START FOR CENTRAL BORNEO 151 



until our men and prahus should return from Telok 

 Djulo, for which kampong the rest of us started in late 

 December. 



After considerable rain the river was high but naviga- 

 ble, and two days' travel brought us to a rather attractive 

 kampong situated on a ridge. Rajimin accompanied by 

 Longko, the principal one of our Malays, went out in the 

 evening to hunt deer, employing the approved Bornean 

 method. With a lamp in the bow the prahu is paddled 

 noiselessly along the river near the bank. Rusa, as a 

 large species of deer are called, come to the water, and 

 instead of being frightened are attracted by the light. 

 Rajimin, who was of an emotional and nervous tempera- 

 ment, missed two plandoks and one rusa, Longko reported, 

 and when he actually killed a rusa he became so excited 

 that he upset the prahu. 



We started before seven o'clock on a glorious morning, 

 January first. On the river bank some trees, which did 

 not appear to me to be indigenous, were covered with 

 lovely flowers resembling hibiscus, some scarlet, some 

 yellow. I had my men gather a small bunch, which for 

 several hours proved attractive in the prosaic Malay 

 prahu. The equatorial regions have not the abundance 

 of beautiful flowers that is credited to them by popu- 

 lar belief. The graceful pitcher-plants {nepenthes) are 

 wonderful and so are many other extraordinary plant 

 creations here, but they cannot be classed as beautiful 

 flowers in the common acceptation of the word. There 

 are superb flowers in Borneo, among them the finest in 

 existence, orchids, begonias, etc., but on account of the 



