198 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



gauge affair, and the cars are tiny things, consisting of a platform about 

 three feet by four. These are propelled by a man standing on the plat- 

 form and pushing the car along with a pole. At Ban, in the neighbor- 

 hood of our bungalow, there are the most important gold mines in 

 Sarawak, and these trolleys are used for transporting ore and other 

 freight. The "passenger coach" has a single seat with a foot-rest. 

 These cars are extremely cranky, and upsets are usually part of the 

 regular program. On an expedition from Bau, my trolley was a two- 

 man power affair, my propellers being a Sikh policeman and a convict 

 in his charge. We were going along famously, when, at a sudden turn 

 the car jumped the track, and the tiffin basket which was resting between 

 my legs jumped also ! There was an ominous sound of breaking glass 

 and a strong alcoholic aroma pervaded the atmosphere. Alas ! the bottle 

 of Scotch our kind host had thoughtfully provided for our refreshment 

 was shattered to fragments — the soda-water bottles survived. 



No further accidents occurred, and we soon reached the end of the 

 line and set off for the jungle-clad base of the limestone crags which 

 were our objective point. After pushing through a dense growth of 

 coarse grass and wading a couple of shallow streams we reached the 

 base of the cliffs, and, after eating tiffin, proceeded to explore the caves 

 with which the rocks are honeycombed. In one of these caves, whose 

 opening lay a hundred feet or so above the foot of the cliff, and which 

 could be reached only by scaling a crazy, more than half-rotten native 

 ladder, the fern we were in search of was seen hanging from the roof of 

 the cave, fifty feet or more above its floor, and quite out of reach. How- 

 ever, after we left, our host arranged with some of the Dayaks, who are 

 accustomed to climb the walls of these caves in search of the edible 

 bird's nests which abound in them, to return with ladders and poke 

 down the clusters of ferns, which were afterwards sent us in Kuching. 



These caves are of all shapes and sizes, and are the haunts of the 

 peculiar swift, whose nests, composed of a mucilaginous secretion, are 

 considered such a delicacy by the Chinese. 



Matonia sarmentosa is known only from a few limestone caves in 

 Sarawak. A second species, M. pectinata, was for a long time supposed 

 to be confined to Mt. Ophir in Malacca. It has now been collected at 

 several stations in the Malay Peninsula, and the adjacent islands. I 

 collected it on Mt. Santubong, and it is also reported from Mt. Mattang, 

 both mountains of Sarawak. 



The next morning a second trolley trip took me to the locality 

 where the second fern. Macro glossum Alidce, for which I had come to 

 Sarawak, had been discovered by my host, who was able to give me exact 

 directions for finding it ; and I shall not soon forget my sensations when, 

 just where we had been told, we found our plant — a magnificent fern 

 with stately erect fronds more than four yards long. A happy morning 



