ch. v.] A River Village. 83 



was" method in our madness;" we did not "kill for 

 sport," but only for the advancement of learning, or for 

 food. 



About half a mile beyond we came to a fording-place 

 in the stream, and descending the slippery clay banks, 

 we crossed the river, which in places reached up to our 

 waists ; and in one place the current was rather too 

 strong to be pleasant. Reaching the other side, our 

 way lay along an abandoned bed of the stream for some 

 distance. The old shingly bed was in some places quite 

 thickly covered with Celosia argentea, forming compact 

 little bushes, two feet high, every branchlet terminated 

 by a rose-tipped spike of silvery bracts, forming, as seen 

 here, a very pretty object. 



We reached the Dusan village of Bawang (baivang, in 

 the Dusun dialect = river) about four o'clock, after 

 fording a creek up to our necks, and indeed we were both 

 tired and hungry. We took refuge in a house, which 

 stood on the bank, quite close to the river, and our men 

 soon had several fires ablaze on the pebbly beach below. 

 We pulled off our wet things, and enjo3 7 'ed a bath in the 

 bubbling stream, and then a nice rub, dry and clean 

 clothes, made us quite comfortable by dinner time. 

 " Bongsur," one of the bird hunters, brought in two 

 or three very pretty birds here ; and Mr. Veitch 

 added a black, red-bellied squirrel (" basing ") to our 

 collection. 



W T e slept the sleep of the weary ; and the following- 

 morning pushed on up the slope beyond the village. 

 The shady jungle through which we passed ere we 

 began to ascend was thickly carpeted with selaginellas, 

 S. Wallichii being especially luxuriant. S. caulescens 

 drooped from the moist rocks here and there very 

 gracefully. We found the climbing rather arduous work, 



g 2 



