IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. xxii. 



amongst the roots of some trees, the only spot sufficiently dry on 

 which to light a fire and dry our clothes. Here we had a meagre 

 supper on the small quantity of cooked rice we had brought along, 

 whose sole condiment was a little salt. Even when we came to light 

 the fire we found it no easy matter. There was no dry wood, and so 

 soaked was everything with the rain that my men vainly tried to get 

 a blaze with their strike-a-lights and tinder. I managed to succeed, 

 however, with the wadding of my gun, which I fired for the purpose. 



I need not dwell upon the tedious length of that night. With a 

 half-empty stomach and the cramped position in which I was forced 

 to lie, I never slept a wink. It rained incessantly all through the 

 night, and as we had not been able to cover our lanko sufficiently, 

 for it was dark when we finished setting it up, the water poured in 

 on us in streams. 



At last daylight came, but no sun with it ; on the contrary, a 

 minute penetrating rain continued to fall. I could not find my 

 compass. Apparently I must have dropped it the preceding even- 

 ing whilst collecting branches for the lanko. As there was no sun 

 we could not get our direction. We were, in fact, for the time being 

 completely lost, for all trace of the old path had become obliterated, 

 and we wandered about for a long time, vainly trying to find it. At 

 length, by carefully watching the water that covered the ground, 

 we were delighted to find it slowly flowing in a definite direction. 

 This meant a stream somewhere, and following up the hint given us 

 we at length came to a place where the natives had been working at a 

 tree to make a canoe. Here we found a little path, which brought 

 us at last, after wandering for several hours in the forest, to a stream. 

 No houses were in sight ; the river banks had been cleared of forest, 

 and were covered by tall coarse grass, through which we made our 

 way. with difficulty. The rising tide, however, carried past us a 

 large nipa crown, big enough to carry one or two persons. Bakar 

 and one of the Dyaks immediate^ jumped into the water, got on 

 it, and having made a couple of extempore paddles, set off down 

 the stream. They soon found a small boat, returned with it to 

 fetch us, and towards noon we reached the village of Samarahan, 

 where we found fowls and rice in abundance to make up for our 

 enforced abstinence. I also took some rest, of which I was in great 

 need, whilst we waited for the ebb tide to continue our journey. I 

 had no difficulty here in finding a boat and the requisite men, and 

 we got to Kuching at eleven o'clock that night. The journey from 

 Bintulu to Kuching across the State of Sarawak, in its then greatest 

 length, had lasted from the fifteenth of September to the twentieth 

 of November. I had taken nine days from Bintulu to the Bellaga ; 

 eight days descending the Rej ang, stoppages included ; twelve 

 days in going from Sibu to Simanggan ; and six from Banting to 

 Kuching, not losing much time on the way. 



350 



