IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



looked as if they had seen long service. He sat at the end of the hall 

 at the extremity of a table, at the side of which were chairs forming 

 a semicircle. We were invited to sit down on his right ; on the other 

 side the Pangerangs, members of the royal family, and the grandees 

 of the kingdom took their seats. Several attendants and slaves 

 squatted on the ground behind us, and rokos were offered to us — a 

 sort of giant cigarette, of which some were quite a foot in length. 

 The conversation was not lively ; but then, this was merely a cere- 

 monial visit. 



After this reception we visited different parts of the town in our 

 launch, and amongst others the market, certainly one of the most 

 curious on the face of the globe, for the stalls and shops are all 

 boats. The market women were mostly old female slaves, who 

 wore huge hats over two feet in diameter, which; indeed, might be 

 mistaken for umbrellas. In the morning these boats assemble in 

 what may be styled the market-place ; later they disperse all over 

 the town. 



We afterwards paid a visit to the British Consulate, where, some 

 years before, Mr. St. John had resided. At the time, however, the 

 large building, mostly of stone, was only tenanted by a caretaker. 

 Whilst the dinner was being prepared in the deserted dining-room, 

 I found time to explore the grounds round the house. I did not 

 find many botanical rarities, nor did I expect to in a place where the 

 old forest had so long been cleared ; but I was able to get a near-at- 

 hand look at the palm which I had noticed on our way up the 

 river, and to collect specimens of a fine Melastoma with big rose- 

 coloured flowers (M. Beccarianum, Cogn.). Near the Consulate, on 

 the river bank, a fine tree spread a mass of dense foliage. The 

 natives asserted that it belonged to the species from which the 

 Kayans and Dyaks extract the poison with which they tip their 

 sumpitan arrows. It ought, therefore, to be a Upas tree, and under 

 that name it is marked on the Admiralty chart. I did not see any 

 of its flowers, and from an inspection of the leaves alone I should 

 hardly venture on a determination ; but I can without the least hesi- 

 tation assert not only that it is no Upas tree (Antiaris toxicaria), 

 but that it does not even belong to the same family, that of the 

 ArtocarpecB. 



I only saw two merchant praus during our tour through the city : 

 an evident proof of the miserable state of its trade, which was 

 paralysed by the avidity of the Pangerangs, their extortions, and the 

 exorbitant taxation. The natural products of the country inland, 

 such as camphor, rotangs, guttapercha, edible birds' nests, etc., 

 which used to be collected at Bruni for exportation, now find their 

 outlet elsewhere. 



In the evening we received on board the visit of Pangerang 

 Mahomet, natural brother of Rajah Muda Hassim, who ceded his 



