1893.] Geography and Travels. 733 
60 miles from the mouth, at Claudetown, the seat of government and 
centre of trade. Most of the traffic seems to be in the hands of Chinese 
merchants. At the entrance of the Akar the land is very fertile, and 
the mountain scenery fine; while at the mouth of the Libbun the 
scenery on one side consists of lofty table topped elevations of from 
5,000 to 8,000 feet, on the other of grassy plains. The object of Mr. 
Hose’s trip was not exploration only, but natural history, and from 
various points of the flat topped Mt. Dulit he collected many birds and 
mammals, some of the former new to science. Several tribes ; Kayans, 
Punans, etc., are mentioned, all diftering from the Dyaks. The Punans 
build no houses, but live in the jungle like wild beasts, and are expert 
with the blow pipe. The Kayans have singular burial customs, and are 
spiritualists, believing that messages can pass between the dead and 
the living. When a death occurs in a family, the body is placed in a 
coffin of soft wood, painted in various hues, and with a lid fastened 
down with dammar resin, and is kept in the house three months. To 
avoid too great a nuisance, a long drain of bamboo is thrust deep into 
the soil, with the upper end in the coffin. After three months a tomb 
of hard wood, twelve feet from the ground, adorned with figures of men 
and women, is made, and the corpse is borne to it with much ceremony. 
The weapons, tools, and cook-pot of a man are buried with him, while 
with a woman are laid her sun-hat, hoe, and personal adornments, par- 
ticularly her ear-rings. Cigarettes, to be given to friends in the land of 
the dead, are always placed with the corpse. The Kayans believe that 
the dead have different places of abode, according to the manner of 
their death. Those who die of sickness or old age have a lot in Apo 
Leggàn, much like that on the earth ; those who die by accident or in 
battle have a better lot in Long Jalan; still born children, who have 
never known pain, are very brave; suicides are miserable in Jan Jok- 
kan, while to those who die by water fall stores of riches in their post- 
humous residence Ling Yang. It may be remembered by some that 
recently Mr. Whitehead added greatly to our zoological knowledge of — 
Borneo by his ascent of Kina Balu, from which mountain he brought 
back a collection that demonstrated the existence of a Himalayan 
fauna. Mr. Hose has added to these proofs. The district of the Baram 
River has been detached from N. Borneo, and annexed to Sarawak, now 
governed by the son of the famous Rajah Brooke. 
Mr. H. R. Mill, in an article in the March Geographical Journal 
seeks to reconcile conflicting ideas respecting the permanence of oceanic 
and continental areas, by showing that the 1700 fathom line divides the 
world into two nearly equal areas, the one abyssal, the ates I 
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