OTHER EXPEDITIONS 283 



a long time in reaching Gedong. The bore having 

 passed, it was now safe to proceed up-river, and at 

 5 a.m. I woke all the men and we paddled on till 8, 

 when we stopped to bathe and breakfast ; we stopped 

 again at i for a short time, but nearly all day the 

 men were paddling against a strong stream and it was 

 4.30 before we reached Empongau, a considerable 

 Land-Dayak village. I slept in the boat. 



24/7*. By virtue of the Sarawak flag which we flew 

 at the stern of our boat I was able to impress the 

 services of six Dayaks to help us on our way to 

 Tabekang, and with this addition to our crew we 

 made good progress ; the Malay prisoners were in great 

 fettle and put their backs into the work. The scenery 

 was not particularly interesting, the banks being 

 covered with tall grass or secondary jungle, and there 

 was not much animal life about ; I saw, however, 

 several kingfishers and some squirrels. There was an 

 epidemic of swine-fever raging both amongst the wild 

 pigs and the domestic pigs, and we passed numbers 

 of carcases floating in the river. At 1.45 p.m. arrived 

 at Tabekang, a very picturesque spot. The banks of the 

 river are high here, and on the right bank stands the 

 Court House, the Government bungalow, Chinese 

 bazaar, and Malay Kampong ; on the left bank is a 

 large Land-Dayak village. At 5 o'clock I watched 

 canoe-loads of Dayaks returning from their day's 

 work on their farms, which this year are 2 or 3 miles 

 down-river ; the men wore the usual red or dark-blue 

 loin-cloth, the women the dress described on p. 251. 

 On arriving at the landing-place they all bathed, the 

 men stark-naked, the women with all their clothes 

 on ; after their bath the men picked up their paddles 



