each of us a small haversack, containing rice for three or
four days, some dried venison, a good provision of powder, ball,
and shot for game, some coloured handkerchiefs, and a considerable
quantity of cigars for our own use, and to insure a welcome
amongst the Ajetas. Each of us carried a good double-barreled gun
and his poignard. Our clothes were those which we wore in all our
expeditions,--on our heads the common salacote, a shirt of raw silk,
the pantaloon turned up to above the knee; the feet and legs remained
uncovered. With these simple preparations we set out on a trip of
some weeks, during which, and from the second day of our starting,
we could expect no shelter but the trees of the forest, and no food
but the game we shot, and the edible parts of the palm tree.

I took special care not to forget the vade mecum which I always
took with me, whenever I made these excursions for any number of
days--I mean paper and a pencil, with which I made notes, to aid my
recollections, and enable me afterwards to write down in a journal
the remarks I made during my travels. Every preparation being made,
we one morning started from Jala-Jala. We traversed the peninsula
formed by my settlement, and embarked on the other side in a small
canoe, which took us to the bottom of the lake to the north-east of
my habitation. We passed the night in the large village of Siniloan,
and at an early hour the following day resumed our march. This first
day's journey was one of toil and suffering: we were then beginning
the rainy season, and the heavy storms had swelled the rivers. We
marched for some time along the banks of a torrent, which rushed
down from the mountains, and which we were obliged to swim through
fifteen times during the day. In the evening we came to the foot of
the mountains where begin the forests of gigantic trees, which cover
almost all the centre of the island of Luzon. There we made our first
halt, lighted our fires, and prepared our beds and our supper. I think
that I have already described our beds, which use and fatigue always
rendered agreeable to us, when no accident occurred to disturb our
repose. But I have said nothing of the simple composition of our meals,
nor of our manner of preparing them. Our rice and palms required to
be cooked, an operation which might seem rather embarrassing, for we
had with us no large kitchen articles: we sometimes wanted a fire-box
and tinder. But the bamboo supplied all these. T