trunk, take
the morsel out of your fingers, and dart away instantly. Their tails
are carried erect, and the hair, which is ringed with grey, yellow, and
brown, radiates uniformly around them, and looks exceedingly pretty.
They have somewhat of the motions of mice, coming on with little starts,
and gazing intently with their large black eyes before venturing to
advance further. The manner in which Malays often obtain the confidence
of wild animals is a very pleasing trait in their character, and is due
in some degree to the quiet deliberation of their manners, and their
love of repose rather than of action. The young are obedient to the
wishes of their elders, and seem to feel none of that propensity to
mischief which European boys exhibit. How long would tame squirrels
continue to inhabit trees in the vicinity of an English village, even
if close to the church? They would soon be pelted and driven away, or
snared and confined in a whirling cage. I have never heard of these
pretty animals being tamed in this way in England, but I should think it
might be easily done in any gentleman's park, and they would certainly
be as pleasing and attractive as they would be uncommon.

After many inquiries, I found that a day's journey by water above
Palembang there commenced a military road which extended up to the
mountains and even across to Bencoolen, and I determined to take this
route and travel on until I found some tolerable collecting ground.
By this means I should secure dry land and a good road, and avoid the
rivers, which at this season are very tedious to ascend owing to the
powerful currents, and very unproductive to the collector owing to most
of the lands in their vicinity being underwater. Leaving early in the
morning we did not reach Lorok, the village where the road begins, until
late at night. I stayed there a few days, but found that most all the
ground in the vicinity not underwater was cultivated, and that the only
forest was in swamps which were now inaccessible. The only bird new
to me which I obtained at Lorok was the fine long-tailed parroquet
(Palaeornis longicauda). The people here assured me that the country was
just the same as this for a very long way--more than a week's journey,
and they seemed hardly to have any conception of an elevated forest-clad
country, so that I began to think it would be useless going on, as the
time at my disposal was too short to make it worth my while to spend
much more of