ch. viii.] Boat Journey Inland. 171 



stream, and was nearly a hundred yards in length. A 

 rude pathway of tree trunks lay on the muddy shore 

 reaching to one end of the building. We landed here to 

 cook our dinner, and clambered up into the house by a 

 rude stair formed of a notched tree trunk. The Muruts 

 looked rather surprised to see such visitors, but spread 

 mats for us, and gave us some firewood and water. After 

 dinner we had a smoke with the head-man, a fine mus- 

 cular old fellow, nearly six feet high. About fifty men, 

 women, and children swarmed round the circle, of which 

 a wood fire was the centre, to get a peep at us. The 

 head-man's wife was a young and rather handsome girl, 

 having a fine dusky little baby swung behind her, and 

 several other of the younger married women and girls 

 were comely, with dark eyes and luxuriant hair. Others, 

 however, were less attractive, and many of both sexes 

 were troubled with peculiar skin diseases. We engaged 

 two men of this tribe to go with us as far as Bukit Sagan, 

 as our men did not exactly know the best place at which 

 to land. We slept by the fire until about two o'clock, 

 when the rain, which had been coming down heavily all 

 day, ceased, and the silver moon being nearly at the full, 

 it quite illumined the stream as it sped past the house. 

 The mosquitoes became very troublesome, and so I called 

 the men and went down to the boat. After shouting for 

 about half an hour, the Muruts came down and took their 

 places ; and pulling across the current, we crept up stream 

 beneath the arching plumes of the Nipa palm, which is 

 here abundant. It was hard work for the men, although 

 we had now fourteen paddles. A sharp look-out had to 

 be kept for snags and floating trunks of trees, several of 

 which we saw shooting past us mid stream. Our Labuan 

 men were rather afraid, and several times wanted to make 

 fast until daybreak. At one place the boat struck heavily 



