Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/381

 was similarly roofed. The punting platforms, which occupied rather more than a third of the available deck space, were also covered in with temporary kajang roofs, and from boats and rafts alike a thin smoke was slowly rising, for numbers of Malays of both sexes and all ages were living more or less per- manently aboard them. The red waters of the Pârit possessed some property inimical to the borers which destroyed the bottoms of craft left to ride at anchor in the lower reaches of the Pahang; wherefore this narrow stream formied the most popular mooring- place in the vicinity of the capital.

A narrow fairway opened between the boats and rafts, and up and down this there passed two broken threads of traffic, composed of tiny dug-outs, shoot- ing swiftly in and out amid the numerous obstruc- tions.

The bright colours of the Malay's garments made little splashes of red or green or yellow against the tawny waters of the river, and the dusty mat roof- ings of rafts and boats. The flickering fronds of the cocoanut, sugar, betel, and sago palms, and the spreading boughs of fruit trees of many varieties- dividing among them almost every conceivable shade of green stretched forth from either bank friendly hands that nearly met above the ruddy waters of the stream, upon which they cast a sun- flecked, shifting shadow, infinitely refreshing to the eye. Above, seen through the mass of fronds and boughs and foliage, the cloudless Malayan sky arched over us; and below us the browns and yellows of the