IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



mountain, steep-to ; as are all such on this and the other branch of 

 the Sarawak river, and after some hours travelling we reached the 

 cave. This has several openings, but one of the chief of them 

 practically debouches on the river. It has received the name it 

 bears with the Malays, which means Cave (lobang) of the Winds 

 (an gin), because at certain times a strong current of air issues from 

 its aperture. lust within the entrance we found a bank of 

 deposit, which, at the time of our visit, was a good deal above the 

 level of the river. Beneath it the floor of the cave had been much 

 hollowed out by the river, which, during floods, must enter this mouth 

 and striking against the farther wall, make a sort of whirlpool, wearing 

 away the wall on one side, and forming deposits on the other. The 

 soil thus formed was yellow and argillaceous, and was in some parts 

 covered with stalagmite, in others bare. The height of the deposit, 

 evidently greater than could possibly be accounted for by the 

 highest floods, led to the conclusion that considerable changes of 

 level must have taken place. 



I had not brought with me any spades or other implements 

 for digging, but I managed to do a little with a pointed stick, and 

 was so far successful that I got some pieces of human bones, an 

 entire human lower -jaw, various fragments of earthenware 

 vessels, and a small perforated disc, probably part of a necklace. 

 I also found bits of charcoal, which was very abundant in some places, 

 together with fragments of marine and freshwater shells — the 

 relics of native repasts of no very ancient date. 



The cave penetrates deeply into the mountain, but being then 

 without a proper guide I did not attempt its exploration. Bats 

 were hanging from the roof in numbers, and the small swift which 

 I had seen with Doria at Pininjau (Collocalia linchii) was abundant. 

 I shot several as they flew in and out of the cave ; their edible nests 

 are of a very inferior kind. 



Coming up the river I had shot various birds, amongst them 

 a hawk, a kingfisher, and a remarkable barbet with a big and 

 brilliantly coloured bill, the Cymborhynchus macrorhynchus. This 

 bird also possesses the most beautiful eye I have ever seen. The 

 iris is a brilliant emerald green, with metallic changing dots, like 

 a piece of Venetian glass — so far as I know, a unique instance of 

 the kind in the bird world. 



I continued to ascend the river in the hope of finding some one 

 who could act as guide to me in exploring the cave. That evening 

 we reached Bidi. Along this portion of the Sarawak river there 

 is no primitive forest, and the plains stretch away from the banks 

 entirely covered with lalang grass, and. only broken here and there 

 by the usual abrupt isolated hills of limestone rock. At Bidi 

 I found the man I wanted in the person of a Dyak, who was bought 

 over by a bijit monkey I had shot on the way ; in exchange for 



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