Five more days were passed ascending the river, which by degrees began
to display banks that were park-like and densely packed with forest
trees. The dismal mangroves had disappeared, and in their place
graceful palms shot up and spread their feathered plumes; bamboos rose
in clumps like gigantic grasses, and canes swung from branch to branch,
and festooned specimens of timber which was often one blaze of colour,
and whose petals sprinkled the now bright clear water.
A tiny village was passed at intervals, and from time to time some boat
floated by them deeply laden with rice or tea. At night the boat was
moored to some tree trunk. The men went ashore, and collected wood and
lit a fire for cooking purposes, and then all returned to sleep on board
before starting early in the cool misty morning, so as to have some
hours' rest in the middle of the day, before the journey was resumed in
the evening.
It was a calm and peaceful, even if it were a monotonous little voyage,
for, in spite of some object worthy of a naturalist's attention being
pointed out, Murray preferred to wait till he was farther on his way
before commencing his collecting; and white-plumaged falcon and
beautiful long-tailed kingfishers were allowed to fly by unmolested.
"Wait a bit, Ned," he said, "and you shall have your hands full."
The river was now beautiful. It was a broad clear stream, with
mountains visible away to the east, wherever an opening occurred in the
woods, and it seemed a wonder that so lovely a country should show so
seldom that it was inhabited.
At the villages they passed, the people looked peaceful, quiet, and
inoffensive, although every man carried a deadly-looking kris in its
wooden sheath, thrust in the twisted-up band of the scarf-like silk or
cotton sarong, which was wrapped round the middle in the form of a kilt,
and with the exception of something worn in the shape of a hat to keep
off the sun's piercing rays, this was the only garment many of the
people displayed.
They brought fruit when asked, every house having its cluster of
fruit-trees about it. In some cases there were cocoa-nuts, but more
frequently bananas of two or three kinds, which they parted with for a
mere trifle, these forming an admirable addition to the supply of food.
Hamet generally went to market, and came back smiling often enough with
a large bunch of the finger-shaped fruit, a bag of rice, and when he was
most fortunate in his foraging, a couple of skinny-looking chickens and
some eggs.
"Getting tired, Ned?" said Murray, one glorious morning as the men were
steadily rowing on, keeping close up to the trees on their right, for
the sake of the shade and the slower motion of the stream.
"No, not tired," replied the boy. "It's all too beautiful for one to
get tired, but I do feel as if I should like to be doing something. I
keep seeing birds I want to shoot, and flowers I should like to pick."
"Then here's news for you, boy. I reckon that we are now well up into
the region I wanted to explore, and to-morrow work shall begin in real
earnest."