440 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 



are plenty of saplings about, and, but for tlieir lack of enterprise, 

 the Dyaks could soon cut enough to lay two or three side by side 

 all along and make a passable road over the mud. But the idea 

 never occurred to them, or if it did, they were too lazy too carry it 

 out. 



" "Without losing a moment's time, we loaded the boats and 

 started, hoping, by hard paddling, to make the return journey in 

 two days. On the way down I shot my last orang. No. 43 — a 

 splendid old male ' chappin,' 4 feet 3 inches iu height. He was 

 sitting low down in a tree, comfortably humped uj) with his chin 

 resting on his hand, facing us, not over thirty yards away, and he 

 did not evince the slightest alarm at our sudden appearance. I 

 shot him very easily, and when he let go, he fell like a bag of meal, 

 sprawling face downward, as mias nearly always fall. 



" The nipa palm grows veiy thickly along the lower Sibuyau, 

 and at low water, when they are not partly submerged, they are very 

 pretty. From fifteen to twenty finely cut leaves grow from each 

 root, of a dense green color, and very graceful. To the native, 

 the nipa is a gift of the gods, apparently designed to supply them 

 Avith everything in which the jungles are otherwise lacking. Fi'om 

 the leaves, the indispensable attap house-roofing is made, cheap, 

 durable, and easily portable, and also kadjangs for boat roofs, so per- 

 fectly adapted to the purpose that even the inventive genius of a 

 patent-making American could not produce a better appliance ; the 

 roots when burned yield salt, fi'om the spadix toddy is extracted, 

 convertible into vinegar by one process, arrack by another, and 

 sugar and molasses by another. 



" Just before reaching the kampong at the mouth of the river, 

 we came to a house where the Malays had lately been making spiap 

 and also sugar. I tasted the former and found it delicious, better 

 than anything of the kind I ever ate, except that made from the 

 sugar maple. It was thick, frothy, and clear, with a peculiar sweet- 

 ness in which there is a very perceptible flavor of salt. I bought 

 two joints of bamboo full of it, about a gallon, for twenty cents — 

 certainly not an exorbitant price — but alas, I had no buckwheat 

 cakes ! We reached the village at sunset, and have taken up quar- 

 ters for the night, in a dismal, empty, and dilapidated hut on shore. 

 Have jast finished my supper — by courtesy so-called. My rations 

 to-day consisted solely of one can of salmon (one pound) and an- 

 other of green peas (one-half pound) washed down with muddy 

 river water. This is my birthday, my third since leaving home, 



