few miles' distance precipitous hills appeared, backed by the lofty central range
of the peninsula. Towards these our path lay, and after having gone six or eight
miles the hills began to advance into the plain right and left of us, and the ground
became pierced here and there with blocks and pillars of limestone rock, while a
few abrupt conical hills and peaks rose like islands. Passing over an elevated
tract forming the shoulder of one of the hills, a picturesque scene lay before us.
We looked down into a little valley almost entirely surrounded by mountains,
rising abruptly in huge precipices, and forming a succession of knolls and peaks
and domes of the most varied and fantastic shapes. In the very centre of the
valley was a large bamboo house, while scattered around were a dozen cottages
of the same material.
I was kindly received by Mr. Jacob Mesman in an airy saloon detached from
the house, and entirely built of bamboo and thatched with grass. After breakfast
he took me to his foreman's house, about a hundred yards off, half of which was
given up to me until I should decide where to have a cottage built for my own
use. I soon found that this spot was too much exposed to the wind and dust,
which rendered it very difficult to work with papers or insects. It was also
dreadfully hot in the afternoon, and after a few days I got a sharp attack of fever,
which determined me to move. I accordingly fixed on a place about a mile off, at
the foot of a forest-covered hill, where in a few days Mr. M. built for me a nice
little house, consisting of a good-sized enclosed verandah or open room, and a
small inner sleeping-room, with a little cookhouse outside. As soon as it was
finished I moved into it, and found the change most agreeable.
The forest which surrounded me was open and free from underwood,
consisting of large trees, widely scattered with a great quantity of palm-trees
(Arenga saccharifera), from which palm wine and sugar are made. There were
also great numbers of a wild Jack-fruit tree (Artocarpus), which bore abundance
of large reticulated fruit, serving as an excellent vegetable. The ground was as
thickly covered with dry leaves as it is in an English wood in November; the
little rocky streams were all dry, and scarcely a drop of water or even a damp
place was anywhere to be seen. About fifty yards below my house, at the foot of
the hill, was a deep hole in a watercourse where good water was to be had, and
where I went daily to bathe by having buckets of water taken out and pouring it
over my body.
My host Mr. M. enjoyed a thoroughly country life, depending almost entirely
on his gun and dogs to supply his table. Wild pigs of large size were very
plentiful and he generally got one or two a week, besides deer occasionally, and
abundance of jungle-fowl, hornbills, and great fruit pigeons. His buffaloes