TO SEREKEI. 369 



At six P.M. we went to take leave of the Patingi, 

 and to thank him for some fowls and goats he had 

 sent us as presents ; dropped down with the ebb tide, 

 and about midnight came to anchor in the Rejang, 

 having met the flood. 



April 23rd. In the morning, with the ebb tide, we 

 reached the Rejang fishing village, at the mouth of the 

 river. The houses are built on the trunks of trees, 

 from thirty to forty feet high. They were filled 

 with inhabitants, all of whom were occupied in catch- 

 ing and preparing fish, great quantities of which, in a 

 dried and salted state, are exported to the towns along 

 the coast, and to the inhabitants of the interior. They 

 are much molested by the Dyaks of Sarebas and 

 Sakarran, who, during the fine season, are constantly 

 cruising about their fishing grounds. Shrimps form an 

 important branch of this trade ; they are dried in the 

 sun, and esteemed a delicacy : along the coast, they 

 make excellent curries in this state. 



The women of these people, who are said to be the 

 most beautiful of the natives of Borneo, are fairer and 

 with more decided features than any others I have seen. 

 On the whole, neither Williamson nor myself deemed 

 the reputation they have obtained unmerited. 



These people were very much astonished at my double- 

 barrelled gun : at first, they did not understand how the 

 two reports were produced in immediate succession, but 

 their astonishment was extreme, when they saw two 

 swallows drop, which were flying over their houses. They 



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