v.] BANGUEY ISLAND. 107 



began filling the lifeboat and cutter. The knowledge of this stream 

 would be most useful to those cruising off this part of the Bornean 

 coast, for to the south-west there are few, if any, places where good 

 water can be obtained. 



The contrast between the island and the coast we had just left 

 —for the mainland of Borneo is only eight miles distant — was 

 rather striking. Banguey Peak is almost certainly volcanic, 

 although we did not examine the crater which is said by the 

 natives to exist at its summit. N"ear the entrance of the river is a 

 cliff of red granitic rock, and pebbles of mica -schist and quartz 

 were abundant in the stream, with large lumps of " pudding-stone " 

 conglomerate. Mr. Dalrymple, who had visited this spot in the 

 preceding month and had explored some distance inland, found 

 micaceous schist, talcose and gneiss formations, and red and blue 

 clay slates. The vegetation also was a little unfamiliar, and I 

 noticed two species of Pandanus which I had not seen before. 

 AlonjT the river there were no signs of human life. The island 

 indeed is but thinly peopled. A few Dusuns — about two or three 

 hundred, we were told — had migrated thither from the mainland, 

 and to the south some Bajaus, the roving sea -gipsies of Borneo, 

 trade with them for bees' wax, which appears to be very plentiful. 

 The season for gathering it begins in August, and, according to Mr. 

 Dalr}TQple, each man reckons on collecting about a ^Jtcwi (133 lbs.), 

 for which the Bajaus pay barter to the nominal value of £5. 



We were fortunate enough to have Mr. Gueritz with us, and 

 guided by one of his men — a Dusun Dyak who was himself an old 

 inhabitant of the island — we ascended the river for some distance, 

 and striking inland, followed a narrow jungle path for a mile or 

 more. Birds were few, and all those we noticed or that fell to our 

 guns were species that were familiar to us in Borneo, but flowering 

 trees and a beautiful white jessamine seemed abundant. We 

 arrived at length at a tiny hamlet, but the male portion of the 

 population were away, and five Dyak women were the only 

 inhabitants. They did not appear at all afraid of us, and brought 



