OTHER EXPEDITIONS 277 



The tide at last serving, we entered the river and 

 paddled on at a good pace. Just near the river-mouth 

 the scenery was no different from that to which I was 

 well accustomed : there were the same stretches of 

 black, viscid mud and the same monotonous Nipa- 

 palms on either hand, but before long there opened 

 out quite a different type of view. The banks grew 

 hard and stood out of the water, great expanses of 

 turf dotted with clumps of Pandanus were frequent, 

 buffaloes were grazing peacefully or standing in herds 

 knee-deep in the river with Egrets perched on their 

 backs ; here and there was a Murut village, and the 

 whole scene was delightfully fresh to eyes jaded with 

 the monotony of tangled vegetation that shows few 

 variations of tint. Ere long we arrived at Sundar, 

 where is situated a Malay village, and on the opposite 

 bank a small bungalow or shooting-box, where my 

 friend was awaiting me, and where I received the 

 warm welcome that dismisses at a breath the tedium 

 of the previous journey. That evening we dropped 

 down on the tide to the river-mouth to shoot shore- 

 birds, and we took with us the headman of the 

 village, Pangeran Besar, the most delightful and 

 courteous Malay that it would be possible to meet ; 

 on our way down river we saw the Great Fruit- Pigeon 

 Carpophaga cenea * flying overhead, and Cox was suc- 

 cessful in bringing down one or two ; one that fell 

 was only wounded, so it was given to Pangeran Besar, 

 since, being an orthodox Malay, he could only eat 

 animals that had had their throats cut by a Moham- 

 medan. He whipped out a small pocket-knife and 



1 Carpophaga cenea is the large pigeon, but Treron capellei I should 

 consider the most commonly seen of fruit-pigeons. C. H. 



