MARTAPURA 295 



kapala of the district, from Pengaron, who happened to 

 be there, was also sent for, and both men were instructed 

 to render me assistance. Next day the Malay coolies 

 carried our baggage to the unattractive beach near the 

 market-place, strewn with bones and refuse, loaded our 

 goods in the prahus, and the journey began. The men 

 were cheap and willing but slow, and it was near sun- 

 set when we arrived at the English rubber plantation 

 near Bumirata. 



The controleur had been friendly enough to send 

 word to the manager that he had invited me to stay over- 

 night at the estate. However, upon arrival there we 

 were told that the manager had gone to Bandjermasin 

 the day before, but was expected back at seven o'clock. 

 It did not seem the proper thing to make ourselves at 

 home in his absence, so we returned to the kampong, five 

 minutes below by prahu, to make camp in a spacious, 

 rather clean-looking, shed that formed the pasar or 

 market-place. 



At midnight I was awakened by the halting of an 

 automobile and a Malay calling out, "Tuan ! Tuan!" 

 and I stepped from my bed to meet a friendly looking 

 man in a mackintosh, who proved to be Mr. B. Massey, 

 the manager. We talked together for an hour in the calm 

 of a Bornean night. What he said about the irregularity 

 of the climatic conditions interested me. Two years 

 previously it had been so dry for a while that prahus 

 could move only in canals made in the river-bed. His 

 friends had thought him mad to come to Borneo, but he 

 liked the climate better than that of Java. His kind in- 



