DUrCH BOENEO. 



141 



the capital, lies about 60 miles above the estuary on the right bank of the Mahakkam, 

 which is here a broad, tidal stream. But nearly all the trade of Kutei is centred 

 in Samarùida, which lies lower down near the fork of the delta, where large Chinese 

 junks ship the gutta-percha, rattans, timber, honey, edible birds'- nests and other 

 produce brought down on rafts from the upper regions of the Makakkam basin. 

 Samarinda is the residence of the Dutch political agent, and of the Mohammedan 

 imam, from whom the natives learn to write Arabic and recite verses from the 

 Koran. Here the Bougis from Celebes have settled on the right bank, where they 

 have set up a strong republic, administering their own laws and enjoying complete 



Fig. 53. — Lower Couese of the Mahakkam. 

 Scale 1 : 1,500,000. 



Last or (jreenvvich 



I17'40- 



tol6 

 Feet. 



Depths. 



16 to 320 

 Feet. 



320 to 1,280 

 Feet. 



l,2e'0 Feet and 

 upwards. 



30 Miles ^ 



self government. The Chinese and Malays occupy the left bank, residing either in 

 floating houses or in dwellings raised on piles. Here are no roads or even tracks, 

 all the communications between the different quarters being carried on exclusively 

 by water. The town itself is one vast cemetery, headstones or carved boards 

 marking the graves of the dead round about the abodes of the living. The few 

 steamers touching at Samarinda find in the immediate neighbourhood, and 

 especially at Pelarcmg, 5 or 6 miles farther down, a supply of coal in the rich 

 mines, the property of the Sultan. Sanga-Scuif/a, at the head of the delta, was 

 the royal residence before Samarinda. 



