486 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 



dently ended the earthly troubles of the owner in short order 

 None of the skulls were labelled with locality, date, sex, and specie^ 

 as crania always should be, to be valuable. 



After lea\ing the pangah we climbed two hundred feet higher, 

 and at last reached the Rajah's cottage, which has been Adsited by 

 nearly every European who has thus far set foot in Sarawak. The 

 cottage itself is a sort of summer-house, a veritable " lodge in a 

 vast wilderness," a httle house on posts, with three rooms, a veran- 

 da extending around three sides, and at that time no furniture 

 except a table and two or three chairs. 



But if the cottage is nothing of itself, the location is eveiything. 

 Back of it is the forest-clad top of Serambo, all about it are flower- 

 ing shrubs, cocoanut trees, and the tops of the trees which have 

 their roots far below in the steep side of the mountain. Through 

 the cocoanut-grove in front we catch a ghmpse of sea and sky, and 

 hasten forward to get beyond the trees. Come with me, quickly, 

 if you would feast your eyes on a most charming \dew. Fifty 

 yards below the cottage we stand upon a bare rock, the very 

 northernmost point of the summit, nine hundred and fifty feet 

 above the sea, with a clear view to the north, east, and west. It is 

 enchanting. The sun shines brightly, the air is clear, and every 

 object in the vast landscape is defined with unusual clearness of 

 detail 



Almost beneath our feet is a wide semi-circle of ferns, then the 

 feathery tops of the bamboos that grow lower down the steep 

 slope, and beyond that a sloping bank of green tree-tops which 

 finally mingle -ndth the foliage of the plain far below. To the left 

 hand (west), and seemingly very near, rises the Semadjoe mountain 

 range, which forms the boundaiy between Sarawak and the Dutch 

 Territory, with Bau and Matang still neai'er at hand toward the 

 northwest. Everett's house at Paku, far below, looks like a little 

 white martin-box on a tiny mound. Toward the north, seemingly 

 at the foot of Serambo, we can trace the winding course of the 

 western branch of the Sarawak River, brown and murky with the 

 mud of recent rains. Beyond the river stretches a wide level plain 

 covered with green jungle, broken only by a few light patches here 

 and there, either farms or second growth jungle, and a few hills 

 that rise high enough to be recofjnized as such. Far awav in front, 

 at the edge of the sea, rises the fine peak of Santubong, with its 

 head thrust up into a fleecy white cloud. The coast line is clearly 

 defined from the mouth of the Lundu to the Batang Lupar, and 



