CHAPTER XXII 



From the Batang Lupar to Kuching — Simanggan — A Swampy Forest 

 — At Banting — Ascent of Mount Lingga — Difficulties beset our 

 Journey — Astray in the Lagoons of the Lingga — Dyak Instru- 

 ment for Husking Rice — An Experiment with Upas Poison — The 

 Kulit-Lawan — Amongst the Sabuyo Dyaks — Marshes with 

 Pandani — From Sumundjang to Samarahan — Lost in the Forest 

 — End of the Journey. 



SIMANGGAN Fort is built on a very slight eminence rising 

 from the river bank, but it is quite sufficient to afford a view 

 over a large extent of country. The surrounding district is covered 

 by a swampy forest of high trees, whose bases remain all the year 

 round in water. This kind of forest is the most tedious to cross, but 

 it is that which offers the greatest harvest to the naturalist, on 

 account of the enormous variety of species which form it, a fact 

 which I am inclined to attribute to the ready dissemination of fruits 

 by the water. As most of these fruits float, they are easily carried 

 about during floods by the current ; and if the forests are invaded 

 by water they find favourable conditions for germinating. 



From Simanggan there is a good pathway leading to Undup, 

 with which I was already acquainted, having traversed it twice ; 

 the first time with the Bishop of Labuan the year before , the second 

 when I came to Simanggan, in March, on my way to Marop. But 

 the pleasure of being able to walk comfortably and dry in a Bornean 

 forest was too great for me to resist the temptation of going there 

 again. 



The forest would doubtless have rewarded me with many things 

 of interest if I had been able to stay and work it, but a mere excur- 

 sion through it can hardly be expected to give important results, 

 since it is impossible to have trees climbed or felled in order to get 

 specimens. Nevertheless, I found submerged beneath the water, 

 which remains permanently in the lower hollows of the forest, 

 another very distinct species of Cryptocoryne (C. longicauda, Becc, 

 cf. Malesia, i. pi. 27, Fig. 6), of which I had the misfortune after- 

 wards to lose the only specimens collected, though I fortunately 

 have a drawing made on the spot. This genus of aquatic plants is 

 of especial interest, on account of the multiplicity of its adaptations 

 to a subaqueous life. I have already mentioned Cryptocoryne 



34i 



