CURISE IN THE SOUTHERN CHINA SEA. 7 7 



where a sago-making apparatus was erected, next came thickets 

 of dense scrub followed by another sago plant where a number 

 of men were at work. Now the track degenerated into a muddy 

 ditch knee deep for the most part and after crossing several 

 brooks we came to the bank of a small river with a clean sandy 

 bed. When we had waded upward for some distance the bed 

 became rocky and we then soon reached the "lakes. '' These 

 were disappointing being merely large rocky basins in the river 

 bed about 60 feet long and 30 feet wide and, as we found by 

 diving, 17 or 18 feet deep. They were connected by a fall and 

 there was a second above the upper pool bojh some 30 or 40 feet 

 high. The water was perfectly clear and the whole very pretty, 

 rock and water being shaded and hedged in by dense jungle, 

 nevertheless the actual state of affairs was not quite the phe- 

 nomenon it had been painted by our informants. 



We found the steamer in the bay when we got back and 

 her serang came off with a message from the commander that 

 we had stolen his anchorage ! As however we had been there 

 some time and the other was still under steam we returned word 

 that we felt no inclination to move ; thereupon the steamer's 

 master obstinately took up a berth a few yard off until he swung 

 with the tide w T hen, our main-boom end doing considerable dam- 

 age to his bridge dodger, he was persuaded to seek a more con- 

 venient anchorage. 



Both in the Tambelans and in Siantan we had made efforts 

 to get one of the canoes of the place without avail, people did 

 not want to sell or would not be ready in time. Here as a last 

 chance one of the built up kind was to be had for $40, though 

 graceful dugouts on exactly the same lines were just half that 

 while rough models could be purchased for as little as $3. One 

 canoe, a good example of the type — was brought alongside with 

 the sail lightly rolled up and bound round and round with every 

 conceivable cord ; undoing this tangle of course showed the 

 cotton to be mildewed and full of holes and the chagrined vendor 

 was sent off for another. There was further trouble in conclud- 

 ing the purchase as the islanders would not accept either Dutch 

 coin or {Singapore notes and we had run completely out of Straits 

 money. Happily a couple of Tringanu men visiting the island 

 in a small prau were willing to change our notes on condition that 



R A. Soc, No. 41, 1903. 



