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.
There are many species of these forest leeches. All are small, but some
are beautifully marked with stripes of bright yellow. They probably
attach themselves to deer or other animals which frequent the forest
paths, and have thus acquired the singular habit of stretching
themselves out at the sound of a footstep or of rustling foliage. Early
in the afternoon we reached the foot of the mountain, and encamped by
the side of a fine stream, whose rocky banks were overgrown with
ferns. Our oldest Malay had been accustomed to shoot birds in this
neighbourhood for the Malacca dealers, and had been to the top of the
mountain, and while we amused ourselves shooting and insect hunting, he
went with two others to clear the path for our ascent the next day.
Early next morning we started after breakfast, carrying blankets and
provisions, as we intended to sleep upon the mountain. After passing
a little tangled jungle and swampy thickets through which our men had
cleared a path, we emerged into a fine lofty forest pretty clear of
undergrowth, and in which we could walk freely. We ascended steadily up
a moderate slope for several miles, having a deep ravine on our left.
We then had a level plateau or shoulder to cross, after which the
ascent was steeper and the forest denser until we came out upon the
"Padang-batu," or stone field, a place of which we had heard much, but
could never get anyone to describe intelligibly. We found it to be a
steep slope of even rock, extending along the mountain side farther than
we could see. Parts of it were quite bare, but where it was cracked and
fissured there grew a most luxuriant vegetation, among which the pitcher
plants were the most remarkable. These wonderful plants never seem to
succeed well in our hot-houses, and are there seen to little advantage.
Here they grew up into half climbing shrubs, their curious pitchers
of various sizes and forms hanging abundantly from their leaves, and
continually exciting our admiration by their size and beauty. A few
coniferae of the genus Dacrydium here first appeared, and in the
thickets just above the rocky surface we walked through groves of those
splendid ferns Dipteris Horsfieldii and Matonia pectinata, which bear
large spreading palmate fronds on slender stems six or eight feet high.
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