156 THROUGH CENTRAL RORNEO 



tance out. It ran against this and made a disagreeable 

 turn, but regained its balance. 



The next one nearly turned over, and Mr. Demmini 

 decided to take out the kinema camera, which was got in 

 readiness to film the picturesque scene. In the mean- 

 time, in order to control the prahu from the side, a second 

 rattan rope had been tied to the following one, thereby 

 enabling the men to keep it from going too far out. This 

 should have been done at the start, but the Malays always 

 like to take their chances. Though the remaining prahus 

 did not present such exciting spectacles, nevertheless 

 the scene was uncommonly picturesque. After nine 

 hours of heavy work, during most of which the men had 

 kept running from stone to stone dragging rattan cables, 

 we camped on a sand-ridge that ran out as a peninsula 

 into the river. At one side was an inlet of calm, dark- 

 coloured water into which, a hundred metres away, a 

 tributary emptied itself into a lovely waterfall. A full 

 moon rose over the enchanting landscape. 



At half-past six in the morning we started for the next 

 kiham, the so-called Kiham Mudang, where we arrived 

 an hour later. This was the most impressive of all the 

 rapids so far, the river flowing between narrow confines 

 in a steady down-grade course, which at first sight seemed 

 impossible of ascent. The river had fallen half a metre 

 since the day before, and although most kihams are 

 easier to pass at low water, this one was more difllcult. 

 The men, standing in water up to their arms, brought all 

 the luggage ashore and carried it further uj) the river. 

 Next till" f)rahus were successfully pulled uj^ being kept 



