ch. viii.] New Avoids. 173 



colour in the landscapes is more glorious than anywhere 

 else, and yet nearly all the tropical pictures one sees 

 remind one of the daubs of a bad scene-painter ? Here 

 and there clumps of bamboo reminded one of the early 

 summer freshness of the weeping willow beside the 

 silvery trout streams at home. A gorgeous scarlet 

 flowered climbing bauhinia draped some of the low trees 

 which nestled down near the water. We turned out for 

 a ramble with our guns while our people cooked break- 

 fast. I never saw birds so numerous in Borneo before. 

 The first shot brought clown a little green tree-pigeon, 

 with a magenta stain on its white breast and on its head. 

 A Kadyan boy we had with us blazed away with an old 

 Tower musket to his heart's content, and surprised us by 

 bringing in a long-tailed rufous-brown species of pigeon, 

 which we had first secured in the Sulu Islands. Two or 

 three other rare Bornean birds were obtained. Break- 

 fast over, we set about climbing. Our path lay through 

 the tall forest, and in places the undergrowth was so 

 thick that our guides and men had to cut us a path with 

 their parongs. For the first mile or two vegetation was 

 scant}-, but as we ascended ferns and selaginellas became 

 more plentiful. We stayed here and there to examine 

 fallen trees for epiphytal orchids, which however were far 

 from abundant. About half way up the hill we came to 

 a gorge, down which a considerable body of water flows, 

 but it is screened from sight by huge boulders, which lie 

 near together, forming a sort of " giant's causeway," 

 across which we picked our way. We peered down the 

 chasms, but could not catch a glimpse of the stream. 

 although we could hear it quite plainly as it forced its 

 way among the stones far below. In one wet spot 

 several species of aroids formed a little colony all to 

 themselves. Of those collected in flower, one proved 



