FIVE DAYS IN NANING. 
408 
face of the country rose It was every where hill after hill, 
either united into ranges or separated by narrow flats. To 
the E and S. E. nothing was to be seen but hills and jungle, 
many of the hills towards the east rising more boldly than 
those within the Malacca territory. In tront some narrow 
cultivated flats between hill ranges united into an irregular 
plain, through which the Malacca river winded. Jungle again 
concealed the zone of cultivation till the eye reached the 
rice plain, appearing like a narrow strip, extending trom Ching 
to Bruang, which bounded the cultivated section of the circle. 
Due south, at a distance of about thirteen miles and near the 
margin of the land, Buk.it China with its tall trees is distinguish¬ 
ed over the town of Malacca, and on the right the pla»n of Kle- 
bang On the west a partially cultivated district is seen in 
the vicinity of the mountain, but beyond this, and as far as 
the eye can reach, nothing appears but hills covered with 
forest on their summits, and low jungle on their sides A 
belt of sea serves as an outer rim to the whole It must 
be borne in mind that although the jungle does in reality 
greatly predominate over the cultivated portions, the proxi¬ 
mity of the hills to each other tends to hide the flats between 
them in proportion to their distance from the eye ot the 
spectator. The range of the axis of the hill or of the eminence 
on which I stood was E. by S. 
The Malays seemed very much inclined to sleep out the 
day where they were, hut, shaking off their langour when they 
saw I was about to proceed, they cheerfully arose and followed 
us. We soon entered the forest and reached the summit of 
the mountain on which there are some large granite blocks. 
The jungle was often tangled or choked with thorny plants 
wjiich made it difficult to proceed, particularly as some places 
were exceedingly steep. My Besisi guides however were 
perfectly at home, selecting with instant discrimination the 
best outlets, warning me against thorny or inflammatory plants, 
and lopping off branches. Their perfect familiarity with eve¬ 
ry object around them was remarkable, even compared with 
that of the Malays, for the latter did net distinguish plants 
with the same rapidity, and indeed did not seem to be ac¬ 
quainted with the characteristics of many. I wished to note 
the names of such trees as had them, but T soon found 
that there was hardly a nameless tree or shrub amongst 
the multitude of new forms around me, and that such a la¬ 
bour would detain me all the day in the jungle. The Ma¬ 
lay botanical vocabulary, ample as it is, was soon exhaust¬ 
ed, and for many plants which the Besisi named at once 
