THE ORANG-UTAN loi 



shouted to It derisively, and the animal began to break 

 off branches and hurled sticks at the prahu with astonish- 

 ing force, making the Malays paddle off as fast as they 

 could. The several points of similarity between man 

 and highly developed monkeys are the cause of the amus- 

 ing saying of the natives of Java: the monkeys can talk, 

 but they don't want to, because they don't like to work. 



The controleur obligingly put the government's steam 

 launch Selatan at my disposal, which would take me to 

 the kampong Sembulo on the lake of the same name, 

 whence it was my intention to return eastward, marching 

 partly overland. One evening in the middle of June we 

 started. On entering the sea the small vessel rolled more 

 and more; when the water came over the deck I put on 

 my overcoat and lay down on top of the entrance to the 

 cabin, which was below. The wind was blowing harder 

 than it usually does on the coasts of Borneo, and in the 

 early morning shallow waters, which assume a dirty red- 

 brown colour long before reaching the mouths of the mud- 

 laden rivers, rose into waves that became higher as we 

 approached the wide entrance to the Pembuang River. 



The sea washed over the port side as if we were on a 

 sailing-boat, but the water flowed out again through a 

 number of small, oblong doors at the sides which opened 

 and closed mechanically. The launch, which was built 

 in Singapore, behaved well, but we had a good deal of 

 cargo on deck as well as down in the cabin. Besides, the 

 approach to Pembuang River is not without risks. The 

 sand-bars can be passed only at one place, which is twelve 

 or thirteen metres wide and, at low water, less than a 



