HOUSES IN BORNEO. 151 



inconvenient huts they previously inhabited. The 

 houses in all parts of Borneo are built upon posts 

 generally about four or five feet from the ground, but 

 sometimes more : the object of this originally was for 

 the purposes of health, and as a means of preservation 

 from noxious reptiles, and in some instances, hereafter 

 to be described, as a protection against their enemies. 

 The towns are always situated on the banks of rivers, 

 and such low places are often chosen as are overflowed 

 by the tide ; perhaps these spots have been fixed upon 

 that the water might cleanse the impurities which are 

 frequently allowed to accumulate beneath their resi- 

 dences. Borneo and Kalekka are the only two towns 

 which I have seen built entirely in the water, the whole 

 of the houses, with the exception of that of the sultan 

 and one or two of the nobles, being built upon posts 

 fixed in the mud banks of the river. That such situa- 

 tions should have been chosen is the more strange, as 

 at low water a stench, which cannot be of a healthy 

 nature, arises from the mud, which to an European, or 

 stranger not accustomed to it, is very offensive ; the 

 natives of the town affirm that this does not affect 

 their health. The river at the place where the town 

 is situated is very wide, and receives the waters of the 

 Sungie Kadyan, a tributary stream; the main river 

 forms the principal street of the town, and on it are 

 situated the large houses of the nobles and princes. 

 The houses are disposed with more regularity than in 

 most Malayan towns, being intersected by water-lanes 

 at right angles from the main water-street, so that the 



