IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



which are held straight up, are seen, the body being entirely 

 submerged. At last I was able to hit one of them ; but it was only 

 wounded, and dived, and, after some trouble, I was able to secure it. 

 It fought vigorously with bill and claws, using these very much as 

 a bird of prey would. Not being able to skin it I prepared the 

 skeleton. I found fish in its stomach, and a lot of curious parasitic 

 worms in the gullet. As I had before suspected, it turned out to 

 be the singular but well-known Darter (Plotus melanogaster, Gm.). 



I was anxious to get to Bintulu as soon as possible, and my men 

 were even more so, and continued paddling far into the night. On 

 the morning of the 12th we were early astir, but I was unwise 

 enough to make them a present of a big heron I had shot for their 

 breakfast, and they took quite three hours to cook it. It was 

 9 a.m. before they were ready to start. 



We stopped for a meal at Silas, where a few houses of an aban- 

 doned village yet remained. Growing in the water I found a re- 

 markable fern, Ceratopteris thalictroides. Its sterile fronds vegetate 

 perfectly under water, but as long as it remains in that condition 

 it does not fructify, and this only takes place when the waters are 

 low, and a few fronds emerge and develop sporangia. 



I reached Fort Bintulu at 7 p.m., and 'Mr. Houghton at once 

 informed me that during my absence the Tuan Muda and other 

 European residents at Sarawak, with some of the more influential 

 native chiefs, had assembled here in Council. The object of this 

 meeting was to ask reparation of the Sultan of Bruni, who had 

 allowed the Sarawak flag to be insulted, and had also sent his tax- 

 gatherers on Sarawak territory. The Council had therefore decided 

 that an indemnity should be required from the Sultan. In this 

 condition of affairs, the Tuan Muda had expressed a desire that I 

 should postpone my trip to the Barram river, which was within 

 the Sultan's dominions, in order to avoid any disagreeable com- 

 plication, and he had written me a letter to this effect, which I 

 had not received. 



This was very disappointing to me ; yet I felt that I could not 

 abandon the project of going to Gunong Julit, and intended in any 

 case to avoid all communication with the Bruni people. Neverthe- 

 less the difficulties with regard to the journey increased each day. 

 Even with the help of the Resident I failed to obtain a guide and 

 interpreter, all declaring that they dared not go amongst the 

 Barram Kayans, though I believe this to have been a plot of Pan- 

 gerang Rio, because I would not take as guide his brother-in-law, 

 the rascal Bakar, who had been so utterly useless on my previous 

 unfortunate expedition. 



On the fifteenth of September, however, I managed to get off. 

 Just as we were about to start one of my canoemen was found to 

 have bolted ; but the Resident came to my help, and I got a man 



292 



