a little brandy, with blankets, a change of clothes, insect
and bird boxes, nets guns and ammunition. The distance
from Ayer-panas was supposed to be about thirty
miles. Our first day’s march lay through patches of
forest, clearings, and Malay villages, and was pleasant
enough. At night we slept at the house of a Malay chief,
who lent us a verandah, and gave us a fowl and some
eggs. The next day the country got wilder and more
hilly. We passed through extensive forests, along paths
often up to our knees in mud, and were much annoyed
by the leeches for wdiich this district is famous. These
little creatures infest the leaves and herbage by the side of
the paths, and when a passenger comes along they stretch
themselves out at full length, and if they touch any part of
his dress or body, quit their leaf and adhere to it. They
then creep on to his feet, legs, or other part of his body
and suck their fill, the first puncture being rarely felt
during the excitement of walking. On bathing in the
evening we generally found half a dozen or a dozen on
each of us, most frequently on our legs, but sometimes on
our bodies, and I had one who sucked his fill from the side
of my neck, but who luckily missed the jugular vein.
There are many species of these forest leeches. All are
small, but some are beautifully marked with stripes of
bright yellow. They probably attach themselves to deer or
other animals which frequent the forest paths, and have
thus acquired the singular habit of stretching themselves
out at the sound of a footstep or of rustling foliage. Early
in the afternoon we reached the foot of the mountain, and
encamped by the side of a fine stream, whose rocky banks
were overgrown with ferns. Our oldest Malay had been
accustomed to shoot birds in this neighbourhood for the
Malacca dealers, and had been to the top of the mountain,
and while we amused ourselves shooting and insect hunting,
he went with two others to clear the path for our
ascent the next day.
Early next morning we started after breakfast, carrying
blankets and provisions, as we intended to sleep upon the
mountain. After passing a little tangled jungle and
swampy thickets through which our men bad cleared a
path, we emerged into a fine lofty forest pretty clear of
undergrowth, and in which we could walk freely. We
ascended steadily up a moderate slope for several miles,
having a deep ravine on our left. We then had a level
plateau or shoulder to cross, after which the ascent was
steeper and the forest denser till we came out upon the
“ Padang-batu,” or stone field, a place of which we had
heard much, but could never get any one to describe intelligibly.
We found it to be a steep slope of even rock, extending
along the mountain side'farther than we could see.
Parts of it were quite bare, but where it was cracked and
fissured there grew a most luxuriant vegetation, among