BANDJERMASIN 293 



quarters. Houses of wood are erected, lumber for the 

 purpose being imported from Borneo in great quantities. 

 That the efforts have been crowned with success is in- 

 dicated from the reports issued in 1916, showing that 

 plague cases had been reduced seventy per cent. 



Returning to Bandjermasin toward the end of October, 

 I began to make arrangements for a journey to Lok 

 Besar, in a hilly region of the Northeast at the source of 

 the Riam Kiwa River. This kampong had recently been 

 visited by the government's mining engineer, Mr. W. 

 Krol, on one of his exploring expeditions. At first glance 

 it might seem unpromising to make researches in a region 

 so near to a stronghold of the Malays, but as he was the 

 first and only European who had been in the upper coun- 

 try of that river, there was a fair chance that the natives 

 might prove of considerable interest. It was a matter of 

 five or six days by prahu from Bandjermasin, followed by 

 a three days' march, and I decided to return by a different 

 route, cross the mountain range, and emerge by Kan- 

 dangan. 



Accompanied by Mr. Loing, the surveyor, and the 

 soldier-collector, I started from Bandjermasin on Novem- 

 ber 1. To travel by the canal to Martapura can hardly 

 be regarded as a pleasure-trip, as mosquitoes and flies are 

 troublesome. Half a year later I went by the road to 

 the same place under more cheerful conditions, and 

 though the day was overcast, the flooded country just 

 north of the town presented a picturesque appearance. 

 Rows of high-gabled Malay houses, with narrow bridges 

 leading out to them, were reflected in the calm water, 



