238 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. [Oh. XIV. 



territory of Sarawak. The head-house is spacious and 

 roomy ; and when a stranger asks for hospitality among 

 these people he is always lodged in one of these places, as 

 the most eligible house in the village. 



On the summit of the hill above Serambo is a pleasantly- 

 situated bungalow, belonging also to the Eajah, and occa- 

 sionally resorted to as a sanatorium. The approach to it from 

 the village is very steep, and is formed by regular steps cut 

 out of the hill-side. From this summit, and from the ve- 

 randah round the house, a splendid and extensive view of 

 the country was afforded, a view singularly characteristic of 

 a great equatorial region, sparsely populated and little culti-. 

 vated. Far • and near, wherever the eye roved, the jungle 

 extended dense and unvaried, except by the undulations of 

 the land, and here and there by some small grassy spots, 

 rendered strikiug by the absence of trees ; but these spots 

 bore the same relation to the jungle that clumps of trees 

 would do to an EngUsh meadow. Through this endless 

 forest meandered the Sarawak river ; but no villages could 

 anywhere be discerned, the Dyak houses being everywhere 

 concealed from view. The sole trace of civilisation in the 

 landscape was the bungalow at Berlidah, which could be 

 seen imbosomed in trees by the river's side. The salient 

 forms and craggy sides of the various limestone lulls of 

 Singhi, Matang, &c., gave some variety to the scene ; while 

 comiQg from the dense wood behind where I stood, I could 

 hear the laughing and chattering voices of Dyak children in 

 the village of Bombok, a second hill-settlement, which I 

 visited next day. From this village two stout Dyak girls, 

 whose scanty clothing was confined to a short petticoat, ap- 

 peared upon the scene while I was gazing at the prospect, 

 and without any timidity accepted some of the refreshments. 



