272 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



he was in similar case to his chief. I could not help 

 being astonished to see that whilst prolonged physical 

 exertion had little effect on these men, a mental effort 

 produced the effects described. The tax being all 

 paid up we packed the money in stout wooden boxes, 

 and leaving the collectors behind us to hunt for a 

 few more days, we embarked on our homeward way. 

 Travelling down-stream was a very different thing to 

 travelling up-stream, and we went at a great pace ; at 

 one spot where the stream was very rapid and some 

 care had to be exercised in steering between rocks, 

 one of our Chinese servants, in a sudden access of 

 nervousness, leapt to his feet and endeavoured to 

 thrust the boat off from a rock with a pole ; I thought 

 that we were over that time, but by a miracle we 

 righted, and we took care to restrain our nervous cook 

 from repeating his offence. At Segu we rested again 

 for half a day to collect the tax from the large village 

 there. The chief by a perfect lour de force of memory 

 successfully recited without a break the names of 

 nearly two hundred men, and we set off for Kuching 

 at about 4 o'clock, our boats loaded down to their 

 gunwales with bullion. There was plenty of water 

 in the river, and before dusk we had passed all the 

 rapids, which on our upward journey it had taken us 

 a whole day to conquer ; by 1 1 o'clock we were once 

 more in Kuching. 



Except that Penrisen was disappointingly poor in 

 mammals and birds, we had had a thoroughly success- 

 ful trip, and our collections in all other orders were 

 very rich, whilst I, for one, had enjoyed an experience 

 of life in the jungle which is amongst the most precious 

 of my memories. If now, settled quietly at home, I 



