54 CRUISE IN THE SOUTHERN CHINA SEA. 



she could offer was the open bridge crowded with natives, where 

 I found room for a deck chair. Had this been all there would 

 have been nothing- to kick at, but unfortunately the vessel 

 swarmed with a certain highly objectionable and active 

 Rhynchota that spoilt all pleasure, and when I hailed with delight 

 the appearance of the "Terrapin" lying off Tanjong Buton on the 

 south side of Linga, I was, after four days of an inferno, in a 

 state that 1 had never been in before and fervently pray never 

 to attain again. 



Linga. 



Lying about mid- way between Singapore and Banka, 

 Linga is an island of irregular shape about 33 miles in length in 

 a north-west and south-east direction, and is surrounded by 

 smaller islands of various sizes. Unlike its near neighbour 

 Sinkep, it is not worked for tin, and is best known as being at 

 one time the head quarters of the numerous pirates who used 

 to ravage the western seas of the Malay Archipelago in the 

 early part of last century. 



The schooner had to anchor a mile or so from the land since 

 off-shore for some distance extended banks of soft black mud 

 through which we were compelled to wade when the tide was low 

 while at other times the sea broke on them with some force for 

 the roadstead is exposed to south-easterly winds. At Tanjong 

 Buton were a few Chinese kedais and the house of a Dutch 

 Assistant- Resident (now withdrawn) and from here a road had 

 been made to the town of Linga. 



The best collecting ground was on the outskirts of the 

 village of Maruang, lying two or three miles away between the 

 road and the sea. The surrounding country was, for the most part, 

 a sago swamp, but in the fruit plantations of the Kampong cer- 

 tain birds and small mammals were numerous. The village itself 

 consisted of a settlement of Sumatran Malays, the houses — about 

 forty in number — built in two orderly rows with the mosque in 

 the centre. The thousands of huge durian trees that surround 

 it, were just then fruiting and at the little watch-houses in the 

 plantations freshly fallen durians could be had in piles at a 

 cent or two apiece while the few small steamers that call were 

 constantly taking cargoes up to Singapore. 



Jour, Straits Branch 



