ch. xiii.] A Foraging Excursion. 243 



getting dry again. " Kimjeck," after he had done his work 

 this morning, started off on a collecting excursion, and 

 lias just returned, with a couple of broad-tailed, dusky- 

 coloured rock-snakes, one a very fine specimen. Beetles 

 and butterflies, he tells me, are alike unobtainable, and 

 lie can find no flowers, so that we can do no collecting 

 on the island. Knowing that it will be night at the 

 earliest ere our own men can possibly return with the 

 l)oat, I and Smith went over to Lumbedan with some 

 natives, who had come in a boat to look at us, and had a 

 walk in the tall forest, which forms a back -ground to the 

 houses near the shore. Here we found the " nebong " palm 

 attaining to a large size ; and some woodcutters promised 

 to cut us a few young tops by the time of our return. 



This forest, although originally rich in plants, like that 

 of Labuan, has suffered severely during recent years from 

 the now ever recurring jungle-fires of the dry monsoon. 

 We could find nothing of interest. A large-leaved crinum 

 grows in the sand by the shore ; and a scarlet-flowered 

 ixora with narrow foliage, was blooming here and there 

 in patches. We shot a long-tailed paroquet, and a blue 

 kingfisher, the only birds we saw, and retraced our steps 

 to the village just before sunset. We were thoroughly 

 tired, and rested here some time, watching the young 

 Kadyans playing at foot-ball on the beach. The players 

 stand in a circle, three or four yards in diameter, and the 

 ball is kicked in the air by the player to whom it falls 

 nearest. To do this properly requires great dexterity, as 

 the ball is struck with the sole of the foot ; and a party 

 of good players will thus keep a ball in the air for several 

 minutes by each kicking it upwards just as it is about to 

 fall. The ball itself is a light hollow one, of rattan open- 

 work, about the size of an ordinary cricket-ball ; and the 

 game closely resembles shuttlecock, as played in China. 



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