They Seem Frightfully Jealous Of The Sweet Little Wah-Wah
Eblis.
Mahmoud beats it and teases it whenever it is not with me; he
takes its food, and when it screams with rage he laughs and shows his
white teeth.
He upset all the chairs in the veranda this morning, and
when I attempted to scold him he took a banana which he was peeling and
threw it at me. I am sure that he would have a great deal of rough wit
if he could speak our tongue.
The night I came, Mr. Low's clerk, a Singhalese, came to arrange an
expedition, and early the next morning, after I had breakfasted with
the apes, he arrived, bringing the Royal Elephant, as well-broken and
stately an animal as I should wish to ride. He is such a height (they
say ten feet!) that, though he lay down to be mounted, a good-sized
ladder was needed for the climb upon his back. Assam put pillows and a
good lunch into the baskets, and as the day was glorious from sunrise
to sunset I had an altogether delightful expedition.
We turned at once into the jungle, and rode through it for seven hours
on the left bank of the Perak river. The loveliness was intoxicating.
The trees were lofty and magnificent; there were very many such as I
have not seen before. Many run up a hundred feet or more before they
branch. The twilight was green and dim, and ofttimes amidst the wealth
of vegetation not a flower was to be seen. But as often, through rifts
in the leafage far aloft, there were glimpses of the sunny, heavenly
blue sky, and now and then there were openings where trees had fallen,
and the glorious tropical sunshine streamed in on gaudy blossoms of
huge trees, and on pure white orchids, and canary-colored clusters
borne by lianas; on sun-birds, iridescent and gorgeous in the sunlight;
and on butterflies, some all golden, others amber and black, and amber
and blue, some with velvety bands of violet and green, others
altogether velvety black with spots of vermilion or emerald-green, the
under side of the wings corresponding to the spot, while sometimes a
shoal of turquoise-blue or wholly canary-colored sprites fluttered in
the sunbeams; the flash of sun-birds and the flutter of butterflies
giving one an idea of the joy which possibly was intended to be the
heritage of all animated existence. In these openings I was glad for
the moment to be neither an ornithologist nor an entomologist, so that
I might leave everyone of these daintily colored creatures to the
enjoyment of its life and beauty.
It was not the trees and lianas only that were beautiful in these sunny
openings, but the ferns, mosses, orchids, and selaginellas, with the
crimson-tipped dracaena, and the crimson-veined caladium, and the great
red nepenthe with purple blotches on its nearly diaphanous pitchers,
and another pitcher-plant of an epiphytal habit, with pea-green
pitchers scrambling to a great height over the branches of the smaller
trees. The beautiful tree-ferns themselves were loaded with other
ferns, orchids, and mosses; every fallen tree was draped with fresh
green forms, every swampy bit was the home of mottled aroids, film
ferns, and foliage plants, mostly green and gold, while in some places
there were ginger-worts with noble shining leaves fully six feet long.
In the green twilight of the depths of the forest the dew gemmed the
leaves till nearly 10 A.M., but in the openings the sun blazed with the
heat of a furnace. The silence and colorlessness of the heart of the
forest; and the color, vivacity, light, and movement in the openings,
and among the tree-tops, contrast most curiously. Legions of monkeys
inhabit the tree-tops, and seem to lead a completely aerial life. It is
said that they never come down to earth, but that they cross the
forests swinging themselves from tree to tree.
The Malays, if they can, build their kampongs near rivers, and during
the day we passed several of these. Several had mosques more or less
rude. Every village consists of such houses as I have described before,
grouped, but not by any means closely, under the shade of cocoa-palms,
jak, durion, bread-fruit, mango, nutmeg, and other fruit-trees.
Plantations of bananas are never far off. Many of these people have
"dug-outs" or other boats on the adjacent river, some have
bathing-sheds, and others padi plantations. These kampongs have much of
the poetry as well as inanity of tropical life about them. They are
beautiful and appropriate, and food is above them and around them.
"The primal curse" can hardly be known. A very little labor provides
all that the Malay desires, and if the tenure of the land be secure
(and the lack of security is one of the great evils), and he be not
over-taxed, his life must be calm and easy, if not happy. The people
were always courteous, and my Singhalese escort held long conversations
in every kampong. These jungle dwellers raise their houses on very high
posts, partly because tigers abound. The jak trees (artocarpus incisa),
near of kin to the bread-fruit, and the durion, flourish round all the
dwellings. The jak fruit, which may be called food rather than fruit,
grows without a visible stem from the trunk and branches of the very
handsome tree which bears it, and weighs from sixty to seventy pounds.
The durion grows to the size of a man's head, and is covered closely
with hard, sharp spines. The fall of either on one's head or shoulder
is much to be deprecated, and the Malays stretch strong nets above
their houses to secure themselves from accidents.
I saw for the first time the nutmeg growing in perfection. It was a
great delight, as is the first sight of any tree or flower well known
from description.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 96 of 118
Words from 97302 to 98307
of 120530
