v.] SAND AK AX BAY. 87 



six hundred feet or more, and in the far recesses of the many 

 caves with which they are pierced the so-called " Edible Swallow " 

 (Collocalia lincJiii) constructs the nests, winch are destined in due 

 season to be gathered by strong-headed natives, and to serve as 

 dainties for the table of some rich Chinese. The little township of 

 Elopura soon comes into view, placed on the north-west shore of 

 the bay, but long before the anchor is down one has time to realise 

 the fact that Sandakan is a magnificent harbour, — the best, perhaps, 

 in the whole of Borneo. With an entrance a mile in width, it has 

 a length of sixteen and a varymg breadth of from three to ten 

 miles. One eighth of the bay only has been fully charted, — that 

 portion nearest the entrance, but a running survey of the remainder 

 shows that there is an abundant depth of water to its very head. 

 Once well wdthin it the favourable impression given by the cliffs 

 of Balhalla Island is somewhat dissipated. The low, flat land 

 stretches in every direction, nearly as far as the eye can reach, 

 unbroken save by the little island of Bai and the hills which form 

 the immediate background of the settlement, and though several 

 rivers are said to debouch into the bay, there is no ocular evidence 

 of any one of them. 



Elopura, I believe, means "the beautiful city." There is a 

 wealth of Oriental imagery in many of these Sanskrit words ; a 

 luxuriance of poetical idea which the unromantic Westerner oc- 

 casionally finds a little startling. The most imaginative of travellers 

 would hardly have hit upon the name as an appropriate one. The 

 township, which, by the more sanguine of its inhabitants was even 

 at tlie time of our visit regarded as the possible future capital, 

 presents itself as an uninteresting forest-clearing about a mile in 

 length, traversed by yellow paths whose colour is derived from the 

 soft sandstone which appears commonly to form the soil in this 

 neighbourhood. The tree-trunks lay where they had been felled, 

 but where the ground had been cleared it was carpeted with bright 

 green but coarse grass. In front, built entu-ely on piles, half over 

 the sea and half over fetid black mud, is the native town, composed 



