For The First Half Of The Distance
There Was No Path, And We Had Often To Cut Our Way Through
Tangled Rattans Or Thickets Of Bamboo.
In some of our turnings to
find the most practicable route, I expressed my fear that we were
losing our way, as the sun being vertical, I could see no possible
clue to the right direction.
My conductors, however, laughed at
the idea, which they seemed to consider quite ludicrous; and sure
enough, about half way, we suddenly encountered a little hut
where people from Licoupang came to hunt and smoke wild pigs. My
guide told me he had never before traversed the forest between
these two points; and this is what is considered by some
travellers as one of the savage "instincts," whereas it is merely
the result of wide general knowledge. The man knew the topography
of the whole district; the slope of the land, the direction of
the streams, the belts of bamboo or rattan, and many other
indications of locality and direction; and he was thus enabled to
hit straight upon the hut, in the vicinity of which he had often
hunted. In a forest of which he knew nothing, he would be quite
as much at a loss as a European. Thus it is, I am convinced, with
all the wonderful accounts of Indians finding their way through
trackless forests to definite points; they may never have passed
straight between the two particular points before, but they are
well acquainted with the vicinity of both, and have such a
general knowledge of the whole country, its water system, its
soil and its vegetation, that as they approach the point they are
to reach, many easily-recognised indications enable them to hit
upon it with certainty.
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