1 84 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. ix. 



The monsoon was dead against us, and we met numerous 

 native boats flying down to Labuan before the wind. 

 These were laden with pearl-shell, trepang, etc., and 

 were mostly from the islands of Balabac and Palawan ; 

 some, however, had come round from the north-east coast 

 of Borneo, and even from the Sulu isles. In about a 

 fortnight the monsoon is expected to change, when they 

 will find no difficulty in returning safety. At sunset, and 

 again at sunrise, we saw " Kina Balu " towering up into 

 the clouds, and apparently very near to the coast, but the 

 distance is very deceptive. It was dark when we entered 

 Sandakan Bay, and about three o'clock on the morning 

 of the 8th, I was awakened by the rattling of the anchor- 

 chains, and found we were at Sandakan itself. It is 

 merely a small trading station consisting of about a dozen 

 " ataps," or palm thatched houses built over the water, 

 and a long "jimbatan," or jetty, also on piles, serves as 

 a roadway and a landing stage for produce. 



At the time of my visit the only European residents were 

 Mr. W. B. Piyer, who acted as agent and resident for the 

 company, who had just obtained cessions of territory 

 from the Sultans of Brunei and Sulu respectively, and 

 Mr. Martin, a trader. There was formerly a depot here 

 belonging to the " Labuan Trading Company," managed 

 by a Mr. Sachze, who died rather suddenly, as is believed 

 by poison administered by his wife, a beautiful native 

 woman given to intrigue. We landed at daybreak, and 

 Mr. Cowie and myself took our guns and went for a walk 

 in the forest behind the little group of houses. We fol- 

 lowed a path which had been recently cut, and which led 

 us in a northerly direction for about half a mile until we 

 came to a stream descending the steep hill side in a series 

 of little falls. Pigeons were plentiful here, but the trees 

 were too high to allow of our shooting them. We also 



