across the timbers overhead. The floor was of open
lattice-work, or rather parallel nebong laths an inch
apart, so that perfect ventilation is obtained ; and these
houses are always cool. The owner was not at home,
hut his wife brought a board and desired “ Bongsur ” to
partition off one of the corner compartments for me,
which was soon done ; and getting up the boxes, hammock
sleeping gear, &c., the place soon assumed a more
comfortable appearance.
As it was a beautiful clear afternoon I left my “ boy ”
to prepare dinner, and started off to the forest with half-
a-dozen of the native boys who had followed from the
village. I shot a pretty scarlet-breasted trogan with
beautifully pencilled wings, m a large fig tree near the
houses. We had a rather rough walk through long grass,
in which ugly concealed logs were plentiful; and the
only bridges across the streams were formed of a single
tree-trunk, often a very slender one not perfectly straight,
so that when a particular part of it was reached in one’s
journey across, it had a treacherous knack of turning
round and landing one in muddy water up to the neck.
The natives are used to such slender makeshifts for
bridges, and, being barefoot, are as sure-footed as goats.
We followed one little stream for about two miles, and
reached a rocky hill about five hundred feet high, where
rhododendrons (R. javanicum) were flowering freely.
Hoyas and various orchids were in bloom on the lowest
trees ; and it was on bare tree-trunks on this hill that I
■saw the Yeitchian pitcher-plant (Nepenthes Veitchii) wild
for the first time. It has a singular habit of clasping the
trunks on which it is epiphytal with its leaves, and many
which bear pitchers have the blade of the leaf much
reduced. Four other pitcher-plants grew on this hill,
namely, N . gracilis, N. hirsuta, N . Rafflesiana, and the
large-urned variety of the last named, known as “ gla-
berrima.” A dendrobium bearing clusters of milk-white
flowers was common, as also were bolbophyllums and
several greenish-flowered coelogynes.
The ground in some places was matted with a very
pretty terrestrial orchid (Bromheadia Finlaysoniana)
which has leafy stems two to three feet in height,
terminated by a zig-zag flattened spike of white-petalled
flowers as large as those of the “ Spotted Indian
Crocus ” (Pleione maculata), and having a blotch of
lemon-yellow on the lip and some bright amethystine
veins or streaks. We loaded the men with roots and
specimens, and then returned to the houses just before
nightfall. It was during the wet season, and after dark
each evening the mosquitoes were most ravenous. As a
remedy for this annoyance the women lighted fires
beneath the house, on which cocoa-nut husks were
placed and made to smoulder gradually. This certainly
kept the little pests at bay, but the smoke brought tears
to one’s eyes, and was almost as bad to bear as the mosquito
bites.
The wild forest fruits were now plentiful in this
district, and, as a natural consequence, birds and
monkeys were abundant also, for they migrate to different
places as the fruits begin to ripen. The bird-
hunters were busy, and rarely a day passed but I was
gladdened with the sight of some bird or other animal
that was novel to me. Argus, Bulwer, and Fireback
pheasants and other large ground birds were caught in
snares or springes, while hornbills, owls, eagles, or hawks,
and large birds generally were killed with shot, or very
often small gravel discharged from an old Tower musket.
The smallest birds, especially the brilliant little sweets or
sunbirds, were killed with small arrows from the blow