RIVER BANKS. 261 



with the tossing of the dark forest trees, formed a wild 

 and most magnificent scene. The poor man was so 

 dreadfully mangled as to be beyond the aid of surgery, 

 and expired shortly after my arrival at the spot. 



Many of the rivers of Borneo have low, swampy 

 banks, over-hung sometimes by the dark foliage, twisted 

 branches, and snake-like roots of the Mangrove, or 

 fringed on either side by dense clustering masses of the 

 elegant and useful Nipa Palm (Nypafruticans). On the 

 ebbing of the tide there is, moreover, a margin of soft and 

 slimy mud, abounding with various Crustaceans, some of 

 a beautiful blue colour, which live in holes, and, hopping 

 about.on their pectoral fins, are the Periophthalmi. Neri- 

 tina crepidularia adheres to the petioles of the Nipa 

 leaves, Cerithium truncatum to the foliage, and now and 

 then the plunge of a Hydrosaurm may startle the ob- 

 server. On one occasion I observed a Crocodile extended 

 quietly on his belly in the soft mud ; I stood still, 

 watching him as he lay extended in listless ease, with his 

 long, lank jaws, and dusky-brown, scaly skin, in bold 

 relief against the mud, and as he turned his head slowly 

 and espied me with his dull lurid eye, he bent his nose 

 close to the surface of the ground, lashed his compressed 

 tail from side to side, and wallowing, retired into the dark 

 still waters. One of these reptiles was in my possession 

 alive, but as the Dyaks had firmly secured his jaws with 

 a rattan muzzle, there was little to fear from his ferocity. 

 He was very soon, however, offered up as a victim on the 

 altar of science. 



The novelty of Mr. Waterton's exploit, of riding upon 



