x] RIVERSIDE PLANTS 



rocks, eroded by the action of the water, are very ragged and irregular. 

 They contain various fossils, such as shells and echinoderms of 

 sorts, and amongst the former some looked like Terebratulce. 1 

 Here and there the rocks were dotted with rounded masses or 

 tubercles the size of one's fist, and even larger, formed by silicious 

 concretions. The Malays call these " batu tikus," i.e. " mouse 

 stones," from their shape and dark grey colour. The trees we met 

 were all different from those which grow on the banks lower down 

 the river. It was quite dark and raining heavily when we got back 

 to Koom. Having arranged to ascend the river towards its source, 

 we once more started on the 16th November. Our party con- 

 sisted of twenty-five persons in four boats, two large and two 

 small. We got off at 8 a.m., and halted at noon on a small island 

 in the river to cook our dinner. In the neighbourhood, on the sites 

 of former plantations, we found growing abundantly a wild banana 

 (Musa campestris, Becc, P.B. No. 2,722). At three o'clock in the after- 

 noon we reached S'bungo, a Dyak village, where we decided to pass 

 the night. On examining the pebbles in the river, we found amongst 

 them bits of a substance which had the appearance of graphite, 

 and we proposed next day to search along the banks to find it in 

 situ. 



The next morning at half-past eight we were again on our way. 

 The rocks of the country we were passing through varied : now 

 limestone, now schists, and now sandstone, while a species of con- 

 glomerate was also common. Some of the limestone masses 

 formed vertical peaks rising from 350 ft. to 500 ft. in height, and had 

 plants on them which were unknown to me ; but to get at them was 

 no easy matter on such inaccessible cliffs. We came at length to 

 a bifurcation of the river, and followed the branch to the left, 

 which is the one which penetrates farthest into the interior. Several 

 rapids — or nam as the natives call them — were passed success- 

 fully. My sampan was rather heavy for this part of the river, 

 but we managed to carry it even beyond the Riam Lidong, the last 

 and most dangerous of them all, dragging it with rotangs over the 

 big rocks between which the water tears and foams, rushing by with 

 tremendous velocity. This last part of the river is picturesque 

 beyond description, the trees clinging to the rocks, and spreading 

 their serpent-like roots in all directions, whilst their branches 

 overhung the water and gave us a shade which was not a little 

 appreciated. 



One of the commonest trees here was a species of fig (after- 

 wards described from my specimens by Sir George King under the 

 name of Ficus acidula), which bears on its large branches bunches 

 of fine red fruits, very like our own figs, of an acidulated and not 



1 This is from my notes. The specimens which I collected have been un- 

 fortunately lost, and cannot, therefore, be determined accurately. 



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