IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. xxi. 



was a good deal more killing when his muscular and well-shaped legs 

 were not encased in a prosaic pair of trousers. 



On the 30th we were early in our boat, and passed through a 

 very populous region, where no trace of the old forest had been left. 

 We were obliged to change boats and crews six times, and at each 

 village we were forced to stop and answer the persistent questions 

 as to who we were, where we had come from, whither we were going, 

 and so forth. The hills now disappeared, the river became deeper, 

 and there were no more pebbles in its bed. All those I had exam- 

 ined in the region we had crossed were of sandstone. I did not see 

 any trace of limestone or of granite. Greatly to my annoyance 

 — for I wanted to follow the entire process of the preparation of the 

 poison — I found that the bamboo j oint containing the upas had been 

 left behind at the house where we had slept. When I discovered 

 the loss it was too late to turn back, and besides we should have had 

 to paddle up stream, which would have required at least twice the 

 time. We halted at 5 p.m., having covered not less than seventy 

 miles in the two last days. 



On the thirty-first of October, favoured with a full flood, we 

 entered the Batang Lupar and reached Simanggan in the after- 

 noon. At the fort I found the Tuan Muda, who had just come 

 from Kuching. To my delight I found that he had kindly brought 

 my letters and newspapers, of which I had been deprived for 

 several months. 



340 



