OF THE SARAWAK RIVER. 391 



tunity of inquiring of them but other tribes have fre- 

 quently assured me that the bones of the dead are all cal- 

 cined by the fire, and that they bury no part of the corpse. 



Dec. 3rd. I sent one of the men to the Dyak 

 village, situated at the foot of the Gunong Coum, a hill, 

 or rather limestone rock, about 600 feet high. In a 

 straight line it does not appear more than half a mile 

 from the house, and presents from it a white and naked 

 precipice of unstratified stone : it is, like most of the 

 limestone hills, of a round form, and the top is covered 

 with jungle. It is said that it can be ascended from 

 the opposite side, which is not so precipitous. Between 

 it and the house, rises a lofty Tapang, high above the 

 other jungle trees. The village at the foot of the hill, 

 to which I sent my man for fowls and eggs, belongs to 

 the Sempro Dyaks, who farm in this neighbourhood. 



I went myself, with my butterfly net, into the jungle, 

 in search of flowers and insects ; of the latter I caught 

 some fine specimens of a large butterfly, with semi- 

 transparent wings, covered with black spots. This 

 insect usually flies so high, that I had been hitherto 

 unable to procure it, as it is not common ; but here it 

 was plentiful, and came near the ground. Its lazy flight 

 is exceedingly beautiful, as in the sun it looks like a 

 falling flake of snow, gilded with metallic colours. A 

 specimen of a rare and magnificent species of Papilio 

 was also captured; the flight of this was near the 

 ground, and rapid as that of a swallow. I could never 

 have captured it in the jungle, had it not, in flying past 

 me, accidentally rushed into my net. 



