is the limit of the coni/roleur1's district in this direction.
It extends hut a short distance np the Inem
and np the Limatang above Muara Inem, and yet it
contains no less that ninety-one thousand souls.
The controlmr came here to settle a difficulty between
the people of this and a neighboring village.
The other party had occupied a portion of the rice-
lands belonging to this people, and the trouble had
risen to such a pitch, that the government had to interfere,
to prevent them from beginning a war. I said
to the rajah that, beyond Lamat, I had passed for
miles through a beautiful country, and that it seemed
to me he would do well to migrate there; but he evidently
disliked such a suggestion, and the controlev/r
asked me not to urge him to adopt my view, for fear
that he might think the government designed sending
him there, and because he and all his people
would rather die than go to live in any distant region
.M
ay 8 th.— At 6 | a . m. started for Palembang.
My own boat, which I sent on directly from Muara
Inem, arrived here yesterday a few hours before us,
having been three days in coming down the same
distance that we have made in two. We soon stopped
at the request of one of the boatmen to examine a
small bamboo box which he had set in a neighboring
bayou for crawfish. Several were found in it. Their
eyes seemed to emit flashes of light, and appeared to
be spherical jewels of a light-scarlet hue. I found
them palatable when roasted. The boatmen also
found some Ampullar ice ^ which they said they were
accustomed to eat, and I found them palatable also
We soon floated out of the narrow Limatang into
the wide and sluggish Musi, and changed our course
from north to east. There are great quantities of
rattan along the lower part of the Limatang and the
Musi, and the natives gather only a small fraction of
what they might if they were not so indolent. Last
, night, at Sungi Rotan, the mosquitoes proved a worse
‘ pest than the night before, and they have continued
to annoy us all day.
In the afternoon I had a slight attack of fever,
almost the only one I have had since I was ill immediately
after my arrival in Batavia, a few days
more than a year ago. After three large doses of
quinine I fell asleep, my boatmen saying that we
should not reach Palembang till morning, which entirely
agreed with my own wishes, as I did not care
to call during the evening on the assistant Resident,
whom I had already notified of my coming. When
the last dose had disappeared I soon became oblivious
to all real things, and was only troubled with the
torturing images seen in a fever-dream. While these
hideous forms were still before my mind’s eye, I was
suddenly aroused by a loud noise, and, while yet
half awake, was dazzled by a bright light on the
water, and, on looking out, saw that we were near a
large house. On the brilliantly-lighted portico above
us were festoons of flowers, and, while I was yet
gazing in wonder, inspiriting music sprang up and
couple after couple whirled by in the mazy waltz. I
put my hand up to my head to assure myself that I
was not the victim of some hallucination, and my
boatmen, apparently perceiving my state of mind, in-
34