the largest man in his Jcampong and armed him with
along, rusty sword. * Several others were also ordered
to accompany us, though the rajah seemed to rely
chiefly on the "brave who carried his arms.^ As for
me, the only weapon with which I was provided was
a pocket-knife, "but I think now that I underrated the
danger then, and that if I were going on the same excursion
again I should take a revolver at least. From
Subuluan our course was along a large stream. Soon
we came to a Batta village, where a capala and two
men joined us, to act as our guides and also to increase
my body-guard, which, even then, would have
been far from formidable if any real danger had presented
itself, and they had had a good opportunity
to run away. The rough path that we were following
came to a stream which I was compelled to wade,
and found so deep that it rose to my arms. Besides,
the current was so strong that I was glad to have the
assistance of a native on either side. The sand and
sharp gravel were thus washed into my shoes; and as
I learned we should have to cross that stream some
ten times, for such a road do these wild cannibals
use, I quickly prepared myself to go barefoot.
We had now come into a deep gorge; the sun
poured down his most scorching rays; the rocks and
sand were so hot that it seemed they would blister
my feet, and even the Malays complained. The next
ford was just above a series of rapids. I was clad in
a suit of blue flannel, which absorbed so much water
that I found I was in great danger of being swept
away by the torrent. I concluded that I had better
adopt the costumes of the Malays. The rajah wore
a new pair of chilmas, of the prevailing pattern,
made in Achin. They are short-legged trousers, fastened
at the waist and reaching nearly to the knee. I
proposed that we exchange, but he declined to do
that, and insisted on my keeping possession of my
own habit, and using the article I desired, and in,
that costume I travelled till I came back to his
village. In one place the torrent rolled up against a
high precipice, but there chanced to be a horizontal
crevice some distance, above the water, and there,
where scarcely a monkey would think of venturing,
we were obliged to crawl along as best we could.
This danger passed, we had to cross back and forth
over rapids by leaping from rock to rock, some of
which were above and some just beneath the surface
of the boiling torrent. Then we came to an area of
high grass. The tall native, in accordance with the
rajah’s orders, marching ahead with the sword
grasped in his right hand, and its naked, rusty blade
resting on his bare arm, was, indeed, the personification
of bravery ; but, as I had little faith in the
necessity of such a doughty warrior, I began to ridicule
his appearance to the rajah, when suddenly our
brave gave an ugly nasal grunt, and, brandishing is
sword high over his head, brought it down with a
heavy cutting stroke on some object in front of him.
“ What is the matter ? ” every one asked. “ A great
snake was crossing the road | ” an agreeable thing to
hear, considering that I had no clothing on be ow
the knee; but, while he was flourishing his weapon
and getting ready to strike, the reptile had glided
away in the tall grass.