166 



fiive paddy fields in this portion of Malacca, as 

 the water from the marsh is an unfaiUug source 

 of irrigation : indeed the whok of this morass is 

 rapidly coming iuto cultivation. 



From this to Ching, a place oraamenled with 

 delight fiil orcbards and thriving pepper planiati- 

 ons, is about a mile further, and, after passing 

 this, tiie detaclimeni filed into a noble forest 

 composed principally of oil and durian trees, 

 whose strait and towering stems, and luxiiriant 

 foliage, attracted universal admiration. Indeed, 

 in pa^smor through scenery of this de^^cription in 

 any country perfectly strange to the traveller, 

 the eye resting on these primoeonil monarchs of 

 the wood, and the ear saluted by the melancholy, 

 but ple-isiogly soothing, whooping of the differ- 

 ent species ofmonkies, f they spring frcjm 

 tree to tree on his advance, the heart of any indi- 

 vidual, unable to relish such beanries, must be 

 more than usually insensible; but, when you are 

 proceeding with hostile intentions, and expecting 

 that the next sound which you shall hear maybe 

 the linginj^ of a mui^ket, or the spitting of a bul- 

 let, the mind has an additional interest infused 

 into it* 



1 remember that, just before arriving this mag- 

 nificent forest, which 1 have so feebly attempt- 

 ed to describe, the troops filed along a pass be- 

 tween two hills, called the Cbing hills, the road 

 being enfiladed by a third. These hills were lof- 

 tily and abundantly timbered, whilst the dense 

 underwood, which clothed their sides, and groan- 

 ed under the crushing pressure of the gun wheels, 

 afforded cover tliat a tirmlieur might have euvi- 



t PiindpaU}' the Simh Lar, «( l«£ig-aim«d tp«> 



