I90 TflROrOlI CFXTRAI. RORNEO 



Safety matches would not strike fire unless kept in an air- 

 tight box. My cameras were inside of solid steel boxes, 

 provided with rubber bands against the covers, making 

 them water-tight. Nevertheless, upon opening one that 

 had been closed for three weeks the camera inside was 

 found to be white with mould. 



It was rough and hard travelling on account of inces- 

 sant low kihams to be passed, or banks of small stones 

 over which the prahus had to be dragged. The Penyah- 

 bongs had not yet learned to be good boatmen, often 

 nearly upsetting the prahu when getting in or out. 

 Occasionally long quiet pools occurred, and the scenery 

 here was grand and thrilling. Graceful trees of infinite 

 variety bent over the water, bearing orchids of various 

 colours, while creepers hung down everywhere, all re- 

 flected in a calm surface which seldom is disturbed by 

 the splashing of fish. The orchids were more numerous 

 than I had ever seen before. A delicate yellow one, 

 growing in spikes, had a most unusual aromatic fragrance, 

 as if coming from another world. 



In the morning a curtain of fog lies over the land- 

 scape, but about nine o'clock it begins to lift, and 

 creeping up over the tree-tops gradually dissolves in the 

 sun-light, while between the trees that border the river 

 the deep-blue sky appears, with beautiful small cumulus 

 clouds suspended in the atmosphere. With the excep- 

 tion, perhaps, of a large blue kingfisher sitting in solitary 

 state on a branch extending over the water, or a distant 

 hornbill with its cheerful grandiose laugh, there arc 

 no evidences of animal life, nevertheless the exquisite 



