200 WALLACE ON BORNEO. [Nov. 10, 1856. 



took US, and, after passing down with great skill, kindly sent back 

 one of their men to assist me. This he did very well, for my 

 Dyaks, in the critical part of the passage, lost their balance, and had 

 they been alone, would certainly have upset the boat. The river 

 was exceedingly picturesque, the ground on each side being cleared 

 at intervals for paddy-fields, affording a view of the country. 

 Numerous little farm-houses were built high up in trees overhanging 

 the river. They were reached from the bank by a bamboo bridge, 

 and had a most curious appearance. At intervals, too, were hanging 

 bridges crossing the stream, and suspended from trees on either 

 side. One of them is well figured in Mr. Low's work on ' Sarawak.* 



Reaching the village of the Sebungo Dyaks, I remained there 

 that day, and the next proceeded to Sarawak, passing through a 

 most beautiful country, where limestone mountains, with their fan- 

 tastic forms, white precipices, and rich vegetation, shoot up on every 

 side. In one of them is a cave which I visited, and which, except 

 that it passes completely through the spur of a lofty mountain, offers 

 nothing remarkable. The banks of the Sarawak river are every- 

 where covered with fruit-trees, the most numerous being the.durian, 

 a magnificent forest-tree, bearing a terrifically spiny fruit, the size 

 of a melon, and which deserves to be ranked as the king of fruits. 

 No tropical fi-uit, I have yet seen, can bear any comparison with it. 

 They were ripe, and we enjoyed them to perfection. 



I shall now proceed to a few general observations on the geo- 

 graphy and geology of the country I passed through, and on the 

 characteristics of its inhabitants. 



Geography, ^c. — Taking the latest map of Borneo as professing to 

 represent the geography of the country, according to the best 

 authorities, I will point out a few alterations which seem to me to 

 be required. First then, the territory of Sarawak must be consi- 

 derably extended ; the boundaiy line passing rather south-east from 

 Penrhissen Mountain, which exactly agrees in position with Mount 

 Sebahu of the maps, and which will increase its area at least one- 

 third. The mountain group at the head of the Sarawak and Sadong 

 Rivers, is completely separated from the Cape Datu Mountain, which 

 terminates in the Poey Mountain in lat. 1° 35' N. South of this 

 an extensive plain occurs, over which a fine view as far as the 

 coast of Sambas, is obtained from the Serambo Mountain, near 

 Sardwak. In the position occupied by Mount Raja on the map, no hills 

 const. Farther east, all the hills must be placed more to the south, 

 and it seems probable from all the information I can obtain, that 

 they soon cease altogether ; a gently inclined divide, only, existing 

 between the tributaries of the Batanglupar and those of the Kapuas 



