154 EAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Ch. X. 



water streaming down in torrents ; while the sea below was 

 lashed iato foam, and a spiral eddy of turbulent and foaming 

 water, rising above the level of the sea in the form of an 

 inverted basket, received the point of the spout. On 

 the outside of this vortex the waters could be distinctly 

 seen whirling madly round from left to right, with great 

 rapidity ; and the whole phenomenon — cloud, spout, vortex, 

 and aU — ^moved majestically onward, and, having lasted 

 about five minutes, gradually faded away — a grave and im- 

 pressive sight, which wiU not soon be erased from my 

 memory.* 



On the 10th August we approached the low, jungle-covered 

 shores of the island of Labuan, by no means prepossessing 

 in appearance. The harbour of Victoria, in the south-east 

 corner of the island, is the entrance of a river running a 

 short course into the interior; and at the anchorage is 

 situated the Bazaar, a collection of native shops — Malay, 

 Kling, and Chinese, but chiefly the two latter — and also the 

 Government offices, wooden shed-like buildings, but little 

 ornamental, although sufficiently commodious in their in- 

 ternal arrangements. These, and all the houses of the 

 European residents, are buUt upon piles raised five or six 

 feet above the soil, wKich is damp and malarious. They 

 are scattered at intervals over this south-east portion, which 

 is free from jungle, and in many parts planted with cocoa- 

 nuts, betels, and other useful trees ; while the parts not so 

 cultivated are swampy, and covered with low bushes of 

 Melastoma, and fern of a species of Pteris, much resembling 

 our common Bracken. 



• The eugraving at the head of this chapter is from a careful drawing I 

 made immediately afterwards, from a sketch and memoranda jotted down at 

 the time. 



