84 Borneo. 



the river-banks, never made or used boats. They were 

 mountaineers who had only come down into the valley about 

 twenty years before, and had not yet got into new habits. 

 They are of the same tribe as the people of Menyerry and 

 Sodos. They make good paths and bridges, and cultivate 

 much mountain land, and thus give a more pleasing and civ- 

 ilized aspect to the country than where the people move 

 about only in boats, and confine their cultivation to the banks 

 of the streams. 



After some trouble I hired a boat from a Malay trader, 

 and found three Dyaks who had been several times with 

 Malays to Sarawak, and thought they could manage it very 

 well. They turned out very awkward, constantly running 

 aground, striking against rocks, and losing their balance so 

 as almost to upset themselves and the boat ; offering a strik- 

 ing contrast to the skill of the Sea Dyaks. At length we 

 came to a really dangerous rapid where boats were often 

 swamped, and my men were afraid to pass it. Some Malays 

 with a boat-load of rice here overtook us, and, after safely 

 passing down, kindly sent back one of their men to assist me. 

 As it was, my Dyaks lost their balance in the critical part of 

 the passage, and, had they been alone, would certainly have 

 upset the boat. The river now became exceedingly pictur- 

 esque, the ground on each side being partially cleared for 

 rice-fields, afibrding a good view of the country. Numerous 

 little granaries were built high up in trees oveishanging the 

 river, and having a bamboo bridge sloping up to them from 

 the bank ; and here and there bamboo suspension-bridges 

 crossed the stream, where overhanging trees favored their 

 construction. 



I slept that night in the village of the Sebungow Dyaks, 

 and the next day reached Sarawak, passing through a most 

 beautiful country, where limestone mountains, with their fan- 

 tastic forms and white precipices, shot up on every side, 

 draped and festooned with a luxuriant vegetation. The 

 banks of the Sarawak River are everywhere covered with 

 fruit-trees, which supply the Dyaks with a great deal of their 

 food. The mangosteen, lansat, rambutan, jack,jambou, and 

 blimbing are all abundant ; but most abundant and most 

 esteemed is the durion, a fruit about which very little is known 



