more so 
because the koulis were still far behind. 
afterwards that the first a and as their number gradu- 
ally increased, we had to listen to confused accounts of 
the difficulties they had undergone, and the misfortunes they 
had met with. 
Whe short time remaining 
following up for a bit the course of ther 
from our encampment, we came across a 
water of which dashed down from a hie ¢ht o 
— 
Te sunset b was occupied in 
iver, and not far 
ream, the hmpid 
20 feet between 
u 
nb 
ried to as places of seclu- 
spirits. See (as to Java), 
AD eee 103 ; (Sumatra ) 
* Among ue races mountain-tops are reso 
sion aaa ee being the abode of powerful 
Journ. Ind. Arch., IV, p. 119 Forbes, Mastern Are 
Id, 198 ; (Borneo) Tijdsc shrift voor ae iad, as, are 
Cult, ae 249 ; (Madagascar) ) Els’ History of Mada: ease eA See also 
Journ. Ind, Arch. IX , 125; and Ellis’ Polynesian iesearsies gs, £ je07 and 
TY.. 404, 
