Nov. 10, 185'3.] WALLACE ON BORNEO, 199 



deep rocky stream rxislied on each side of us, down to one of which 

 we gradually descended over numerous bamboo bridges, over the 

 gulleys, or along the faces of precipices. Some of these were several 

 hundred feet long, and fifty or sixty feet high, a single smooth 

 bamboo 3 inches in diameter forming the only pathway, and a very 

 shaky handrail of the same material, rendering the passage almost 

 as perilous as that of the aerial bridge by which the followers of the 

 Prophet are said to enter paradise. 



Late in the afternoon we reached Sodos, situated on a space 

 between two streams, but so surrounded by fruit-trees that little could 

 be seen of the country. We stayed here for the night, and found 

 the house very spacious, clean, and comfortable, and the people very 

 civil and obliging. 



In the morning early, we continued our descent to Senna, along 

 a fine valley, with mountains rising 2000 or 3000 feet on every side. 

 The stream rapidly increased in size till, when we reached Senna, 

 it had become as large as the Sadong, above Tabokan, with the same 

 abundance of sand and pebbles. Here too, the upheaved slaty rock 

 again appeared, with the same dip and direction as in the Sadong. 

 At Senna, I remained for the day, as the river was now navigable 

 for boats to Sarawak. An unexpected difficulty however presented 

 itself. The Senna Dyaks had no boats, they did not know how^ to 

 make them, and never used them. It seemed strange to see people 

 living by the side of such a fine stream without making use of it ; 

 but I found that they were true mountaineers, who had only come 

 down the valley about twenty years ago, and had not yet got into 

 new habits. 



The people of Menyerry and Sodos are all of the same tribe. 

 They make excellent paths and bridges, and cultivate a great extent 

 of mountain land. Their district has therefore a more pleasing and 

 civilized appearance, than in those places where the people move 

 about only in boats, and confine their cultivation to the banks of 

 the streams. 



With some difficulty, I hired a boat from a Malay trader, to take 

 me down to the next village, and found three Dyaks who had been 

 several times with Malays to Sarawak, and thought they could 

 manage a boat very well. They were, however, very awkward, 

 constantly running aground, knocking up against rocks, losing their 

 balance, and almost upsetting themselves and the boat, offering a 

 striking contrast to the consummate skill in boatwork of most other 

 Dyaks. At length we came to a really dangerous rapid where boats 

 were often lost, and the men, conscious of their incapacity, were 

 afraid to go on. Some Malays, with a boat-load of rice, here over- 



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