IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



human beings. Where wild pigs abound they are the principal 

 food of these huge reptiles, and it is in the estuaries of rivers, where 

 the receding tide leaves large tracts of uncovered banks, that 

 wild pigs find their favourite food, and easily supply that of the 

 crocodiles. 



Although numerous enough in the rivers of Borneo, I have 

 never seen crocodiles herded together, as the caimans are said to 

 herd in South America. Many were the crocodiles I met with, but 

 never did I see even two together. 



The stillness of the day had its contrast during the night. A 

 violent wind arose, carrying away the matting which roofed the 

 sampan, whilst the rain fell in torrents. This rendered the air less 

 oppressive, and made us feel less languid and indolent, but it was 

 impossible to put up any kind of shelter, and we remained as we 

 were until morning, drenched to the skin. 



I was able to collect but few plants of any interest, partly 

 on account of the great width of the river, which prevented me 

 from keeping inshore, and partly again from the difficulty of always 

 catching sight of blossoming plants when paddling along. Amongst 

 those which attracted my attention, even from a distance, were 

 two " pinang-utan," a name which the Malays give to all the forest 

 palms which resemble the true pinang (Areca catechu). This time, 

 however, one of these pinangs, about twenty-five feet high, turned 

 out to be a genuine Areca, an undescribed species peculiar to Borneo 

 (A. Borneensis, Becc), distinct but allied to a species widely diffused 

 in the Malay Archipelago. 1 A . Borneensis is also called by the natives 

 " pinang umbut," because its cabbage is edible. The other species 

 of palm, which was quite a small one, I had already found at 

 Bintulu ; it was a variety of Pinanga fiatula, Bl. 



Towards evening we arrived at Igan, a village near the mouth 

 of the river, almost exclusively inhabited by a colony of Mellanaos, 

 who speak the same dialect as those settled at Muka, and different 

 from that of the Bintulu Mellanaos. 



On the 8th I made an excursion to the mouth of the river and 

 the sea beach, but I found no novelties. The most remarkable 

 plant met with was a species of Hoya, or an allied genus (P.B. 



No. 3,9 26 )- 



Igan is considered unhealthy, and is also renowned for the 

 number of its mosquitoes. According to a Malay expression, the 

 air is so thick with these insects that they can be cut with the 

 parang. The place had so little interest that next day I com- 

 menced my return journey up the river to Sibu. This trip was even 

 more' tiresome than the down-river one. The mosquitoes formed, 

 without exaggeration, veritable clouds, and we had to put up with 

 horse and sandflies besides. It would be interesting to know why 

 1 This is the Areca triandra v. Bancana, Scheff. (cf. Malesia, i. pp. 22, 97). 



322 



