indigenes, where I thought I might perhaps find a good collecting
ground.

The Rajah of Cajeli, a good-tempered old man, offered to accompany me,
as the village was under his government; and we started one morning
early, in a long narrow boat with eight rowers. In about two hours
we entered the river, and commenced our inland journey against a very
powerful current. The stream was about a hundred yards wide, and
was generally bordered with high grass, and occasionally bushes and
palm-trees. The country round was flat and more or less swampy, with
scattered trees and shrubs. At every bend we crossed the river to avoid
the strength of the current, and arrived at our landing-place about
four o'clock in a torrent of rain. Here we waited for an hour, crouching
under a leaky mat till the Alfuros arrived who had been sent for from
the village to carry my baggage, when we set off along a path of whose
extreme muddiness I had been warned before starting.

I turned up my trousers as high as possible, grasped a stoat stick to
prevent awkward falls, and then boldly plunged into the first mud-hole,
which was immediately succeeded by another and another. The marl or mud
and water was knee-deep with little intervals of firmer ground between,
making progression exceedingly difficult. The path was bordered with
high rigid grass, brewing in dense clumps separated by water, so that
nothing was to be gained by leaving the beaten track, and we were
obliged to go floundering on, never knowing where our feet would rest,
as the mud was now a few inches, now two feet deep, and the bottom
very uneven, so that the foot slid down to the lowest part, and made
it difficult to keep one's balance. One step would be upon a concealed
stick or log, almost dislocating the ankle, while the next would plunge
into soft mud above the knee. It rained all the way, and the long grass,
six feet high, met over the path; so that we could not see a step of the
way ahead, and received a double drenching. Before we got to the village
it was dark, and we had to cross over a small but deep and swollen
stream by a narrow log of wood, which was more than a foot under water.
There was a slender shaking stick for a handrail, and it was nervous
work feeling in the dark in the rushing water for a safe place on which
to place the advanced foot. After au hour of this most disagreeable
and fatiguing walk we reached the village, followed by the men with
our guns, ammunition, box