IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



of the treed lagoons, if I may thus describe these places, of which 

 in Europe we have no idea. In our Western lands, when permanent 

 lakes or ponds have the depth of a few inches no trees grow in 

 them ; whilst here extensive and grand forests formed of an extraor- 

 dinary number of different kinds of trees remain in a state of inun- 

 dation from year to year. I believe that a certain correlation exists 

 between the " ikan pajat " and the locality in which it lives. When 

 one thinks of the splendour of the sea fish of the tropical reefs, and 

 the modest and plain coloration of those which live on sandy bot- 

 toms, one is led to suspect that the special local conditions of the 

 water, and the colours of the surrounding objects in it, must have 

 had a very powerful influence on the colours, in one case vivid, in 

 another dull, which the fish now exhibit. 



The " ikan pajat " is not found in the Sarawak river, where, how- 

 ever, as I was told by intelligent Malays, a similar but smaller species 

 does exist. 1 



I did not see many birds. The most conspicuous was a Tchitrea 

 paradisi, which made a fine show with the two long white feathers 

 in its tail. I noticed several plants in blossom, however, which 

 were new to me, and which I proposed collecting on my return. 



May 14th, the night passed at Segrat, was one of torment. The 

 famished dogs, mosquitoes, and sandflies completely prevented our 

 getting any sleep. I, fortunately, had a mosquito curtain, but my 

 poor men were obliged to light a fire and defend themselves from 

 the voracious insects by keeping in the smoke. This was only 

 adding a new torment to the others, for the night was hotter and 

 closer than any I had experienced before in Borneo. 



As the requisite quantity of rice had been cooked the evening 

 before, we were able to make an early start next morning. The 

 Umpanang has next to no current ; its waters are black, though 

 limpid, like that which I had found in the forest near Kuching. A 

 small quantity taken up in a glass looks like weak coffee, is quite 

 transparent, and does not show any visible deposit in suspension, 

 nor does it form any then and there, but I did not try the experi- 

 ment of letting it stand, or evaporating it. It certainly keeps some 

 time without giving signs of decomposition of any kind. These 

 black waters, as I shall call them, are wholesome to drink, and have 

 a not unpleasant, slightly acidulated taste. Their dark colour is 

 undoubtedly due to the quantity of dead leaves and humus 

 accumulated in the forests through which they flow. 2 



1 This may be the Cryptopterus bicirris, Giinth. (Cf . D. Vinciguerra. A p- 

 puntiittiologici ; in Annali del Museo Civico diGenova, xvi. p. 168. Genoa, 1880.) 



2 In South America some large affluents of the Orinoco and Amazon 

 have black waters. A study of these waters was undertaken by MM. 

 Muntz and Marcam, and may be consulted in the Comptes Rendus, cvii. 

 (1888), pp. 908-9. Paris. 



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