Page 73 - Malay sketches

THE STORY OF MAT ARIS

To force a such a is an im-
way through place
even on all fours it could not be crawled
possibility,
through, the only means of progress is by cutting a
path.
No one attempts to walk through virgin forest
unless he be in pursuit of game, or has some special
object and the means to clear his way. All Malay
is not as thick as that I have described, and
jungle
as the beasts sought by the sportsman naturally
frequent the more open places, tracking is possible,
though severe enough work even at the slow rate
of progress necessary to enable the pursuers to
approach the quarry without being seen or heard.
The lower and more swampy the country the
thicker the undergrowth, and I have often noticed
that, where a river flows between low banks clothed
it would be almost
with virgin forest, impossible for
even a strong swimmer to force his way out of the
water on to the land through the thickly interlaced
tangle of branches, rattans, and other thorny creepers
that stretch their uninviting arms from the bank far
over the water of the stream.
It will naturally be asked how travellers make
their way through jungle such as I have described.
The reply is that there are existing tracks (not
worthy of the name of footpaths) which have been
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