CHAPTER XVIII 



Bintulu — The Mellanaos — Flotsam and Jetsam — Detritus Floating 

 on the Sea — Additions to my Collections — India-rubber-Pro- 

 ducing Creepers — New Sea Plant — Buketans and Pennans — Idols 

 and Tombs of the Mellanaos — -Ascent of the Bintulu — The 

 Tubao — Tombs and Houses of the Kayans — Big Tapang Planks 

 — A Festival — Curious Musical Instrument — Camphor and the 

 Methods of Extracting it — Funeral Ceremonies — Notes on the 

 Kayans — The Upas and the Preparation of the Poison — Iron 

 Ore — New and Interesting Plants — A Singular Bird — The 

 MinuAng — Affluents of the Bintulu — A Wild Durian. 



EARLY on the twelfth of August we weighed and proceeded 

 towards Bintulu. At sunrise, Kina Balu, which we were 

 leaving behind us, could be distinctly seen through the singularly 

 transparent atmosphere. The outlines of the coast and that 

 of the mountains beyond Bruni were clearly denned, and the eye 

 could follow every feature of the landscape. The peaks far inland 

 have a very different outline from those nearer Bruni ; the latter 

 are rounded, and I therefore infer that they must be formed of 

 easily disintegrated materials, perhaps sandstone ; whilst the 

 former, among which Gunong Mulu is the most conspicuous, are 

 abrupt and precipitous, and are probably limestone. 



On the thirteenth of August we reached Bintulu. The Hearts- 

 ease anchored at some distance from the mouth of the river, 

 which is about 200 yards in width, for a bar with very little water 

 on it renders the entrance impossible to vessels of her size. The 

 fort of Bintulu, which was built entirely of wood, was in a some- 

 what ruinous condition. It stood nearly on the sea-shore, and just 

 behind it, at the distance of a few paces, the primeval forest com- 

 menced. Next day the Heartsease left, and I remained at Bintulu as 

 the guest of Mr. Houghton, the new Resident of the district. That 

 night we had a violent storm. 



Some Chinamen had settled in the vicinity of the fort and had 

 built a small bazaar ; but the village is chiefly formed by the 

 houses of the Mellanaos beyond the Chinese kampong. These 

 Mellanaos used to live farther up the river, but since the construction 

 of the fort, and the installation of an officer of the Rajah near the 

 mouth of the river, they came to settle nearer the sea — a thing which 

 they would never have dared to do in former days for fear of the 



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