Having Determined To Visit Mount Ophir, Which Is Situated In The
Middle Of The Peninsula About Fifty Miles East Of Malacca, We
Engaged Six Malays To Accompany Us And Carry Our Baggage.
As we
meant to stay at least a week at the mountain, we took with us a
good supply of rice, a little biscuit, butter and coffee, some
dried fish and a little brandy, with blankets, a change of
clothes, insect and bird boxes, nets, guns and ammunition.
The
distance from Ayer-panas was supposed to be about thirty miles.
Our first day's march lay through patches of forest, clearings,
and Malay villages, and was pleasant enough. At night we slept at
the house of a Malay chief, who lent us a verandah, and gave us a
fowl and some eggs. The next day the country got wilder and more
dilly. We passed through extensive forests, along paths often up
to our knees in mud, and were much annoyed by the leeches for
which this district is famous. These little creatures infest the
leaves and herbage by the side of the paths, and when a passenger
comes along they stretch themselves out at full length, and if
they touch any part of his dress or body, quit their leaf and
adhere to it. They then creep on to his feet, legs, or other part
of his body and suck their fill, the first puncture being rarely
felt during the excitement of walking. On bathing in the evening
we generally found half a dozen or a dozen on each of us, most
frequently on our legs, but sometimes on our bodies, and I had
one who sucked his fill from the side of my neck, but who luckily
missed the jugular vein.
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