tunately, the head man was away at Jahore; and some
coolies, who expressed their willingness to accompany us*
demanded a sum equivalent to five shillings per day for
their services, so we decided to do without them; indeed,
the Malays we had with us protested against this extortion
on the part of the Chinese settlers, and said they
would endeavour to carry all themselves.
We pulled out of the creek, and proceeded further up
the river, finally landing at a place where there is an
excellent road, leading through the forest to Kanka Ah
Tong. Here we landed all our things; and our men
were fortunate to secure a couple of Javanese woodcutters,
who were fishing, and who were willing to carry
part of our gear for a fair payment. We rested a little
in a hut beside the road, in which were two men suffering
from fever, and another, who had dysentery. We
gave them medicine, and pushed onwards. Monkeys
were very plentiful on the tall trees beside our path;
and we saw several grey squirrels, and a few birds, including
a curious shrike, and a barbet, which I had
never seen before. The trees around us were very
tall, and in many cases festooned with rattans, and
other climbing-plants. Flowers were not plentiful; and
although we made several detours in the forest, nothing
of interest was seen.
It was very hoi in the middle of the day. Our
thermometer stood at 93° in the shade; and nearly all
the way our path lay in the open, the sun being very hot
overhead. After the first few miles we came to several
open plots of land, under cultivation, gambier and pepper
being the principal crops. We stayed at one place,
where the raw gambier, or “ terre japónica,” was being
prepared in a low shed. There were several low brick
fire-places, over which shallow iron pans were placed;
and in these the leaves and young stems are boiled.
The product, when finished, looks like wet red clay, and
is packed in coarse bags, and sent to Singapore, where
it realises about five dollars per picul of 133 lbs. Gambier
is a very exhausting crop, literally ruining the land on
which it is grown.
The Chinese whom we found here were very much
interested and surprised at our visit, and gave us a
supply of cocoa-nuts, oranges, and papaw fruit from
them garden. The latter fruit are as large as a small
Cadiz melon, with delicate red flesh, when perfectly
ripe. They are not much esteemed ; but I thought
these very nice, having a flavour resembling that of
apricots. The colourless milk of the young cocoa-
nuts, fortified by just a soupçon of brandy, tasted really
delicious, after our tramp under a hot sun. These thrifty
Chinese had a fine flourishing plantation of bananas, but
no ripe fruit ; and clumps of yellow sugar-cane here and
there attracted the attention of our followers, who helped
themselves to the natural “ sugar-sticks,” without any
compunction whatever.
Refreshed by a short rest, and a cooling draught, we
pushed onwards, and reached Kanka Ah Tong about
three o'clock. We sought out the old Chinese headman,
and through him obtained the loan of a new house, just
erected in the centre of the village, so that we were
soon established in quarters, and the “ boy ” then began
to cook our evening meal. We were of course soon
surrounded by a crowd of villagers ; and a paraffin
cooking apparatus, which the “ boy” had in working
order before the door, interested them very much.
I noticed an excellent breed of black and white dogs
at this village, in build not unlike a fox-terrier, but
larger. These people evidently desired to keep the breed