xix.] EXCURSION TO THE KALIAS. 703 



shoals that he between it and the considerably larger Daat 

 Island, and finally south of the latter island. 



" Pappan Island is a small beautiful island, clothed down to 

 high-water mark with a dark green primeval forest. On Daat 

 Island, on the contrary, the primeval forest on the east side has 

 been cut down, and has given place to a new j)lantation of cocoa- 

 nut trees, the work of a former physician on Labuan, which 

 yields its present owner a considerable revenue, 



" We had no little difficulty in finding a way over the sandy 

 bar, which is deposited in front of the river mouth at a distance 

 of a nautical mile and a half to three miles from the coast 

 of Borneo. After several attempts in the course of an hour 

 we at last succeeded in finding the deep channel which leads to 

 the river. It runs close to the mainland on the north side, from 

 Kalias Point to the river mouth proper. At the bar the depth 

 was only a metre, in the dee23 channel, it varied between 3' 5 and 

 7 metres, in the river mouth it was fourteen to eighteen metres 

 and sometimes more. 



" On the south side of the tongue of land, which projects north 

 of the mouth of the Kalias, were found two Malay villages, 

 whose inhabitants appeared to view our passage up the river 

 with curious glances. A crowd of half or wholly naked children 

 began a race along the shore, as soon as they set eyes upon the 

 fast steam launch, probably in order to keep us in sight as long 

 as possible. We now had deep water and steamed up the river 

 without delay. The longed-for visit to some of the Mala}^ 

 villages we thus reserved till our return. 



" We steamed about ten or twelve English miles up one of the 

 many winding river arms, when the limited depth compelled us 

 to turn. The vegetation on the mainland, as on the shores of 

 the islands lying near the river-mouth, was everywhere so close 

 that it was nearly impossible to find a place where we could 

 land ; everywhere there was the impenetrable primeval forest. 

 Next the mouth of the river this consisted of tall, shady broad- 

 leaved trees, which all had dark green, lustrous, large leaves. 

 Some were in flower, others bore fruit. The greater number 

 consisted of fig trees, whose numerous air-roots twining close 

 on each other formed an impenetrable fence at the river bank. 

 These air-root-bearing trees play an important role in increasing 

 the area of the land and diminishing that of the water. They 

 send their strong air-roots from the branches and stem far out 

 into the water, and when the roots have reached the bottom, 

 and pushed their way into the mud, they make, by the close 

 basket-work they form, an excellent binding medium for all the 

 new mud which the river carries with it from the higher ground 

 in the interior. It has struck me that the air-root-bearing trees 

 fonn one of the most important means for the rapid increase of 



