276 A NATURALIST IN BORNEO 



they confer on cattle by clearing them of ticks. As 

 we sat waiting for the rising tide a man passed us 

 wading through the water and leading two buffaloes 

 with their calves ; he had walked through the water 

 from a small river between Trusan and Lawas. The 

 Brunei Malays often bring consignments of buffaloes 

 across to Trusan. The method of transport inflicts need- 

 less suffering on the poor animals ; a raft is constructed, 

 and to this the buffaloes are attached by their nose- 

 rings ; to prevent themselves from drowning they have 

 to swim, and this propels the raft, on which stand the 

 owners, urging their charges to further efforts by goads 

 and shouts ; but their heads have to be carried at an 

 awkward angle, and by the time they arrive at their 

 journey's end they are sometimes so exhausted that 

 they can hardly walk ashore. 



Those peculiar amphibious fish the Periopthalmi were 

 swarming on the mud-flats ; one large species with a 

 sail-like dorsal fin, when startled, would dive down into 

 the mud and throw up a great squirt of liquid mud 

 from below. Another very conspicuous form was a 

 Gar-Fish that was leaping about in the shallow waters ; 

 they simply shot out of the water and travelled like 

 shimmering waves of light for several yards above the 

 surface. One of my boatmen related that a Malay 

 sitting in a boat fishing with a line had his side pierced 

 by one of these fish which leapt out of the water and 

 shot against him, but I don't know if there is much 

 truth in the story. 1 



1 During my stay in Singapore there were two cases of fishermen 

 killed in the harbour by this fish. The men were struck in the 

 chest by the pointed snout, which broke off in the thorax. One of 

 these fish weighed two pounds. They run nearly erect for a long 

 distance, striking the tail against the water at intervals. H. N. R. 



