3R4 



BOURU, 



[CltAP. XXTL 



and mild and water were the prominent featurea of tUe 

 countr>\ 



Abont a mile belimd and to tiie east of the village the 

 hills coraraence, but they are very barren, being covered 

 with scanty coarse grass and scattered trees of the 

 Melaleuca cajuiniti, from the leaves of which the eelf- 

 brated cajeput oil is made. Such districts are absolutely 

 destitute of interest for the zoologist. A few miles further 

 on rose higher mountains, apparently well covered with 

 forest, but they were entirely uninhabited and trackless, 

 and practically inaccessible to a tiaveiler with limited 

 time and means. It became evident, therefore, that I 

 nmst leave Cajeli for some better collecting ground, and 

 finding a man who was going a few miles eastward to a 

 \'illage on the coast where he said tliere were hills and 

 forest, I sent my boy Ali with liim to explorc and report 

 on the capabilities of the dintrict. At the same time I 

 arranged to go myself on a little excursion up a river 

 which flows into the bay about five miles north of the 

 town, to a village of the Alfuros, or indigenes, whei'e I 

 thought I might perhaps find a good collecting ground. 



Tiie liajah of Cajeli, a good-tempered old man, offered to 

 accompany me, as the village was under his government ; 

 and we started one morning early, in a long nairow boat 

 with eight rowers. In about two hours we entered the 

 river, and conmienced our inland jouruey against a very 

 powerful cun'ent. The stream was about a hundred yards 

 wide, and was generally boixlered with high grass, and 

 occasionally bushes and palm-trees. The countiy round 

 was flat and more or less swampy, with saittered trees and 

 shrubs. At everjr bend we crossed the river to avoid the 

 strength of the current, and arrived at our landing- 

 place about foiir o'clock, in a torrent of rain. Here we 

 waited for an hour, crouching under a leaky mat till 

 the Alfuros arrived who had been sent for from the 

 village to carry my haggage, when we set off along a 

 path of whose extreme muddiness 1 liad been warned 

 before starting. 



I turned up my trousers as high as possible, grasped a 

 stout stick to prevent awkward falls, and then boldly 

 plunged into the fii-st mud-liole, which was inunediatelj 



