The Chairs And Tables Were Left For Me; And
As The Whole Of The Remaining Furniture In The House Consisted
Of
a little crockery and a few clothes-boxes, it was not much
trouble for the owners to move into
The house of some relatives,
and thus obtain a few silver rupees very easily. Every foot of
ground between the homes throughout the village is crammed with
fruit trees, so that the sun and air have no chance of
penetrating. This must be very cool and pleasant in the dry
season, but makes it damp and unhealthy at other times of the
year. Unfortunately I had come two months too soon, for the rains
were not yet over, and mud and water were the prominent features
of the country.
About a mile behind and to the east of the village the hills
commence, but they are very barren, being covered with scanty
coarse grass and scattered trees of the Melaleuca cajuputi, from
the leaves of which the celebrated cajeput oil is made. Such
districts are absolutely destitute of interest for the zoologist.
A few miles further on rose higher mountains, apparently well
covered with forest, but they were entirely uninhabited and
trackless, and practically inaccessible to a traveller with
limited time and means. It became evident, therefore, that I must
leave Cajeli for some better collecting ground, and finding a man
who was going a few miles eastward to a village on the coast
where he said there were hills and forest, I sent my boy Ali with
him to explore and report on the capabilities of the district. At
the same time I arranged to go myself on a little excursion up a
river which flows into the bay about five miles north of the
town, to a village of the Alfuros, or 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.
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